The Next ‘Summit’ Step The Intersessional Period between PrepCom-2 and PrepCom-3 is dedicated to refining the working documents for the
Draft Declaration of Principles and Draft Action
Plan. To assist in doing this an Intersessional meeting is being convened from 15-18 July 2003 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. More information for participants is available
here.
G8 Welcomes the World Summit for the Information Society
In the Implementation Report on the G8 Africa Action Plan (paragraph 30), G8 leaders welcome WSIS and acknowledge the role of ICTs as a catalyst for sustainable social and economic development, especially for Africa. For full report click
here.
World Telecommunication Day focuses on World Summit
Secretary General of ITU Yoshio Utsumi and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan both remarked on the importance of the Summit in their World Telecommunication Day
messages. The day marks the 138th anniversary of the founding of ITU, the world’s oldest inter-governmental organization.
European Commission Objectives for Information Society
The European Commission has issued the objectives it hopes WSIS will achieve in the form of a Communication. The Communication paves the way for concrete actions and proposals by the EU for the Plan of Action. For more detail, please click
here.
The Pan-Arab Regional Conference on WSIS
This conference will take place, at ministerial level, in Cairo (Egypt), under the auspices of the League of Arab States organized by the Egyptian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology and in coordination with ITU. The results of the conference will be taken up to 22 Arab Ministers of Communications and Information Technology for endorsement on the action plan to be presented at Prep Com III as well as the Summit. For information click
here.
Fellowships Available for PrepCom-3
ITU has secured donations for a limited number of fellowships to individuals from the developing world to enable their participation in PrepCom-3. Information on the fellowships for Civil Society participation is available
here. Private sector or government applicants click
here.
Note that priority is being given to participants from Least Developed Countries.
Events
03 Jun 2003 - 06 Jun 2003 IADIS, International Conference: e-Society
2003, Lisbon, Portugal. The IADIS e-Society 2003 conference aims to address the main issues of concern within the Information Society: E-Commerce, E-Learning and E-Government
Digital Opportunity
Channel in partnership with Bytes for All is launching a discussion forum
to help stakeholders from the developing world exchange ideas and debate
issues about the emerging information society and the WSIS.
UNESCO
Connects ICTs and People with Disabilities” An initiative to put ICTs in the service of persons with disabilities
has been launched by UNESCO. It brings together global experts and
institutions from the public, private and civil society sectors to develop
a framework of policy initiatives in this field. The results will be
included in UNESCO’s contribution to the upcoming World Summit on the
Information (WSIS).
Welcome to ICT DevLibrary The CTO (Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation) today announces
the launch of ICT Development Digital Library (ICT Dev Library) as part of
the global celebrations of World Telecommunications Day on 17 May 2003.
The on-line library provides a unique collection of ICT-for-development
reports and documents for policy-makers and practitioners in developing
countries.
World Forum on Communication Rights The Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS) campaign is planning on holding a one-day World Forum on Communication Rights alongside the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in December 2003. The forum focuses on information and communication rights issues that surround the emergence of an information society.