Abdoulaye Wade, Senegalese lawyer and statesman, has been the President of the Republic of Senegal since 1 April 2000.

As one of the main promoters of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), and particularly as the coordinator of the ICT sector, President Wade has spoken out actively for Africa and the Information Society.

Throughout the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process he vigorously championed the concept of digital solidarity and emphasized the potential that information and communication technologies harbour for development, with the desire that WSIS might lead to a true dialogue on the subject.

The principle of digital solidarity has been embodied in Paragraph 61 of the Geneva Declaration of Principles, which invites “all stakeholders to commit to the Digital Solidarity Agenda” set forth in the Geneva Plan of Action.

An optimist and visionary, President Wade has worked assiduously to make the concept of digital solidarity a reality through the creation of the Digital Solidarity Fund, a new voluntary funding mechanisms aimed at supporting local development projects.

The Digital Solidarity Fund was inaugurated in Geneva in April 2005, and was welcomed by the World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva 2003-Tunis 2005) as well as by the Millennium Summit meeting in New York in September 2005.