Dear Colleagues

We are pleased to provide you with an update on the World Summit on the Information Society. 

The second meeting of the Preparatory Committee for WSIS (PrepCom2) will take place in Geneva from 17-28 February. The draft time management plan is available at https://www.itu.int/net/wsis/documents/doc_single.asp?lang=en&id=312

As part of the activities during the opening day, a panel of 'visionaries', chaired by Mr. Yoshio Utsumi, will address the topic of the 'Future of the Information Society' from 15h00 - 18h00 on 17 February. The panel will be moderated by Maria Livanos Cattaui, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce and will include the following:

· His Excellency, Mr Ion Iliescu, President of Romania
· His Excellency, Mr Abdoulaye Wade, President of the Republic of Senegal
· Mr Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary General, ITU
· Professor Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law School, USA
· Jacques Attali, writer and chairman of Planète Finance

For more information on the 'visionaires' panel, the roundtables and the preparatory committee meeting itself please consult www.itu.int/wsis 


In conjunction with the Preparatory Meeting, a series of conferences is being presented by ITU entitled 'Visions of the Information Society 2003'. These noontime presentations will bring together key thinkers in the information society from across the world. The conference topics include the nature of the information society from both the developed and developing world perspective, ICTs for education, and for building human capital, how to foster globally accessible and affordable ICTs and information freedom. For more information on the conferences and the speakers consult www.itu.int/visions. As well the UN ICT Task Force will hold its meeting in Geneva from 20 – 22 February. For more information see: www.unicttaskforce.org

The final declarations of the Latin American and Caribbean Regional Conference for WSIS held in Bavaro, Dominican Republic 27 to 30 January, 2003 and the Western Asia Preparatory Conference held in Beirut, Lebanon, 4-6 February 2003 are now posted on our website, please click here.  


Please feel free to contact us at anytime for more information on the World Summit on the Information Society

With best regards,

WSIS Secretariat