[WSIS CS-Plenary] TR: WSIS: Some practical information for participants from civil society

Thu Nov 10 15:05:00 GMT 2005

Dear all,

We have just received below message from Charles Geiger for circulation.
Please read carefully.
Hope to see many of you in Tunis!
Best
Renata 

-----Message d'origine-----
De : charles.geiger at itu.int [mailto:charles.geiger at itu.int] 
Envoyé : jeudi, 10. novembre 2005 14:55
À : rbloem at ngocongo.org; wsis at ngocongo.org; ramin.kaweh at unctad.org
Cc : charlotte.sgier at itu.int; moncef.achour at itu.int; Mika.Yamanaka at itu.int;
toru.nakaya at itu.int
Objet : FW: WSIS: Some practical information for participants from civil
society

Dear Renate and Ramin

With reference to our discussion yesterday, I would like to give you some
useful practical information for participants from civil society at the
Tunis Summmit. May I suggest that you circulate this information through the
usual civil society channels. 

First of all, participants should read the different documents on the
"Information for participants" page at
http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/info.html

The first document is called "Information for participants"  and contains
all the basic information a participant should know before taking the plane
to Tunis. Let us go step by step: 

A. On Arrival

Participants arriving by plane will find shuttle buses at the Airport exit
which will take them to the Registration area. An information desk is placed
at the entrace of the Registration area for all possible inquiries. On-site
registration will start on 11 November and is open nonstop from 07.00 to
22.00 till 18 November. The address of the Registration area is in the above
mentioned document "Information for participants". This address may be
useful for participants from Tunisia or who did arrive in Tunisia before 11
November.

At the entrance of the Registration Center, participants will be asked to
show their passport/ID-card and the registration confirmation letter. If
they do not have their registration letter, they will first have to queue up
for registration or registraton confirmation. Otherwise they can directly
proceed to the badging desks.

At the Registration Center, all participants will receive the official
documents and a Summit bag. Shuttle busses will transport them to the
different hotels. It is preferable to go to the hotel first, as participants
will not be allowed to enter the Kram PalExpo with flight baggage etc..
>From all hotels that were listed on the official website of the host country
there will be shuttle buses to the Kram PalExpo and back to the hotel.

B. Summit Time Management Plan

Governments decided at PrepCom-2 of the Tunis phase to propose to the Summit
a Time management plan. This plan is at 
http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs2/tunis/off/tmp.html . 

We do not expect any major changes of the Summit time management plan. 

C. Documents: 

ITU has decided a documents policy for the Tunis Summit. This policy is the
second document on the above mentioned Information for participants page.
The exact URL is http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs2/tunis/adm/4.doc for the
English version and the exact title is "Guidelines for the distribution of
publications, documents, and any other printed materials on the premises of
the Summit".

This policy makes a difference between documents for distribution at tables
in different locations of the Kram, and documents used during a parallel
event inside a parallel events room. Documents for distribution at tables
are checked in advance ("ex ante") by ITU/UN staff before they are tabled.
This check was also done at the Geneva Summit for all documents displayed on
the tables underneath Hall in Geneva PalExpo, and it is also the practice of
all other UN Summits. Documents which are only  used during a parallel event
and inside a parallel events room are the responsibility of the organizer of
the parallel event. There will be no ex-ante check of these documents.    

We would like to raise your attention to the first point of article 7, which
is for those documents that would be distributed at tables inside the Summit
Perimeter. The passage reads as follows:

"To avoid delays, it is strongly advised to obtain prior approval of
distribution of WSIS-related documents. Requests should be addressed by
e-mail to the WSIS-related Documents Service (wsis-related-docs at itu.int),
providing the following information:
a.	name of submitting entity;
b.	contact details of the responsible person, including a mobile phone
number;
c.	total quantities to be delivered;
d.	languages of documents to be delivered.
On-site requests should be submitted for clearance at least 24 hours prior
to distribution.
Delivery of a maximum of 500 copies is recommended".

The advantage of obtaining prior approval by sending an electronic copy to
wsis-related-docs at itu.int is that the clearance at the Kram Center will be
much quicker. This procedure is not necessary for documents which are only
used during parallel events and in the parallel events room. We will very
probably publish shortly an Addendum to the Guidelines for the distribution
of documentation etc. which describes in detail the process of documents
handling inside the Summit Perimeter.

If an NGO or a civil society entity would like to send documents by mail in
advance to the Kram, there is also an address in the guidelines:

Livraison Documentation
WSIS-related Documents Service
PalExpo du Kram
SMSI 2005
Porte No. 3
2015 Le Kram 
Tunisie

The Tunisian authorities have promised to do their best that any documents
sent to this address are forwarded as soon as possible to the Kram.

Today or tomorrow we will put on the website, just next to the Documents
policy, an Addendum 1 which explains the procedures how to get documents
into the Summit perimeter. The Guidelines did not deal with these detailed
procedures, so we felt necessary to give some additional information. I
suggest that civil society participants who have documents for distribution
inside the Summit Perimeters, on the tables, read this new document which
should appear asap.

D. Parallel events

Information regarding parallel events is at
http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/events/index.html 

A daily list of events is our website and also on the website of the host
country Tunisia, and the host country will very probably make available
hardcopies of the daily programme each day. 

Events organizers should take note of the guidelines from the Secretary
General of the Summit for parallel events and also of the applicable rules
for parallel events. The latter provide the timings of the events and all
other logistical matters. Rooms are given on the basis of time-slots of two
hours/four hours/six hours etc. and should be vacated 15 minutes before the
end of the time slot, this is a courtesy to the next user. Rooms are
equipped with microphones at the podium and with loudspeakers. All rooms are
in theatre style. Most rooms do not have interpreter cabins. Any material
beyond this basic equipment can be provided either by the events organizer
(he can e.g. provide his own laptop and beamer) or can be hired. Three
companies were selected by COSMSI for hiring equipment to event organizers.
These companies can be contacted by the event organizers. The list
containing the three companies is attached at the bottom. I think you have
circulated this information already earlier.

E. Resumed PrepCom

The resumed PrepCom will start on Sunday 13 November in the Kram Palexpo at
12.00 with a short organizational Plenary, and will continue thereafter in
Subcommittee mode (in a consecutive manner, alternating Subcommittee A and
B). A tentative time management plan is available since yesterday at
http://www.itu.int/wsis/documents/doc_multi.asp?lang=en&id=2226|0 . The
Bureau decided also that the resumed PrepCom will follow the tradition of
the PrepComs (and also the Rules of Procedure) and that interventions from
the observers (usually 15 minutes per day and per stakeholder group) will be
possible (not sure about Tuesday, but quite sure for Sunday and Monday). The
plan is to finish negotiations before the Press Conference on Tuesday, which
is scheduled for 14.00 in the Kram. 

The room of the resumed PrepCom will be the Committee of the Whole room
(room "Didon"). About 100 seats in the back of the room and on the last row
of desks (with microphones) will be available for the observers and the
media. This means that we can only reserve about 35 seats for civil society.
Therefore, civil society should get organized accordingly and see to it that
their main representatives can sit inside the room. Very probably we will
audio-broadcast over Internet (IBS) the open meetings in floorsound and
English, so that also delegates which did not find a seating space in the
room could follow the deliberations. Closed meetings will not be broadcast.

More information on the resumed PrepCom is at
http://www.itu.int/wsis/preparatory2/pc3/index.html#re  

Sincerely yours

Charles Geiger
Executive Director WSIS

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