The first Preparatory Meeting (PrepCom 1 of the Tunis phase) of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) completed its work on June 26, 2004 with broad agreement on the issues that should form the focus of the Tunis Summit and agreed on the structure of the preparatory process for the second phase.

425 delegates representing 127 governments and the European Community, 272 observers from 113 organizations representing civil society (business entities and non-governmental organizations) as well as 71 observers from 33 international organizations and three entities with standing invitation from the United Nations General Assembly attended the meeting. 140 journalists were accredited of which 109 attended onsite.

"As Hannibal crossed the Alps from Tunisia to make a landmark in history, we have today crossed the Alps to Tunisia representing the migration of WSIS from North to South", ITU Secretary-General Yoshio Utsumi said. He added "By so doing, we are building the bridges to connect different peoples across geographical, knowledge and information divides. At the same time, we are beginning po connect the dots embedded in the WSIS Action Plan that will form a truly inclusive and equitable Information Society.

A Summit of Solutions

The meeting was held under the able leadership of H.E. Janis Karklins (Latvia) who was elected president of PrepCom. "We had the mandate of defining when, in what form and how to address the substantive issues to be addressed by the Tunis phase," said Mr Karklins. "I am extremely pleased that the spirit of cooperation among all stakeholders has led to a successful outcome of our discussions with a clear understanding of the way forward", he added.

Throughout the debates, there was a strong feeling that it was now time to act and that the Tunis Summit was to be action-oriented. The principles had been crafted and agreed in Geneva and a Plan of Action that defined the top-level objectives to create an all-inclusive and equitable Information Society approved. "What is now needed is to refine some of the broad goals and hammer out the specifics that will translate them into measurable results," said Mr Karklins. "What we should aim for is a Summit of Solutions", he said.

The road to Tunis

PrepCom 1 had the task of defining:

1.The issues of the Information Society that should form the focus of the Tunis Summit

2.The shape the outcome of the Tunis Summit should take

3.The way to reach the goals set in the Geneva Action Plan

Based on this broad framework, it was agreed that the focus of the preparatory process to the Tunis phase should be two-pronged: it should provide solutions on how to implement and follow up the Geneva decisions (Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action) by stakeholders at national, regional and international levels with particular attention to the challenges facing the Least Developed Countries and it should complete the unfinished business in Geneva on Internet Governance and Financing. The reports of the Task Force on Financing mechanisms and the report of the Working Group on Internet Governance would provide valuable inputs to the discussion. A consensus was also reached that the agreements reached in the Geneva phase should not be re-opened.

As for the output of the Tunis phase, it was agreed to have a final document (or documents) comprising a concise political part and an operational part aimed at translating the outcome of the work undertaken in the preparatory process into actionable items. Both the political and operational parts would reaffirm and enhance the commitments undertaken in the Geneva phase. The principles of inclusiveness, efficiency, transparency and cost-effectiveness were also endorsed along with a proposed roadmap to chart the way. In order to pave the way for the negotiations in PrepCom 2, the President of PrepCom along with delegations, regional groups and the WSIS Executive Secretariat will prepare a document to serve as a basis for the discussions, taking into account the outcome of thematic, regional and other WSIS-related meetings.

It was also decided that the second PrepCom will take place in Geneva from 17 to 25 February 2005.

Bangladesh and PrepCom 1 : Raising the voice of LDC's

A four member delegation including 2 govt. representatives and 2 civil society representatives from Bangladesh participated in the 1st PrepCom of the WSIS Phase 2. The role of the govt. was very active in the plenary sessions and informed the meeting that Bangladesh has established a WSIS Cell to implement the Plan of Action and Declaration of Principles. A committee has been formulated with all stakeholders to share information and to prepare for the Tunis Phase. The proposal of Bangladesh for inclusion of the clause to emphasize particular attention to the challenges facing by the LDC's.

Bangladesh joined other countries in recommending speedy implementation of the WSIS action lines and proposed a special session for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) that would specifically look at their needs to bridge the digital divide. Senegal and South Africa, amongst others, supported the Bangladeshi proposal.

The civil society members of the Bangladesh team were also very active in drafting the civil society statements presented in the plenary session. They also participated in the Civil society plenary session and contributed towards designing the activities schedule / program to ensure effective participation and representation from all countries & regions properly.

In addition, the civil society delegates actively participated in the workshops on InfoPoverty & Telecenter and contributed towards building global Information Society without poverty & discrimination. The speakers from UNESCO & OECD highlighted the successful module of Bangladesh like Grameen Phone and Micro Credit programs in the InfoPoverty session.

The Bangladesh endeavor towards building network among the civil society components of Asia and Africa was also appreciated in the civil society forum. The network may contribute for sharing information, best practices and resource mobilization.

It was apparent during the prepcom meeting that many developing countries have taken effective measures in terms of commitment and projects within the country to capitalize the WSIS process and demonstrate their capacity towards implementation of the Plan of Action of WSIS. Most of these efforts have been initiated in partnership with the stakeholders ( Govt., Civil society, International organizations & Business Community) and Bangladesh should take immediate steps to take long term projects for building an inclusive information society in the country.

Md Shahid Uddin Akbar