WSIS-2005 Fundraising Campaign picks up momentum

CHF 882’000 confirmed for the WSIS Fund

Hammamet, 25 June 2004 – The first day of the Hammamet meeting got off to an impressive start with the confirmation of CHF 882’000 in new financial contributions for the WSIS 2005 Fundraising Campaign.

In response to the ITU Secretary-General’s open appeal to the international community for voluntary contributions, governments, international organizations and NGOs demonstrated their commitment to the success of the Summit by announcing new financial contributions to the WSIS 2005 Fund to support the core preparatory process of the Tunis phase. Governments that announced their contribution at the first PrepCom of the second phase include Japan (CHF 383’000), Norway (CHF 180’000), Spain (CHF 150’000), the Netherlands (CHF 75’000), Senegal (CHF 46’000), Azerbaijan (CHF 15,000), Namibia (CHF 12’500) and the Holy See (CHF 4’000). They were joined by intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations including the World Meteorological Organization (15’000), the United Nations Federal Credit Union (CHF 1’250) and the International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies (CHF 200). The ITU Secretary-General thanked donors for their support, and added “with these new contributions for the WSIS Fund, we have reached 25 per cent of our goal for the WSIS-2005 Fundraising Campaign. This is up from just 8 per cent of the campaign goal prior to the Hammamet meeting”.

The Secretary-General noted that voluntary contributions by Member States and other stakeholders are essential. “The UN General Assembly did not establish a budget for WSIS and instead called upon the international community to support the Summit through voluntary contributions to the special fund established by ITU”. 

The new financial contributions announced at the Hammamet preparatory meeting are on top of the CHF 386’283 already donated by Japan at the launch of the fundraising campaign last April. The new contributions bring the total of the WSIS Fund to over CHF 1.2 million. In addition, the government of the Republic of Korea announced a contribution of CHF 200’000 to support WSIS-related projects and the ITU Council allocated CHF 1’194’000 to support a range of activities related to the Summit. 

A number of governments and other stakeholders have also made in-kind contributions to the Tunis phase of the Summit, including the secondment of staff to the WSIS Executive Secretariat. The Secretary-General also expressed his thanks to the governments of Canada, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and Tunisia as well as UNESCO, KDDI Corporation, the Organisation Tunisienne de l’Education et de la Famille and the Tunisian Association for Communications for their commitment to WSIS. In particular, the Secretary-General highlighted the significant contribution made by the government of Tunisia in organizing the preparatory meeting in Hammamet and supporting the meetings of the WSIS Bureau in the Tunis phase.

The Secretary-General added “we hope to see a wide base of support for the fundraising campaign, from all regions”, pointing out that “all donations, big and small, will contribute to the success of the Summit.”

The total cost of organizing the core preparatory process and the Summit for the Tunis Phase is estimated to be approximately CHF 15 million (cash and in-kind), not including costs incurred by the host country.

The WSIS-2005 Fundraising Campaign was launched in April 2004 to raise at least CHF 5 million in financial contributions for the WSIS Fund and the remainder through in-kind contributions to support core preparatory activities of the Summit.

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