DOCUMENTS and ANALYSIS

Excerpts from the Speech by H.E Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, President of the Republic of Tunisia

at the opening session of the First Phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva − December 10, 2003)

This first phase of our Summit will constitute an important starting point to closely look into the ways and means whereby to stimulate international and regional cooperation in order to reduce inequalities between countries and peoples in the acquisition of knowledge and in the mastery of modern digital technologies.

Excerpts from the address by the President of the PrepCom, H.E Adama Samassekou
to the official Opening Ceremony of the WSIS

And we did so while adhering to principles founded on the fundamental values of inclusion, partnership and solidarity>, in which regard, it gives me pleasure to hail the emergence of an almost institutional partnership> between civil society, through its International Bureau, the private sector, through the Coordinating Committee of Business Interlocutors, and governments, through the Bureau of the Summit Preparatory Committee.

It is here, too, that the tremendous scope of this new type of summit becomes evident, in terms not only of the desire for integration on the part of all the key players in the information society, of the participatory approach, of the launching of new partnerships at the international level and of the vision of global solidarity among peoples and nations, but also, and above all, in terms of the political aspiration to strengthen multilateralism in a new form.

The core focus of Phase II to be on the implementation of the Plan of Action and follow-up including through the promotion of partnerships between stakeholders;

5.2 The EU supports the organisation of thematic conferences involving or organised by governments, the private sector, civil society, academia and appropriate international and intergovernmental organisations.

The EU will also consider thematic meetings on issues of greatest concern to it.

The EU believes it important that issues such as human rights, enabling environment, security, gender issues, public-private partnerships and the regulatory framework be adequately reflected in the preparatory process, including in possible thematic meetings.

6. EU approach to a political document for Phase II and related political issues

6.1 The outcome of the Tunis Summit should be a political document, to be adopted by HOSGs. It should be a single and concise document and could consist of two parts:

a political preamble reaffirming the commitment to the implementation to DoP and PoA and an operative part, which could include issues relating to the implementation of the PoA, preparation of national e-strategies, performance evaluation and benchmarking, national reporting, follow-up on an integrated and coordinated approach in the UN system and public-private partnership mechanisms.

6.2 The document should also acknowledge, record and, if considered appropriate, endorse the work and contribution to WSIS of the Task Force on Financing Mechanisms

7.4 The EU, at EC and individual Member States' level, is one of the most significant external donors/investors in ICTs in developing countries, consistent with its commitment to the Monterrey Consensus.

The EU will engage in more concerted dialogue with its partners and other stakeholders in the WSIS process on the EU's contributions and on further possibilities to jointly promote Information Society for development. The EU is yet to be convinced as to the need for the creation of a separate Digital Solidarity Fund.

Excerpts from the Swiss Position :

Swiss Non-Paper on the structure and focus of the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society

The second phase should reinforce the spirit of partnership and collaboration between the different stakeholders established during the first phase and it should present some first examples of the utility and efficiency of a multistakeholder approach. Multi-stakeholder partnerships should be associated as a separate category, given their demonstrated importance in the first phase.

It should create appropriate platforms for the creation of new implementation partnerships and joint initiatives. Ideally, such platforms should already be offered during the preparatory process so that Tunis would witness the launching of additional implementation efforts.

Heads of State and Government, but also leaders of private sector and civil society could come together in Tunis to announce projects and partnerships initiated after Geneva 2003 and to discuss and review first results in implementing the Action Plan.

The role of multistakeholder partnerships will be enhanced as key policy and implementation arrangement.

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Excerpts from the United States position

We are committed to working in close partnership with all stakeholders to "take stock" of existing programs and to implement the common vision of the future set out in the WSIS Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action.

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Excerpts from the position of El Salvador :

http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs2/pc1/contributions/elsalvador.pdf

It is necessary that all stakeholders offer viable ways and partnerships to realize all the actions agreed in Geneva, and to reflect them in appropriate documents.

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Analysis

Already in December, Tunisia highlighted the importance of developing new channels through which to incite partnerships between local and national parties from the earliest stage of the second phase of WSIS. His Excellency Adama Samassekou emphasized the need for a new political will specifically aimed at reinforcing "new forms of multilateral agreements." Several States also indicated their desire to see the development of such new methods. The structure of multi-stakeholder partnerships is obviously of prime importance to the European Union and the EU has even proposed a thematic event focused on this particular topic. Switzerland contributes to this evolutionnary trend by suggesting several concrete steps. The Swiss position is particularly relevant given the Helvetic Confederation's broad experience as host of the WSIS First Phase as well as hosting many prestigious international organizations.

The major problem, both conceptually and practically, is that currently there are no legal structures which can provide frameworks flexible enough to accommodate multi-stakeholder partnerships, and to empower them under international law. Hence, the main challenge resides in defining new practical legal frameworks that foster multi-stakeholder partnerships.