Speech by Malcolm Johnson, ITU Deputy Secretary-General

ITU WSIS Forum 2017 - Open Consultation Process: 1st Physical meeting on the thematic aspects and innovations on the format - Welcome remarks

12 October 2016, ITU Headquarters, Geneva

Distinguished colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear WSIS Stakeholders,

On behalf of ITU, welcome to this the first physical meeting of the WSIS Forum 2017 Open Consultation Process on the Thematic Aspects, Innovations and Format for next year’s Forum.

The overall theme of WSIS Forum 2017, which will be held in Geneva from 12-16 June, is the Information Society for SDGs.
This reflects the Outcome of the UN General Assembly Overall Review of the implementation of the WSIS which called for a close alignment between the WSIS process and the SDG process, recognising that ICTs will play a crucial enabling role for the achievement of all 17 SDGs.

And that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, acknowledges that “the spread of ICTs and global interconnectedness has great potential to accelerate human progress and to develop knowledge societies, and to bridge the digital divide”.
To that end, the WSIS-SDGs Matrix, which was coordinated by the ITU in collaboration with the UN Action Line Facilitators, clearly shows the linkage between each WSIS Action Line and the 17 SDGs and provides rationale for each. This matrix is available on the ITU website.
The WSIS Forum therefore serves as a key platform for discussing the role of ICTs as a means of implementation of the SDGs.
The WSIS Prize will be awarded during the opening ceremony of the WSIS Forum and I would like to invite you to nominate your projects for this prestigious award.

This year’s WSIS Forum introduced several innovations like TEDx, Virtual Reality for Development, Hackathons and interactive panel discussions giving opportunities for all WSIS stakeholders to join, create, implement, and make a real difference. 
In addition the WSIS Stocktaking database and WSIS project prizes have been updated for a better alignment between submissions in the respective WSIS Action lines and the SDGs.
In the outcome of the UN General Assembly overall review, a strategic regional focus for implementation of the WSIS outcomes was called for.

So the ITU, 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.
And last week, ITU supported ECSAP in organizing a WSIS Regional Review meeting for Asia Pacific. This meeting was a great success with the participation of almost all regional representatives of the UN agencies facilitating WSIS Action Lines, several countries and some of the WSIS prize winners from that region. It was particularly gratifying to hear from the winners how the award of the prizes helped them to develop and implement their projects.

It was agreed we need to work together in order to build awareness of the enabling role of ICTs in sustainable development, and the programming of future UN Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAFs).
In addition, we are working in close collaboration with other UN Agencies on a comprehensive plan leading towards the alignment between WSIS and SDG processes, taking into account work plans of different UN Agencies.

I would like to thank you all for attending this first physical consultation meeting today and we look forward to your inputs to ensure an even more dynamic, interactive and outcome oriented WSIS Forum in 2017.

I also thank my colleagues in UNESCO, UNCTAD and UNDP as well as other UN agencies for their collaboration on the WSIS Forum which is an excellent example of the UN acting as one. The success of the WSIS Forum of course depends on the contributions to the WSIS Fund in Trust, so we look forward to your generous contributions that will avail you of the visibility that partnership offers.

I wish you a very productive meeting.