Speech by Malcolm Johnson, ITU Deputy Secretary-General
ITU Council Working Group on WSIS - Welcome remarks
12 October 2016, ITU Headquarters, Geneva
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning
It is a great pleasure to welcome you here on behalf of the Secretary-General to the twenty ninth meeting of the Council Working Group on WSIS. As the United Nations specialized agency for ICTs, we have been working towards ensuring that ITUs activities contribute most effectively to the achievement of the goals and objectives set by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UNGA Overall Review on WSIS.
In follow up to the UNGA Overall Review on WSIS, the ITU membership during Council 2016 modified Resolution 1332 to include the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. ITU Council Resolution 1332 recognizes that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has substantial implications on the activities of the ITU, and resolved to use the WSIS framework as the foundation through which the ITU helps achieve the 2030 Agenda.
In this regard, the Strategic Plan of the Union has been reviewed by the membership and ITU has been working towards a comprehensive view on how ITU activities contribute to towards the SDGs.
An ITU ‘SDG Mapping Tool’ has been developed to provide a comprehensive visual view of how ITU activities contribute to the SDGs, by visualizing mapping and linkage of the following frameworks: ITU strategic framework, Connect 2020, WSIS Action Lines and SDGs. It will be presented to you tomorrow.
We have also amended the terms of reference of the Secreariat’s internal task force to cover the coordination of ITU’s work on SDGs as well as WSIS.
As per Resolution 1332 ITU contributed to the ECOSOC High-Level Political Forum through the mechanisms established by Resolution A/70/1 and you be provided with a detailed report on our activities later today.
In addition as you may all know, a consultation with the membership resulted in the agreement that the proposed overall theme of the forthcoming WTDC 2017 will focus on ICTs for SDGs. We are looking forward to this conference in October 2017 and I encourage you to all support the preparatory processes.I am happy to inform you that several updates have been made in the WSIS projects and activities in follow up to the instructs in Resolution 1332.
I invite you to read the report on ITUs Contribution to the Implementation of the WSIS Outcomes 2016, the report presents an overview on the programmes and activities of the three sectors and the General Secretariat and links them to WSIS Action Lines and SDGs. As instructed by the Resolution 1332, the WSIS Action Line Roadmaps for C2, C5, and C6 have been updated to take into account activities underway to also achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In addition the WSIS Stocktaking database and WSIS project prizes have also been updated in light of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for a better alignment between the submissions in the respective WSIS Action lines and SDGs. Building on the successful outcomes of the WSIS Forum 2016 that emphasised on strengthening the close alignment between the WSIS and SDG processes, we have initiated preparations towards WSIS Forum 2017 which will be held in Geneva from 12-16 June.
As you are aware the agenda and programme of the WSIS Forum is built in collaborative manner through online consultations and physical meetings and completely crowd sourced with the active engagement of all the Stakeholders. The overall theme of WSIS Forum 2017 is the Information Society for SDGs.
I would like to invite you to contribute towards the open consultation process by submitting your formal input to the process and by participating in the 1st Physical meeting to be held today at 16:00. The growth and success of the WSIS Forum also depends on the contributions to the WSIS Fund in Trust. The WSIS Forum is an extra budgetary activity we look forward to your generous contributions and to avail yourselves of the visibility partnership offers.
In the outcomes of the UN General Assembly overall review on the implementation of the WSIS a strategic regional focus for implementation of the WSIS outcomes was underlined. The ITU in its capacity as lead facilitating agency for implementation of Geneva Plan of Action, is working in close collaboration with all the five UN Regional Commissions towards this strengthened focus on implementation at regional level.
In this regard, ITU supported UNECSAP to organize a WSIS Regional Review meeting for the Asia Pacific region last week. The meeting included almost all regional representatives of UN agencies facilitating WSIS Action Lines. This was a real demonstration how the UN system may work together on aligning WSIS and SDG processes while strengthening the implementation of WSIS Action Lines at the regional level. We need to work together in order to ensure that ICT component becomes ubiquitous in the national sustainable development plans as well as an means for implementation of SDGs under the UN Development Assistance Frameworks.
In addition at present, as the United Nations Group on the Information Society members, we are working in close collaboration with the UN Agencies on a comprehensive plan leading towards the alignment between WSIS and SDG processes, taking into account work plans of different UN Agencies. The guidance by the Council Working Group on WSIS is crucial in ensuring that ITUs activities contribute to the global goals of Sustainable Development in the most effective manner.
Before concluding, let me draw your attention to the list of candidatures for Vice-Chairmen for the Council Working Groups and the Expert Group on ITRs, received by the deadline of 5th October posted on the Council website. The Secretary-General has now invited the regions to coordinate their proposals for candidatures by the end of the year.
I wish you good discussions and I look forward to your guidance in this important new phase for WSIS towards 2025 ensuring an inclusive and secure information society.