WSIS Forum 2016 Official Opening Ceremony

The Opening Ceremony sets the priorities of the WSIS Forum 2016, bringing forth a wide range of topics within the Global Information and Knowledge Societies while emphasizing the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), WSIS Action Lines in particular, regarding the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this way, the WSIS Forum 2016 builds upon the outcomes of the UN General Assembly Overall Review of the implementation of the WSIS outcomes (UNGA Resolution 70/125), which recognized the necessity of holding this Forum on an annual basis and called for a close alignment between WSIS and the SDG processes.

The WSIS Forum 2016 will therefore serve as a key forum for discussing the role of ICTs as a means of implementation of the SDGs and targets, with due regard to the global mechanism for follow-up and review of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UNGA Resolution A/70/1). The WSIS-SDG Matrix, developed by UN WSIS Action Line Facilitator and presented at the WSIS Forum 2015, will serve as the mechanism to map, analyse and coordinate the implementation of WSIS Action Lines, and more specifically, ICTs as enablers and accelerators of the SDGs.

The ceremony will begin with opening statements from the host, co-organizers, partners and representatives of stakeholders engaged in the WSIS Process. The Opening Ceremony will conclude with the handing out of the WSIS prizes.

The format, agenda, and the thematic focus of the Forum is a result of an open consultation process with the involvement of all WSIS Stakeholders. The Forum will build upon two tracks, the High-Level Track, and the Forum Track.

9:00–9:45

Opening Ceremony:

1. Mr Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary-General (Video Message)
2. Mr Houlin Zhao, Secretary-General, ITU
3. Visionary Speech: H.E. Mr Majed El Mesmar, Deputy Director General, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), United Arab Emirates (Strategic Partner Platinum of the WSIS Forum)
4. Mr Joakim Reiter, Deputy Secretary General, UNCTAD
5. Mr Indrajit Banerjee, Director, Knowledge Societies Division (KSD), Communication and Information Sector (CI), UNESCO
6. Mr Philipp Metzger, Director General, OFCOM, Switzerland (Host of the First Phase of the WSIS in 2003)
7. Mr Cyril  Ritchie, President, Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations (CoNGO) Civil Society
8. Ms Dominique Lazanski, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and Business Action to Support the Information Society (BASIS)

9:45–10:00

High-level Statements by Heads of UN Agencies:

1. Ms Arancha González, Executive Director, International trade Centre (ITC)
2. Mr Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General, World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
3. Mr. Christian Friis Bach, Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
4. Mr Pascal Clivaz, Deputy Director General, Universal Postal Union (UPU)
5. Mr Peter Major, Chairman, UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD)

10:00–10:15

Appointment of the Chairman of the WSIS Forum 2016 and announcement of High-level Track Facilitators

• Mr Houlin Zhao, Secretary-General, ITU
• Chairman: Ambassador Daniel A. Sepulveda, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, United States of America

Civil Society

1. Ms Chinmayi Arun, Executive Director, Centre for Communication Governance at National Law University Delhi, India
2. Dr. Cisse Kane, President, African Civil Society on the Information Society (ACSIS), Senegal
3. Mr. Klaus Stoll, Executive Director, Global Knowledge Partnership, Germany
4. Ms. Iffat Gill, Founder/CEO, ChunriChoupaal, The Code to Change, Netherlands
5. Ms. Anriette Esterhuysen, Executive director of the Association for Progressive Communications , APC, South Africa

Technical Community

1. Mr. Nigel Hickson, Vice President, International Governmental Organisations (IGO) Engagement, ICANN, United Kingdom
2. Mr. Pablo Hinojosa, Director, Strategic Engagement, APNIC, Australia
3. Ms. Karen McCabe, Senior Director of Technology Policy and International Affairs, IEEE, USA
4. Ms. Anna Slomovic, Lead Research Scientist, Cyber Security and Privacy Research Institute, George Washington University, USA

Academia

1. Dr. Tomasz Janowski, Head, United Nations University Operating Unit on Policy-Driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV), Portugal
2. Dr. Shailaja Fennell, Lecturer in Development Studies, Centre of Development Studies and Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
3. Dr. Greg Shannon, Ph.D., Chief Scientist for the CERT Division, Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, Past Chair of the IEEE Cybersecurity Initiative, USA

Private Sector

1. Ms. Marilyn Cade - Board Member of WAVE and Advisor to ICT Associations from Developing Countries, USA
2. Ms. Elizabeth THOMAS-RAYNAUD, Senior Policy Executive and Director, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), France
3. Ms Lori S. Schulman, Senior Director, Internet Policy, International Trademark Association (INTA)
4. Mr Frank McCosker, General Manager, Affordable Access and Smart Financing, Microsoft

10:15–10:45

High-Level Opening Policy Statements:

• Mr Houlin Zhao, Secretary-General, ITU
• Chairman: Ambassador Daniel A. Sepulveda, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, United States of America

1. Japan — H.E. Mr Yasuo Sakamoto, Vice-Minister for Policy Coordination, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
2. Saudi Arabia — Mr Khalad Almanzalawy, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations Office in Geneva
3. Poland — H.E. Ms Magdalena Gaj, President of Office for Electronic Communications (UKE)
4. ICANN — Mr Akram Atallah, President and CEO
5. Internet Society (ISOC) — Mr Raúl Echeberría, Vice President
6. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) — Mr Oleg Logvinov, Chairperson of the IEEE Internet Initiative 
7. International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) — Mr Leon Strous, President

10:45–11:45

High-Level Strategic Dialogue on WSIS Action Lines and SDGs

Access to advanced technologies has grown at a fast pace since the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) adopted in 2000, and the celebration of Word Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), held in two phases in Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005), and yet, the impressive gains observed during the MDG era are still hampered by existing gaps in ICT access – between and within countries, between urban and rural settings, among men and women, and boys and girls.  A major digital divide is still in place, with more people offline than online and particularly poor access in vulnerable developing nations. 

The WSIS Forum 2016 will be the first edition after the adoption of ¨Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development¨ and  the ¨Outcome document of the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society¨. 

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes in its Declaration that “the spread of information and communication technology and global interconnectedness has great potential to accelerate human progress, to bridge the digital divide and to develop knowledge societies, as does scientific and technological innovation across areas as diverse as medicine and energy”.  The Outcome document of the WSIS review calls for “close alignment between the World Summit on the Information Society process and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, highlighting the crosscutting contribution of information and communications technology to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and poverty eradication, and noting that access to information and communications technologies has also become a development indicator and aspiration in and of itself”. 

The WSIS vision and its Action Lines remain ever so valid, and as demonstrated by the mapping exercise WSIS-SDG Matrix, there are clear and direct linkages and an explicit connection between the key aim of the WSIS and the Sustainable Development Goals. A collective commitment to reinvigorate collaborative action to harness the power of new technologies in promoting sustainable development and making the goal of universal and affordable access to ICTs and knowledge a reality is still required.

Members States have committed “to harnessing the potential of information and communications technologies to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other internationally agreed development goals, noting that they can accelerate progress across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals” and have made a call “on all Governments, the private sector, civil society, international organizations, the technical and academic communities and all other relevant stakeholders to integrate information and communications technologies into their approaches to implementing the Goals”.

The High-Level Strategic Dialogue on WSIS Action Lines and SDGs will engage in identifying how the multistakeholder WSIS process and Action Line follow-up can best be leveraged to support implementation, follow-up and review of the SDGs.  Questions relating opportunities and challenges in doing so will be posed, and what is the role of the different stakeholders in the process.

• Mr Houlin Zhao, Secretary-General, ITU
• Moderator—Chairman: Ambassador Daniel A. Sepulveda, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, United States of America

1. Latvia — Amb Janis Mazeiks, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Latvia in New York (UNGA Review WSIS Facilitator)
2. ITU — Mr Brahima Sanou, Director of Telecommunication Development Bureau
3. International Council for Science (ICSU) — Dr Heide Hackmann, Executive Director
   (Member of UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism Group for the SDGs)
4. University of Oxford — Prof Xiaolan Fu, Director of Technology and Management Centre for Development
   (Member of UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism Group for the SDGs)
5. UNDESA — Ms Marion Barthelemy, Acting Director, Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM)
6. United Nations University — Professor Michael Best, Director of the UNU Institute on Computing and Society (UNU-CS)
7. Global e-Sustainablility Initiative (GeSI) — Ms Joan Krajewski, Board Member
8. ISOC — Ms Adela Goberna, Chair of the Youth Special Interest Group

11:45–12:15

WSIS Project Prize Ceremony

Eighteen WSIS Project Prizes will be awarded during this session recognizing successful initiatives by governments, private sector actors, civil society members and partnerships between all stakeholders. www.wsis.org/prizes.
The winners are awarded for their tremendous efforts and achievements on implementation of WSIS outcomes.

• Mr Houlin Zhao, Secretary-General, ITU
  • Awarding 18 Winning Projects