Outcome of PrepCom-1 in Hammamet, Tunisia
The first Preparatory Meeting (PrepCom-1 of the Tunis phase) of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was held from 24 to 26 June 2004 in Hammamet, Tunisia. In the final document (Decision of PrepCom-1) delegates agreed on the issues that should form the focus of the Tunis Summit, the structure of the preparatory process for the second phase. 

The focus of the preparatory process to the Tunis phase will be two-pronged: provide 1) solutions on how to implement and follow up the Geneva decisions (Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action) by stakeholders at national, regional and international levels with particular attention to the challenges facing the Least Developed Countries and 2) complete the unfinished business in Geneva on Internet Governance and Financing. More information in the WSIS press release. 

At Hammamet, Mr. Shoji Nishimoto, Assistant Administrator and Director of the Bureau for Development Policy of UNDP in New York, informed PrepCom-1 about the composition and activities of the Task Force on Financing Mechanisms set up by the UN Secretary-General to undertake a review of existing ICT funding mechanisms and to study the feasibility of an international voluntary digital solidarity fund. 

On the issue of Internet Governance, Mr. Markus Kummer, Executive Coordinator of the Secretariat of the Working Group on Internet Governance set up by the UN Secretary-General, delivered a briefing to PrepCom-1. More information on PrepCom-1 is available on the official WSIS website. 

Fundraising Campaign Picks Up Momentum
In response to the ITU Secretary-General’s appeal to the international community for voluntary contributions to the WSIS Fund, governments, international organizations and NGOs demonstrated their commitment to the success of the Summit by announcing a total of approximately CHF 900,000 in new financial contributions for to the WSIS 2005 Fund during the recent Preparatory Meeting in Hammamet. As a result, WSIS-2005 Fundraising Campaign has reached 26 per cent its goal of raising at least CHF 5 million in financial contributions to support core preparatory activities of the Summit. This is up from just 8 per cent prior to the Hammamet meeting. 

Preparatory process of the Tunis phase of WSIS: Regional conferences and thematic meetings
The Executive Secretariat of WSIS is publishing on its website a list of the regional conferences and thematic meetings related to the preparatory process of the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society. To announce regional conferences or thematic meetings related to WSIS, please write to Mr. Charles Geiger, Assistant Executive Director of the WSIS Executive Secretariat.

WSIS Executive Secretariat in Geneva: New experts on loan from governments
To support the core activities for the preparation of the Tunis phase of WSIS, governments and agencies have renewed their in-kind contributions with experts on-loan to the WSIS Executive Secretariat: Switzerland (2 experts), Spain (1 expert), Japan (1 expert), Republic of Korea (1 expert), Canada (1 expert) and UNESCO (1 expert). For the second phase of the Summit, Tunisia has sent two experts to the Executive Secretariat (and more will follow). One of the two new Tunisian experts, Mr. Moncef Achour, has taken up the task of civil society liaison officer. Since spring this year, some new faces have arrived, replacing their departing colleagues: Mr Sang-Hak Lee, from the Ministry of Information and Communication, Republic of Korea, replacing Mr. Noh-Ik Park from the same Ministry; and Mr. Seiichi Tsugawa, from KDDI Corporation, Japan, replacing Mr. Hideharu Tokiwa from the same company. 

Cardoso report on the relations of the United Nations and Civil Society
The report of the High-Level-Panel on the relations of the United Nations and Civil Society was presented on Monday, 21 June 2004, in New York by Mr Fernando Cardoso, Chair of the Panel and former President of Brazil. Mr Cardoso underlined that global governance was no longer the sole domain of governments and emphasized the need to expand the idea of multilateralism to include multiple actors from civil society and business as well as central and local governments, who had helped draw up and implement global agreements. For more information, go to the UN press release. The Report is available on the UN website and a shortened version has been published in the last NGLS-Roundup .