[WSIS CS-Plenary] Fwd: Tunis 'Summit of Solutions' Now in Sight

[Tracey Naughton]

 	News Release

Telephone:	 +41 22 730 6039
Fax:	 +41 22 730 5201
E-mail:	 wsismedia at itu.int
Website:	 www.itu.int/wsis/newsroom/2/

Tunis 'Summit of Solutions' Now in Sight ITU Secretary-General Utsumi  
praises achievements, but stresses need for greater effort: "We  
cannot fail"

Geneva, 30 September 2005 - The third Preparatory Committee  
(PrepCom-3) of the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information  
Society (WSIS) closed its doors at 21:00 tonight after a gruelling  
two weeks of day and night sessions that saw agreement on large  
sections of the Summit text, some major developments in the  
international community’s approach to Internet governance, but  
ultimately disappointing progress on a raft of contentious issues.

With just six weeks to go before the Summit opens in Tunis, ITU  
Secretary-General and Secretary-General of WSIS, Mr Yoshio Utsumi,  
urged delegates to focus their hearts and minds on arriving at  
consensus solutions that would assure a credible outcome document  
that will serve as an effective instrument for promoting ICT  
development and access worldwide.

Speaking after the close of PrepCom-3’s final Plenary session, Mr  
Utsumi praised delegates’ hard work, but said more effort is  
needed. “During the last two weeks we have seen enormous political  
will to develop meaningful texts that will serve as a solid  
foundation for tomorrow’s Information Society,” he said.

“If some issues remain unresolved, this is a testament to  
delegates’ refusal to compromise on the principles they believe to  
be fundamental to promoting access to ICTs. A strong Summit outcome  
is the goal of all delegates – and we must all continue to work hard  
to achieve this. If we wish to build a just and equitable Information  
Society, this Summit cannot be allowed to fail.”

New round of meetings planned
In the face of lack of agreement on small but controversial sections  
of the Summit outcome document, delegates will now reconvene in  
Geneva ahead of the Tunis event to try to resolve some of the  
sticking points, which include provisions for implementation and  
follow-up of the WSIS Action Plan, and the wording of the political  
document outlining participating member states’ political commitments.

In line with formal procedures, PrepCom-3 will be suspended and an  
intersessional open-ended negotiation group will be set up under the  
chairmanship of Ambassador Janis Karklins, Chairman of the Tunis  
Phase of the PrepCom process. This group's mandate will be to  
negotiate the chapters on Implementation (Chapter 1), Financial  
Mechanisms (Chapter 2) and Follow-up (Chapter 4). It will also  
finalize the political part of the document.

Chapter 3 on Internet Governance will be considered during a resumed  
session of PrepCom-3, to be held back-to-back with the Summit in Tunis.

PrepCom-3 agreed that the Summit negotiation group will hold two  
sessions of 2 – 3 days each in Geneva in October to conclude  
negotiations: one session to finalize the political document and  
agree on the outstanding parts of the chapter on financing  
mechanisms, and the other to try to reach agreement on the  
outstanding issues contained in Chapters 1 and Chapter 4.

PrepCom-3 agreed to entrust the WSIS Bureau, or steering committee,  
to decide on the place, date and modalities of the resumed PrepCom  
meeting. It also agreed to split the Summit outcome into two – a  
political document and an operational document.

Breakthrough on Internet governance
The PrepCom-3 Internet governance debate centered around the report  
of the multi-stakeholder Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG),  
set up following the Geneva Phase of WSIS to investigate and make  
proposals on the future governance of the Internet. The group’s  
final report released in Geneva on 18 July, along with comments on  
the report by all stakeholders, served as a source of inspiration for  
discussions over the two-week period.

After a slow start characterized by strongly polarized positions, the  
pace picked up substantially in Week 2 following the release of a  
draft document by the Chair, which saw delegates knuckle down to the  
task of brokering agreement and drafting new text on issues ranging  
from spam and cybercrime to interconnection costs and — most  
crucially — management of critical Internet resources such as the  
domain name and IP addressing systems.

While many delegations from the developing world had been vocal on  
the urgent need for new management and oversight mechanisms to better  
reflect the global nature of the Internet, others, led by the US, had  
presented a relatively united front generally supportive of the  
status quo.

That scenario changed, however, two days before the end of PrepCom,  
when the UK delegation, speaking on behalf of the European Union,  
tabled a new proposal that marked a clear departure from its earlier  
position.
The proposal outlined a new framework for international cooperation  
that would see the creation of a new, multi-stakeholder forum to  
develop public policy, and — most significantly — international  
government involvement in allocation of IP addressing blocks and  
procedures for changing the root zone file to provide for insertion  
of new top-level domain names and changes of country-code top level  
domain name (ccTLDs) managers.

Other countries added their suggestions, and with eight proposals now  
tabled, informal consultations will continue to be held from now  
until the back-to-back meeting in Tunis.

Implementation and follow-up
The other key agenda items for PrepCom-3 included finalization of  
arrangements for financing of WSIS Action Plan commitments, and the  
setting out of future mechanisms for implementation of the Action  
Plan and the follow-up of the Summit.

Following adoption of the Plan by 175 countries during the Geneva  
Phase of the Summit, clear arrangements setting out responsibility  
for ensuring that the Plan’s targets are implemented and monitored  
are considered essential, not only for the successful outcome of the  
Tunis phase, but also for ensuring that deliverables are met.

Under proposals tabled at PrepCom-3, many delegations support the  
establishment of a multi-stakeholder coordination approach made up of  
one or more lead UN agencies, with responsibility for each action  
line allocated to each agency according to its specific area of  
expertise. Others preferred that the United Nations’ Secretary- 
General be charged with managing the coordination process.

A main stumbling block in negotiations remains the precise role of  
different agencies, including ITU, in ongoing WSIS activities. The  
reporting mechanisms and the relationship between the WSIS follow-up  
mechanisms and the review process of the implementation of the UN  
Millennium Declaration also proved problematic for some delegations.

ICT financing mechanisms
The problem of effective financial strategies to promote the  
development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in  
the world’s under-served regions was raised during the WSIS Geneva  
Phase. Without consensus on the best way to address the issue, the  
first phase of WSIS requested UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to  
establish a Task Force on Financial Mechanisms (TFFM).

The group’s final report tabled at PrepCom-2 served as a basis for  
the discussions. PrepCom-2 largely agreed on the text of Chapter 2,  
with only a few paragraphs to be approved by PrepCom-3.

Acknowledging the key role played by the private sector, the text  
already agreed by PrepCom-2 endorse the focusing of financial  
resources in areas including:

ICT capacity-building programmes
Regional backbone infrastructure and Internet Exchange Points
Assistance for Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing  
States to lower transaction costs related to international donor support
Integration of ICTs into the implementation of poverty eradication  
strategies, particularly in the health, education, agriculture and  
the environment
Funding of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs)
Fostering of local ICT manufacturing in developing countries
ICT regulatory reform
Local government and community-owned initiatives that deliver ICT  
services to communities
The meeting also stressed the importance of a multi-stakeholder  
approach and coordination between government and business.
While there was no major impediment to consensus, due to lack of  
time, PrepCom-3 did not finalize Chapter 2.

Political commitments
In addition, the political part of the Tunis document proved more  
difficult to negotiate than expected.

Disagreement centred around whether text from the original Geneva  
Declaration should remain unchanged or reinforced in the Tunis  
output, given that the first PrepCom had agreed not to reopen what  
had been adopted in Geneva.

Discussions were also intense over issues such as open source and  
proprietary software, free access to information and the handling of  
harmful content, the importance of human rights and fundamental  
freedoms for the Information Society, trade liberalization and debt  
relief to bridge the digital divide, and the regulatory role of  
governments.

At the close of PrepCom-3, with no consensus on around 50% of the  
text, the document will tackled again by the negotiating group.


Sub-Committee A
Internet governance

Chairman: Ambassador Masood Khan (Pakistan)

PrepCom-3 Output Text Chapter 3 and proposals.

Key achievements during PrepCom-3:

Starting from scratch, around 80% of Chapter 3 of the WSIS outcome  
document was drafted and agreed
Ground-breaking consensus on the need for a coordinated international  
approach to spam, e-commerce, cybercrime, international Internet  
connectivity charges, multilingualism, and ICT capacity-building, for  
which no international treaties yet exist
Remaining focus of negotiations between now and the Summit:

Management of critical Internet resources (IP names and addresses and  
root zone file system)
The governance function
The proposed creation of a forum

Sub-Committee B
Implementation, financing mechanisms, follow-up and the political  
document

Chairman: Ms Lyndall Shope-Mafole (South Africa)

PrepCom-3 Output text Chapters 1 and 4 and chapter 2
Looking Ahead to Tunis
In addition to Summit Plenary sessions, a number of roundtables, High- 
Level Panels and an Exhibition, as well as media events, are planned  
during the three days of the Summit (16-18 November). This innovative  
format will emphasize the role of the private sector and civil  
society in shaping the new Information Society, providing Heads of  
State and Government with the opportunity to engage in public  
discussions on the future of the Information Society with prominent  
business and civil society leaders.

In addition, more than 230 separate Parallel Events are planned by  
civil society organizations, business entities and national  
delegations, comprising debates and presentations on a whole spectrum  
of issues relevant to the Summit agenda.


PrepCom-3 participants

1’925 participants attended the two-week event, of which;

1’047 delegates represented 152 governments and the European  
Community;
635 participants represented 200 NGOs or Civil society entities;
152 participants from 54 entities representing International  
organizations
73 participants from 36 entities representing business entities
18 participants representing six entities with standing invitation  
from the United Nations General Assembly
For a full summary of debates during PrepCom-3, see the meeting  
Highlights


For further information about the World Summit on the Information  
Society contact:
Mr Sanjay Acharya
Communication Officer
WSIS Executive Secretariat
Tel: +41 22 730 5046
Email: contact




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