[WSIS CS-Plenary] Fwd: World Summit on the Information Society Opens in Tunis

[Tracey Naughton]

News Release

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World Summit on the Information Society Opens in Tunis

Tunis, 16 November - Phase two of the World Summit on the Information  
Society (WSIS) opened today with more than 16,000 delegates from 176  
countries meeting in Tunis to focus on forging strategies to improve  
the accessibility and affordability of information and communication  
technologies.

Speaking at the Summit's opening ceremony, Secretary-General of the  
International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Yoshio Utsumi, who is  
also serving as Secretary-General of WSIS, urged world leaders to put  
information and communication technologies (ICTs) at the heart of  
their national economic and social development policies.

Mr Utsumi spoke passionately about the unprecedented opportunities  
offered by new technologies, and warned of the threat of increasing  
global inequality if access to these powerful tools for economic  
growth remained predominantly in the hands of the world's richest  
nations.

"We have within our grasp the opportunity to build a more just and  
equitable society, an Information Society in which developing  
countries, even with their lack of industrialization, geographical  
challenges or troubled past, have - perhaps for the first time in  
human history - a very real chance to catch up with their more  
affluent neighbours," Mr Utsumi said in discussions after the ceremony.

The Summit was officially opened by His Excellency Mr. Zine El  
Abidine Ben Ali, President of Tunisia, who welcomed delegates to  
Tunis Carthage, ancient city of dialogue, for the purpose of building  
a knowledge and communication society aimed at ensuring a brighter  
future for all humanity. The President stressed the need for more  
cooperation between all international players, to reduce disparities  
between peoples and ensure a balanced, safe and equitable Information  
Society.

President Ben Ali's comments were followed by remarks by the UN  
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who focused attention on the issue of  
Internet governance, and stressed that the UN is striving to protect  
and strengthen the Internet and to ensure that its benefits are  
available to all. "Let me be absolutely clear," he said. "The United  
Nations does not want to 'take over', police or otherwise control the  
Internet." Mr Annan went on to express his hope that the future  
global information society will be one that fosters development,  
dignity and peace.

The importance of enshrining open access to information was also  
taken up by Switzerland's president Samuel Schmid, who made a plea  
for freedom of expression and information to be made central themes  
of this World Summit and beyond.

Other opening speakers included Craig Barrett, Chairman of Intel  
Corporation, Ambassador Janis Karklins, president of the WSIS Tunis  
phase preparatory process, and Ms Shirin Ebadi, winner of the 2003  
Nobel Peace Prize.

Speaking as the representative of civil society, Ms Ebadi recommended  
that a special committee be set up under the UN, with representatives  
from ITU, UNESCO, the UN Commission for Human Rights, UNICEF, UNDP,  
and various NGOs, to monitor problems like Internet filtering and  
constraints on freedom of expression.

Mr Barrett, as the representative of the business community, spoke of  
the Internet's as the medium of choice for information access,  
commerce, communication, and most importantly, education, stressing  
the need for knowledge-based decision-making through education and  
skills development.

Ambassador Karklins called the Summit a critical milestone in our  
vision of the future. The Summit is not a response to a problem, he  
said, but rather to a challenge: to improve the lives of people the  
world over.



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