The second morning of the WSIS Prepcom in Tunisia began with presentations from representatives of international agencies and the private sector, to be followed by civil society. Various international agencies discussed their priorities for the Tunis phase of WSIS, some offering to host thematic meetings on issues outlined in the plan of action. For example, UNCTAD and OECD stated they are going to host two thematic meetings between now and the Tunis summit in November 2005. First, they will co-host a meeting on ICT indicators and statistics, for monitoring ICT development around the world and help foster informed ICT policymaking; this event has been proposed for February 2005 in Geneva. Second, they outlined plans for an event to address the impact of ICTs on economic development, and exploring best practices for the use of ICTs to raise economic competitiveness of developing countries.
A representative from the private sector then noted their priorities and objectives for the Tunis phase of WSIS. Priorities:
- Observers should be able to attend all WSIS-related meetings to provide meaningful input to government delegates.
- Rules should allow observers to intervene in all meetings.
- transparency and timely distribution of information for documents, meetings and other resources.
Objectives:
- Negotiations during the Prepcoms should focus on unresolved issues, particularly financing mechanisms and Internet governance. Governments should from renegotiating issues that were resolved during the Geneva phase of WSIS.
- Assessment, evaluation and benchmarking of the WSIS Plan of Action should be focus of the Tunis summit.
- Thematic meetings should focus on key themes outlined in the Plan of Action. The meetings should not be used to open previously resolved issues.
At this point in the plenary, Ambassador Karklins suspended presentations for three minutes and called upon bureau representatives from the private sector and civil society to the podium for three minutes. After 15 minutes had elapsed, Karklins suddenly suspending the proceedings for 45 minutes and called for a meeting of the entire bureau. I hope to have more information soon.