WSIS Process follow-up on the Summit of the Future Outcome Documents
The recently adopted Summit of the Future Outcome Document comprises a Pact for the Future that includes a Global Digital Compact and a Declaration on Future Generations (A/RES/79/1). The Pact for the Future highlights that the advances in knowledge, science, technology and innovation could deliver a breakthrough to a better and more sustainable future for all. (para 3). It also reaffirms commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable development and its SDGs (para 10). The Pact covers a broad range of themes covering: (i) Sustainable development and financing for development; (ii) International peace and security; (iii) Science, technology and innovation and digital cooperation; (iv) Youth and future generations; and (v) Transforming global governance.
The WSIS Process: The UN General Assembly Resolution 56/183 (21 December 2001) endorsed the holding of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in two phases. The first phase took place in Geneva from 10 to 12 December 2003 and the second phase took place in Tunis, from 16 to 18 November 2005.The objective of the first phase was to develop and foster a clear statement of political will and take concrete steps to establish the foundations for an Information Society for all, reflecting all the different interests at stake. Geneva Declaration of Principles and Geneva Plan of Action were adopted on 12 December 2003. The objective of the second phase was to put Geneva's Plan of Action into motion as well as to find solutions and reach agreements in the fields of Internet governance, financing mechanisms, and follow-up and implementation of the Geneva and Tunis documents. Tunis Commitment and Tunis Agenda for the Information Society were adopted on 18 November 2005.
Member States and all stakeholders have recognized the dynamic evolution of the WSIS as a proven and continually evolving process that addresses the impact of new technologies and expand digital cooperation across various platforms, including the WSIS Forum and Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and its intersessional workstreams such as the one on new emerging tech.
The WSIS Process and its elements like the WSIS Action Lines, United Nations Group on Information Society (UNGIS), WSIS Forum, IGF, etc. provide an existing framework for implementing the commitment of the Pact towards leveraging science, technology, and innovation for the benefit of people and the planet, focusing on enhancing capacities in developing countries. These efforts will ensure that these advancements promote human rights and improve gender equality, positively impacting the lives of women and girls. They also aim to respect and integrate Indigenous and traditional knowledge. Additionally, they support international cooperation in science, technology, and innovation to create a more equitable and sustainable future for all.
The WSIS Process and the Pact of the Future share several key similarities:
Focus on Inclusivity: Both emphasize the importance of creating an inclusive society where all individuals, regardless of their background, have access to technology and its benefits.
Addressing the Digital Divide: Both initiatives aim to bridge the gap between developed and developing countries regarding access to information and communication technologies (ICTs).
Promotion of International Cooperation: Both documents highlight the need for collaboration among governments, private sectors, and civil society to harness technology for sustainable development.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): They both align with the overarching goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, recognizing the role of technology in achieving these goals.
Capacity Building: Both initiatives stress the importance of strengthening the capacities of countries, particularly developing ones, to effectively utilize technology and innovation.
Human Rights Consideration: Both documents advocate for the protection and promotion of human rights in the context of technology, ensuring that advancements do not exacerbate existing inequalities.
Innovation and Knowledge Sharing: They emphasize the need for fostering innovation and the sharing of knowledge and best practices among countries to enhance technological development.
Ethical and Sustainable Use of Technology: Both underscore the importance of ensuring that science, technology, and innovation are used ethically, sustainably and responsibly to benefit all.
These similarities reflect a unified vision for leveraging technology to foster sustainable development and create a more equitable world.
WSIS Process and 2030 Agenda – GDC Matrix
Objective 1: Close All Digital Divides and Accelerate Progress Across Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Commitments and actions | SDGs | WSIS Action Lines |
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Connectivity | ||
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SDG 9 | WSIS Action Lines C1, C2, C3, C5, C6, C7 E-government, C7 E-employment, C7 E-agriculture, and C11 |
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SDGs 1 and 9 | WSIS Action Lines C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7 E-business, C7 E-agriculture, and C11 |
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SDGs 9 and 11 | WSIS Action Lines C1, C2, C3, C5, C6, C7 E-government, C7 E-learning, C7 E-environment, C7 E-agriculture, and C11 |
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SDGs 3 and 4 | WSIS Action Lines C1, C2, C3, C4, C7 E-health, C7 E-learning, C7 E-agriculture, and C11 |
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SDGs 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, and 14 | WSIS Action Lines C1, C2, C3, C6, C7 E-environment, C7 E-business, C7 E-agriculture, and C11 |
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SDGs 10 & 11 | WSIS Action Lines C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7 E-environment, C7 E-agriculture, C7 E-health, C8, C10, and C11 |
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SDG 5 | All WSIS Action Lines |
Digital literacy, skills and capacities | ||
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SDGs 4 and 5 | WSIS Action C1 C2, C3, C4, C6, C7 E-learning, C7 E-government, C7 E-employment, and C11 |
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SDGs 4 and 10 | WSIS Action Lines C1, C2, C3, C4, C6, C7 E-learning, C7 E-business, C7 E-agriculture, C8, and C11 |
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SDGs 5 and 10 | WSIS Action Lines C2, C4, C6, C7 E-learning, C7 E-employment, C7 E-environment, C7 E-agriculture, and C8 |
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SDGs 5 and 10 | WSIS Action Lines C2, C3, C4, C6, C7 E-learning, and C8 |
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SDG 16 | WSIS Action Lines C2, C3, C4, C6, C7 E-learning, C7 E-employment, C7 E-government, C7 E-agriculture, and C8 |
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SDG 8 | WSIS Action Lines C2, C3, C4, C6, C7 E-learning, C7 E-employment, C7 E-agriculture, and C8 |
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SDGs 4 and 17 | WSIS Action Lines C2, C3, C4, C6, C7 E-learning, C8 |
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SDG 4 | All WSIS Action Lines |
Digital public goods and digital public infrastructure | ||
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SDGs 8, 9, and 10 | WSIS Action Lines C2, C3, C5, and C7 E-agriculture |
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All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
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All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
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SDG 16 | WSIS Action Lines C2, C3, C7 E-agriculture, and C10 |
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SDGs 16 and 17 | WSIS Action Lines C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7 E-government, C7 E-learning, C7 E-agriculture, and C11 |
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SDG 17 | WSIS Action Lines C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7 E-government, C7 E-learning, C7 E-agriculture, and C11 |
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SDG 17 | WSIS Action Lines C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7 E-government, C7 E-learning, C7 E-environment, C7 E-agriculture, and C11 |
Objective 2: Expand Inclusion in and Benefits from the Digital Economy for All
Commitments and actions | SDGs | WSIS Action Lines |
---|---|---|
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SDG 9 | WSIS Action Lines C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7 E-business, C7 E-agriculture, and C11 |
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SDGs 10 and 16 | WSIS Action Lines C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7 E-business, C7 E-agriculture, and C11 |
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All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
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SDG 17 | All WSIS Action Lines |
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SDGs 8 and 9 | WSIS Action Lines C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7 E-business, and C7 E-agriculture |
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SDG 17 | WSIS Action Lines C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7 E-business, C7 E-agriculture, and C11 |
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SDG 17 | WSIS Action Lines C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7 E-business, C7 E-agriculture, and C11 |
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SDG 9 | WSIS Action Lines C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7 E-business, C7 E-agriculture, and C11 |
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SDGs 8 and 9 | WSIS Action Lines C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7 E-business, C7 E-agriculture, and C11 |
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SDG 9 | All WSIS Action Lines |
Objective 3: Foster an Inclusive, Open, Safe, and Secure Digital Space that Respects, Protects, and Promotes Human Rights
Commitments and actions | SDGs | WSIS Action Lines |
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Human rights | ||
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All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
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All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
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All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
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All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
Internet governance | ||
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SDG 9 | WSIS Action Lines C1, C2, C3, C5, C6, C7 E-agriculture, C9, and C11 |
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SDGs 9 and 10 | All WSIS Action Lines |
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SDG 16 | All WSIS Action Lines |
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SDG 16 | All WSIS Action Lines |
Digital trust and safety | ||
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SDGs 3, 5, 9, 10, 16, and 17 | WSIS Action Lines C1, C2, C3, C5, C6, C7 E-health, C7 E-government, C9, and C11 |
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SDGs 3, 5, and 10 | WSIS Action Lines C2, C5, C6, C7 E-health, C7 E-government, and C7 E-learning |
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SDG 17 | WSIS Action Lines C2, C5, C6, C7 E-health, and C7 E-government |
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SDGs 10 and 16 | WSIS Action Lines C1, C2, C3, C5, C6, C7 E-health, C7 E-government, C9, C10, and C11 |
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SDGs 5 and 16 | WSIS Action Lines C2, C5, C6, C7 E-health, C7 E-government, C7 E-employment, C7 E-learning, C7 e-agriculture, C9, and C11 |
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SDG 3 | WSIS Action Lines C1, C2, C3, C5, C6, C7 E-health, C7 E-government, C9, and C11 |
Information integrity | ||
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SDGs 3 and 4 | WSIS Action Lines C3, C7 E-learning, C9, and C11 |
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SDGs 9 and 16 | WSIS Action Line C9 |
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SDGs 3, 4, 9 and 16 | WSIS Action Lines C9, and C11 |
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SDGs 3, 4, 9 and 16 | WSIS Action Lines C9, and C11 |
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SDG 10 | All WSIS Action Lines |
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SDG 17 | All WSIS Action Lines |
Objective 4: Advance Responsible, Equitable, and Interoperable Data Governance Approaches
Commitments and actions | SDGs | WSIS Action Lines |
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Data privacy and security | ||
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All SDGs | WSIS Action Lines C2, C3, C7 E-business, and C10 |
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All SDGs | WSIS Action Lines C2, C3, C7 E-business, C7 E-environment, and C10 |
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SDGs 10 and 16 | WSIS Action Lines C2, C3, C7 E-business, and C10 |
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All SDGs | WSIS Action Lines C2, C3, C7 E-business, and C10 |
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SDGs 8 and 9 | WSIS Action Lines C2, C3, C4, and C7 E-employment |
Data exchanges and standards | ||
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SDGs 3, 5, 10, and 16 | All WSIS Action Lines |
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All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
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All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
Data for the Sustainable Development Goals and for development | ||
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SDG 17 | All WSIS Action Lines |
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All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
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SDGs 3 and 11 | WSIS Action Lines C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7 E-environment, and C7 E-agriculture |
Cross-border data flows | ||
Advance consultations among all relevant stakeholders to better understand commonalities, complementarities, convergence and divergence between regulatory approaches on how to facilitate cross-border data flows with trust so as to develop publicly available knowledge and best practices |
SDG 17 | All WSIS Action Lines |
Objective 5: Enhance International Governance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the Benefit of Humanity
Commitments and actions | SDGs | WSIS Action Lines |
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All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
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SDG 17 | WSIS Action Lines C2, C5, and C10 |
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SDG 17 | WSIS Action Lines C2, C5, and C10 |
We therefore request the President of the General Assembly to appoint at the seventy-ninth session of the General Assembly co-facilitators, one from a developed country and one from a developing country, to identify, through an intergovernmental process and consultations with other relevant stakeholders, the terms of reference and modalities for the establishment and functioning of the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI and the Global Dialogue on AI Governance for the adoption by the General Assembly. |
WSIS Action Lines C2, C5, and C10 | |
We call on standards development organizations to collaborate to promote the development and adoption of interoperable artificial intelligence standards that uphold safety, reliability, sustainability and human rights |
SDGs 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 16, and 17 | WSIS Action Lines C2, C5, and C10 |
We will promote safe, secure and trustworthy artificial intelligence systems that advance, protect and preserve linguistic and cultural diversity and that take into account multilingualism throughout the life cycle of these systems |
SDGs 10 and 16 | WSIS Action Lines C2, C5, and C8 |
We encourage the development of international partnerships on artificial intelligence capacitybuilding to develop education and training programmes, increase access to resources including open artificial intelligence models and systems, open training data and compute, facilitate artificial intelligence model training and development, and promote the participation of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises in the digital economy |
SDGs 4 and 17 | WSIS Action Lines C2, C3, C4, C5, C10, and C11 |
We will leverage existing United Nations and multi-stakeholder mechanisms to support artificial intelligence capacity-building to bridge artificial intelligence divides, facilitate access to artificial intelligence applications and build capacity in high-performance computing and related skills in developing countries |
All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
We will promote North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation to support the development of representative high-quality data sets, affordable compute resources, local solutions that reflect linguistic and cultural diversity and entrepreneurial ecosystems in developing countries |
SDGs 4, 9, 10, and 17 | WSIS Action Lines C3, C8, and C11 |
Follow-up and Review
Commitments and actions | SDGs | WSIS Action Lines |
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We will implement the Global Digital Compact, within our own countries and at regional and global levels, taking into account different national realities, capacities and levels of development, and respecting national policies and priorities and applicable legal frameworks. |
All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
These efforts can only succeed with the active engagement of the private sector, technical and academic communities and civil society, whose innovations and contributions to digitalization are fundamental and irreplaceable. We will strengthen our collaboration and leverage multistakeholder cooperation to achieve the objectives set out in this Compact. |
All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
We invite international and regional organizations, the private sector, academia, the technical community and civil society groups to endorse the Compact and take active part in its implementation and follow-up. We request the SecretaryGeneral to put in place modalities for the voluntary endorsement of this Compact, and to make this information public and accessible from December 2024. |
All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
We recognize the importance of financing to unlock the full potential of this Compact. Successful implementation will require public, private and multilateral resources, including the pooling of investments in joint and blended facilities for impact at scale, including through United Nations mechanisms such as the Digital Window of the Joint SDG Fund and facilities in multilateral development banks. We call on Governments to make support to digital transformation integral to development assistance, including through increased allocations to digital and data initiatives. We invite private sector and philanthropic actors to consider financial pledges in support of the implementation of this Compact. |
All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
We will build on the processes and forums emanating from the World Summit on the Information Society, in particular the Internet Governance Forum and its national and regional initiatives, as well as the WSIS Forum, to advance implementation of this Compact. We look forward to the WSIS+20 review in 2025 and invite it to identify how these processes and forums can support the contribution of all stakeholders to implementation of the Compact. |
All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
We recognize the contribution of all United Nations entities, agencies, funds and programmes in advancing digital cooperation, including but not limited to the International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and invite them, as well as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to support, within their existing mandates, implementation of this Compact. We recognize the role of the United Nations regional economic commissions and United Nations country teams in supporting regional and national stakeholders to advance digital transformation. |
All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
We recognize the role of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development in reviewing follow-up on the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society and request it to consider how it can contribute further to the implementation of the Compact. |
All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
To track and monitor progress, we request the Secretary-General to provide a Compact implementation map for the consideration of Governments and other stakeholders that reflects the contributions of the United Nations system and other relevant stakeholders and to reflect this in the report of the Secretary-General on progress made in the implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society at the regional and international levels ahead of the WSIS+20 review. |
All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
We recognize that further strengthening of system-wide coordination is required to enable the United Nations to realize the inclusive platform for digital cooperation set out in this Compact. To this end, we request the Secretary-General, following consultations with Member States, to submit a proposal to the General Assembly during its seventy-ninth session for the establishment of an office, building on and incorporating the activities and resources of the existing Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology, to facilitate system-wide coordination, working closely with existing mechanisms. This proposal should include detailed information on operational functions, structure, location, mandate renewal, resources and staffing. |
All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
We recognize the role of the high-level political forum on sustainable development and the Economic and Social Council in reviewing progress of the Compact in closing digital divides and accelerating achievement of the 2030 Agenda. We recognize the role of the Human Rights Council, within its existing mandate, in fostering an inclusive, open, safe and secure digital space for all |
All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |
The cross-cutting nature of digital technologies and the multiplicity of actors involved in digital cooperation require synergies and aligned followup. We commit to review the Compact to assess progress against its objectives and to identify emerging opportunities and challenges for global digital cooperation. We decide to convene a high-level meeting entitled “High-level review of the Global Digital Compact”, to take place during the eighty-second session of the General Assembly, based on a progress report by the Secretary-General and with the input and meaningful participation of all stakeholders, including the Commission on Science and Technology for Development, the Internet Governance Forum and World Summit on the Information Society action line facilitators. We request the President of the General Assembly to appoint co-facilitators, one from a developing country and one from a developed country, at the eighty-first session to facilitate open, transparent and inclusive intergovernmental consultations to determine the modalities for this high-level meeting. |
All SDGs | All WSIS Action Lines |