[WSIS CS-Plenary] RT Speakers

Rik Panganiban rikp at earthlink.net
Sat Oct 18 22:52:50 BST 2003 

Dear Colleagues,

Regarding the organization of the roundtables, this the information 
from the document "Proposed Format for the Summit" (UN Doc Symbol: 
WSIS/PC-3/DOC/8(Rev.2)).  Note that this note anticipates there being 
FOUR roundtables, one of a more general nature, and 3 on more specific 
topics to be determined by the Secretariat.

- Rik Panganiban
   WFM

.........................................

1. Round tables will be organized to provide Heads of State or 
Government –or in their absence, Heads of Delegation--the opportunity 
to share their vision of the Information Society along with leaders 
from intergovernmental organizations, civil society (including NGOs) 
and business sector entities (including ITU sector members).

2 Each round table will run for two hours. The number and the schedule 
of the round tables will be determined by the Secretary-General of the 
Summit. The maximum number of round tables will be four.

3. The round tables will be organized around one overarching theme: “An 
Information Society for All: Opportunities and Challenges”. Three of 
the round tables will cover a cluster of related topics and the fourth 
round table will be more generic in nature.

4. To allow enhanced interactivity among participants, each round table 
will comprise up to 30 participants: 15 Heads of State or Government 
and 15 leaders from intergovernmental organizations, civil society 
(including NGOs) and business sector entities (including ITU sector 
members).  If the number of participating Heads of State or Government 
in a round table is less than 15, Heads of Delegation  will be invited 
by the Secretary-General of the Summit to  participate.

5. The round tables will be chaired by Heads of State or Government, 
who will be invited by the President of the Summit. The Chairmen of the 
round tables will come from the African Group, the Asian Group, the 
Eastern European Group and the Latin American Group.

6. Each round table will be moderated by an eminent personality who 
will assist participants with keeping discussions on track and 
interactive. Moderators will be nominated by the Secretary-General of 
the Summit, in consultation with participating States.

7. Each Head of State or Government—or in their absence Head of 
Delegation--participating in a round table may be accompanied by two 
advisers. Other participants may be accompanied by one advisor each.

8. The proceedings of the round tables will be broadcast to an overflow 
room that will be open to the media.  They will also be broadcast 
through the Internet and television.

9. States will be invited by the Executive Secretariat to register 
their Heads of State or Government to participate in one of the round 
tables by 15 November.  Heads of Delegation interested in participating 
in the round tables will be invited by the Executive Secretariat to 
inform the Secretariat by the end of November.

10. Palestine, in its capacity as observer, may participate in one of 
the round tables.

11. Intergovernmental organizations that are members of the High Level 
Summit Organizing Committee (HLSOC) will also be invited by the 
Executive Secretariat to register their Executive Heads to participate 
in one of the round tables by 15 November.  The final decision rests 
with the Secretary-General of the Summit.

12 Participants from civil society (including NGOs) and from business 
sector entities (including ITU sector members) will be identified 
through their self-organizing mechanisms, in coordination with the 
Secretary-General of the Summit.

13. The reports of the round tables will be annexed to the final report 
of the Summit in accordance with  past UN Summit practice.

14. The following documents will be provided by the Executive 
Secretariat to participants following their registration.
(a)Guidelines for participants : This document will provide 
participants with information on the conduct and time management of the 
round tables.
(b)Round table topics : The theme which has been identified for the 
round tables is broad and comprehensive. The Executive Secretariat will 
therefore describe, in this document, the scope of topics encompassed 
within the theme.

On Vendredi, octobre 17, 2003, at 05:25  PM, Robert Guerra wrote:

> On Fri, 17 Oct 2003, YJ Park wrote:
>
>> Can we clarify RT situations in the Summit?
>>
>> 1. How many RTs will be held during the Summit? Five?
>
> i think there are 5. there are also numerous spots day one, and the 
> last
> day for civil society to make comments. again, no more than 5 min./
>
>>
>> 2. Do we have the topic of each RT already? Then we need to know
>>     the topics of the RTs before we brainstorm the speakers.
>
> topics - the roundtables have a very generic topic..which i can not
> recall. the sessions are to be moderated. the question is how many
> speakers on ech panel. i remember hearing mroe than 20 - which does not
> make for a good round a discussion. a lower number like 6-8, like the
> World economic forum roundtables would be mroe condusive for a good,
> health and open discussion.
>
> if there is a large number of speakers - then it is all talking heads..
>
>>
>> 3. If RT topics are not finalized yet, it sounds reasonable to suggest
>>     RT topics together with the corresponding speakers.
>>
>
> from what i recall from the summit briefing the cs bureau was given the
> last thursday-
>
> * all the roundtables are to have the same topic
>
>
>> 4. Lastly, are there any specific definitions or qualification of
>> "high-level"
>>     when we consider the candidate speakers for RT as emphasized by
>>     CSD according to John?
>
>
> * high-level - heads of state, heads of organizations, or people on the
> executive of organizations.
>
> that is to say leadership of organizations, companies or countries. 
> thus
> we would have not a junior minister, but the prime minister of a 
> country.
>
> from the cs point of view, it might mean that interventions are 
> limited to
> managing directors, presidents, directors or execuditve directors of
> organizations.
>
>
>> Can someone or maybe John in Geneve now clarify these issues
>> before we fully engage with this matter?
>
> john mentioned he is in geneva this week. I will be in geneva the first
> week in Nov.
>
> what worries me right now is news of deadline for speaker 
> recommendations
> by the end of october. where the deadline came from is one thing, the
> other is who the recommendations go tom who makes the choice, and when 
> are
> decisions made.
>
> given heads of state will be involved - it is to be expected that a
> deadline be so far in advance..likely CS and other speakers will likely
> have to go through some additional security process/checks to satisfy 
> the
> security handlers of the govts.
>
> in summary - we much try to come up with a process which is as open and
> transparent as possiblein regards to summit speakers.if we do not act
> quickly, the choice as to who will represent civil society might be 
> made
> for us.
>
> robert
>
>
>> Thank you,
>> YJ
>>
>>> As you may know, I am currently in Geneva on some business unrelated 
>>> to
>> the WSIS, however, I just entered the WSIS Secretariat to put some 
>> pressure
>> on them concerning the speakers / Roundtable issue after having read 
>> your
>> emails about this issue.
>>>
>>> Supposedly, the Roundtables is or has become a joint issue of 
>>> discussion
>> between the WSIS Civil Division and the other WSIS divisions for 
>> political
>> reasons, that always exist at all Summits.
>>>
>>> Anyway, my priority is to have an answer today, at least about a 
>>> deadline
>> for recommendations, the amount of spots on the roundtables, etc.  
>> Any info.
>> I have, I will send to the listserves.
>>>
>>> I believe that discussion needs to take place at level of Mr. Utsumi 
>>> and
>> others in regards to the Roundtables, due to the fact that the CS and
>> Private Sector representatives on the Roundtables, must be 
>> "high-level".  At
>> any rate, I hope to have some information soon.
>>>
>>> John R. Gagain Jr.
>>> Think Tanks
>>> WSIS
>>>
>>> ---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
>>> From: Adam Peake <ajp at glocom.ac.jp>
>>> Reply-To: plenary at wsis-cs.org
>>> Date:  Fri, 17 Oct 2003 21:06:06 +0900
>>>
>>>> (apologies for duplicates - unsure of which bureau address to use.
>>>> Also apologies for jumping ahead and making a suggestion without 
>>>> much
>>>> discussion, we don't seem to have much time.)
>>>>
>>>> Wolfgang sent a note about the possibility of civil society
>>>> representatives participating in round tables to be held during the
>>>> summit.  I think the CS Bureau should write and find out what the
>>>> situation is, unless our secretariat can clarify?
>>>>
>>>> Pending a reply from Louise and Claire, I think it sounds like
>>>> something we should communicate direct to the WSIS secretariat.  
>>>> With
>>>> that in mind, below, please see a quick first draft of a possible
>>>> letter from us to them.  Once we have a reply, the Bureau can pass
>>>> responsibility back to the caucus', working groups, CS plenary and
>>>> content and themes to make suggestions about possible participants.
>>>>
>>>> Important this gets done or we may miss the opportunity. Little over
>>>> 7 weeks.  Perhaps not long to find the right people with empty
>>>> calendars.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>>
>>>> Adam
>>>>
>>>> Adam Peake
>>>> GLOCOM Tokyo
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ---
>>>> draft.
>>>>
>>>> CS Bureau to WSIS Sec
>>>>
>>>> We understand that a series of high-level round table discussion
>>>> sessions will be held during the Summit, and that two participants
>>>> from civil society will be invited to join each of these.  We would
>>>> very much like to be involved in the selection process of civil
>>>> society participants in these round table sessions.
>>>>
>>>> Could you please confirm the number of sessions, we believe six?
>>>> Please inform us of the theme of each session, and the organization
>>>> responsible for arranging each session. A draft agenda or time plan
>>>> would be extremely helpful.
>>>>
>>>> Your thoughts on how we should proceed and best work with you in 
>>>> this
>>>> important selection process would be much appreciated.
>>>>
>>>> from The CS Bureau, etc. etc.
>>>>
>>>> ---
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Delivered-To: ajp at glocom.ac.jp
>>>>> From: <wolfgang at imv.au.dk>
>>>>> To: "Adam Peake"<ajp at glocom.ac.jp>, < plenary at wsis-cs.org>
>>>>> Reply-To: <wolfgang at imv.au.dk>
>>>>> Subject: RT Speakers
>>>>> X-Originating-Ip: [141.48.60.85]
>>>>> Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2003 12:52:56 +0200
>>>>>
>>>>> dear friends,
>>>>>
>>>>> has anybody already an information about the subjects of the six or
>>>>> so roundtables? My understanding is, that in each Round Table, 
>>>>> which
>>>>> will be high level RT with heads of States and CEOs of 
>>>>> corporations,
>>>>> there will be two speakers from civil society.
>>>>>
>>>>> My proposal for a procedure is that we
>>>>> 1. signal to the WSIS Secretariat, that CS Plenary / CS C&T will 
>>>>> via
>>>>> the CS Bureau as soon as posisble that we will make officially
>>>>> concrete proposals (to avoid that the WSIS Secretariat or somebody
>>>>> else invites speakers from elsewhere) and
>>>>> 2. start to manage a list with proposed speakers for the Round
>>>>> Tables so that we can find a way to have high level and balanced
>>>>> geographical, constituency, gender etc. representation.
>>>>>
>>>>> After the nomination of "CS Speakers/Panelists" we shoud encoruage
>>>>> the panelists to communicate with the relevant Caucus / C&T group 
>>>>> to
>>>>> make sure, that basic points, developed over the preperatory
>>>>> process, should be adequately made public in the panel discussion.
>>>>>
>>>>> Best regards
>>>>>
>>>>> wolfgang
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
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>>>
>>>
>>
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