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The
Summit: Background
Resolution 73 of the International
Telecommunication Union (Minneapolis, 1998) resolved to instruct the
ITU Secretary-General to place the question of the holding of a World
Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) on the agenda of the United
Nations Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC now the United
Nations System Chief Executive Board - CEB) and to report to the ITU
governing body, the Council, on the results of that consultation. In
his report to the 1999 session of the Council on that consultation,
the Secretary- General indicated that the ACC had reacted positively
and that a majority of other organizations and agencies had expressed
interest in being associated with the preparation and holding of the
Summit. It was decided that the Summit would be held under the high
patronage of the UN Secretary-General, with ITU taking the lead role
in preparations.
In 2001, the ITU Council decided to
hold a Summit in two phases with the first phase to be held from 10
to 12 December 2003, in Geneva, Switzerland and the second phase from
16 to 18 November2005, in Tunis, Tunisia.
The UN General Assembly Resolution 56/183 endorsed the
framework for the Summit adopted by the ITU Council. The Resolution
also endorses the leading role of the Union in the Summit and its preparation,
in cooperation with other interested organizations and partners.
The UN General Assembly Resolution
56/183 further recommended that preparations for the Summit take place
through an open-ended intergovernmental Preparatory Committee that would
define the agenda of the Summit, decide on the modalities of the participation
of other stakeholders in the Summit, and finalize both the draft declaration
and the draft plan of action. It invited the ITU to assume the leading
managerial role in the Executive Secretariat of the Summit and invited
Governments to participate actively in the preparatory process of the
Summit and to be represented in the Summit at the highest possible level.
In Resolution 56/183 the General Assembly
also encouraged contributions from all relevant UN bodies and other
intergovernmental organizations, including international and regional
institutions, non-governmental organizations, civil society and the
private sector to actively participate in the intergovernmental preparatory
process of the Summit and the Summit itself.
The General Assembly in its Resolution
57/238 calls upon ITU in close cooperation with the United Nations to
launch a public information campaign to raise global awareness of the
Summit.
The complete text of RESOLUTION A/RES/56/183
and RESOLUTION A/RES/57/238 can be found on the website www.itu.int/wsis
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