[WSIS CS-Plenary] prepcom opening ceremony

[Andy Carvin]

At the Yasmine Hammamet Medina in Tunisia this morning, Mr. Utsumi of the
International Telecommunications Union opened the first preparatory meeting
(prepcom)  of the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information
Society. He said we should now move beyond making declarations and embrace
real action to bridge the digital divide. ?I now call on governments,
private sector and civil society to find common ground.?  The
representative of the Swiss government discussed a range of issues,
including the role of civil society in the WSIS process. He said that he
felt civil society?s contributions have helped stimulate ideas amongst
governments, and reiterated the importance of civil society participating
throughout the process.

The Tunisian government representative then welcomed the plenary audience
on behalf of Tunisian President Ben Ali. ?I am convinced that the
complimentary of the summit process, with its first phase in Geneva and the
second phase in Tunis? will strengthen the bonds of international
solidarity,? he said. He then went on to reaffirm the importance of civil
society and the private sector participating in the process.  He added that
civil society should ?intensify? their participation in the process, saying
they are ?an essential element? for the establishment of the information
society. As part of the Tunisian government?s support of civil society
participation, he called for a permanent UN fund for financing the
participation of civil society in the WSIS process. He then said the
Tunisian government would contribute 200,000 dinars  (USD $160,000) to help
facilitate the participation of civil society representatives from the
developing world, particularly groups representing youth, women and the
disabled. He said these groups would also receive free space to display
their activities at the Tunis summit. Similarly, he offered free space for
small private sector companies interested in presenting at the summit.

-------------------------------------------------
Andy Carvin
Program Director
EDC Center for Media & Community
acarvin @ edc . org
http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org
-------------------------------------------------