• WSIS PrepCom-2 of the Tunis Phase
  The second Preparatory Committee meeting of the Tunis phase of WSIS will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, 17-25 February 2005. 

• Outcome documents of the Group of Friends of the Chair available
  The Group of Friends of the Chair (GFC) has concluded its task of conducting broad consultations towards preparing the documents to be submitted to PrepCom-2 as a possible basis for negotiations. These documents, prepared in response to a request by PrepCom-1 of the Tunis phase, represent the outcome of meetings and multi-stakeholder consultations held since October 2004. Working on the assumption that the outcome of the Tunis phase would be one document in two parts, the GFC produced a Political Chapeau and an Operational Part.  Written comments to the draft documents can be sent to: wsis-contributions@itu.int. These comments will be published as contributions for PrepCom-2 on the WSIS website. 

• Provisional Agenda and Time Management Plan of PrepCom-2
  At its meeting on 12 January 2005, the intergovernmental Bureau of the Preparatory Committee of the Tunis phase of WSIS decided on the provisional Agenda and Time Management Plan for PrepCom-2.
  Both documents are published at: www.itu.int/wsis/documents/doc_multi.asp?lang=en&id=1393|1394
  All available documents for PrepCom-2 can be found on the WSIS website. 
  

• Online registration strongly advised
  Online registration for PrepCom-2 opened on 5 January 2005. Participants of PrepCom-2 should be registered by their designated Focal Points for accreditation to the WSIS preparatory process and the Summit at: 
  www.itu.int/wsis/preparatory2/pc2/index.html#registration. A username and password are required to access the on-line system, which have been provided by the ITU/WSIS registration team to the designated Focal Points of participating delegations. In case of difficulty, please contact: wsis-pc2-registration@itu.int  

• WGIG: Open consultations back-to-back with PrepCom-2
  The Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) will meet at the United Nations in Geneva from 14 to 16 February 2005. The Meeting will discuss issue papers prepared according to an inventory list of issues and priorities, which was developed at the First Meeting of WGIG in November 2004. The issue papers will be posted on the WGIG website by the end of January 2005. Governments and interested stakeholders will be given the opportunity to comment. Persons who are not accredited to WSIS, and who would like to attend these meetings, should submit a request for participation directly to the WGIG-Secretariat.
  

• Report of TFFM now available
  The TFFM was established under the auspices of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the request of the Geneva phase of WSIS with the mandate to review the adequacy of existing financial mechanisms to bridge the digital divide. The review, led by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), aims at facilitating the crucial negotiations on financing of ICT for development and will submit its report to the Tunis phase of WSIS. The report of the Task Force on Financial Mechanisms (TFFM) is now available on the WSIS website.
  
  

• Upcoming events related to the Tunis phase of WSIS: 

WSIS Regional preparatory meeting:  

2-4 February 2005, Accra (Ghana) 
The African Regional Preparatory Conference for WSIS will be held in Accra, Ghana under the theme “Access – Africa’s key to an inclusive Information Society” to prepare Africa for effective participation in the Tunis phase of WSIS. The main objective of the Conference is to ensure a strategic and interdependent digital partnership that will promote economic growth and human development of the continent.

WSIS Thematic meetings: 

17-19 January 2005, Antigua (Guatemala)
The Geneva Plan of Action requests all stakeholders to promote the use of ICTs by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to foster innovation, realize gains in productivity, reduce transaction costs and fight poverty. To this end, the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Trade Centre (ITC), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) jointly organized a meeting under the theme “Economic and Social Implications of ICT” to identify policies and practices that will ensure that the use of ICT leads to equitable economic growth. The outcome of the meeting provides practical suggestions that can help countries to utilize ICTs for effective poverty eradication through the growth of economically sustainable enterprises and the quality of employment they generate. The meeting was hosted by the Government of Guatemala and sponsored by IDRC and the Government of France.

21 January 2005, Kobe (Japan)
Against the backdrop of the devastating tsunami that struck the Indian Ocean region on 26 December 2004, the World Conference on Disaster Reduction (18-22 January 2005, Kobe, Japan) took on special significance. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) organized a WSIS thematic meeting on ICT Applications in Natural Disaster Reduction on 21 January 2005 as part of a workshop on Reducing the Risks of Weather, Climate and Water-related Hazards through Advanced Detection, Monitoring, Early warning systems and Opportunities of the Information Society. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in cooperation with Inmarsat and Waseda University, also conducted a workshop entitled 'Telecommunications Saves Lives - the role of ICTs in Disaster Prevention and Response'. For the Earth Negotiations Bulletin on the outcome, see: www.iisd.ca/vol26/enb2609e.html

7-9 February 2005, Geneva (Switzerland)
A global meeting will be held from 7 to 9 February 2005 under the umbrella of the "Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development", to consolidate the outcomes of regional workshops on Information Society indicators that were held in the 4th quarter of 2004 and propose concrete suggestions on how to measure Information Society developments, as an input to the second phase of WSIS and beyond. 
Organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), UNESCO, the Institute for Statistics (UIS), the UN Regional Commissions (ECA, ECLAC, ESCAP, ESCWA), the UN ICT Task Force and the World Bank. The meeting is expected to agree on a final list of core ICT indicators to be collected by all countries, including those on basic access and usage by households and individuals, businesses and schools. It will also discuss developing country technical assistance needs as regards the compilation of ICT indicators, identify ICT indicators relevant to achieving the MDGs, and present ongoing work concerning the creation and maintenance of an internation database on ICT indicators.

• Outcomes of past WSIS thematic meetings on the WSIS website
  Outcome documents of past WSIS thematic meetings (if available in electronic form) are published on the WSIS website. 
  

• Links to new publications/books/newsletters related to WSIS:T
  The January issue of ICT Update  - a bi-monthly web magazine, with print bulletin and email newsletter published by CTA, Wageningen, Netherlands -  is entirely devoted to WSIS. The magazine highlights key issues such as Financing the Information Society, the upcoming regional WSIS Conference (2-4 Feb) in Accra, Ghana, and Access to ICTs for Agricultural Development. It includes annotated links to WSIS-related events, documents and initiatives.