Ambassador Janis Karklins of Latvia, newly-elected president of the Prepcoms for the Tunis phase of WSIS, was the first to speak during the during the first plenary session. “I would like to extend my profound gratitude to the govt of Tunisia for its warm hospitality. Conditions of work here are excellent and certainly stimulate fruitful debate and meaningful outcomes.” He paid tribute to Adama Samasekou, who chaired the first phase of Prepcoms for Geneva, then led a vote to adopt the proposed agenda for the three days of meetings.
Most of the morning was spent with countries giving brief statements reiterating their support for the WSIS, as well as outlining any financial contributions they’re making to the process. The session wrapped up just after 1pm, and is about to start again for the 3pm plenary, which is running a few minutes late. Ambassador Karklins has been banging the gavel for about five minutes, and is just getting the audience's attention.