SPEECH OF

HIS EXCELLENCY DR. ABDELOUAHED BELKEZIZ

SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE

ORGANISATION OF THE ISLAMIC CONFERENCE

AT THE

WORLD SUMMIT OF THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

 

GENEVA: 10-12 DECEMBER 2003.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source             : Organisation of the Islamic Conference.

Contact point    : Permanent Observer Mission of. the OIC

   to the UN, Geneva.

Original            : Arabic.

 

SPEECH OF

HIS EXCELLENCY DR. ABDELOUAHED BELKEZIZ

SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE

ORGANISATION OF THE ISLAMIC CONFERENCE

AT THE

WORLD SUMMIT OF THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

 

GENEVA: 10-12 DECEMBER 2003.

 

 

 

 

Your Majesties, Highnesses, and Excellencies Heads of member states,

Excellencies the ministers and heads of delegations

Excellency the UN Secretary General,

Excellency the Secretary General of the International Telecommunications Union,

 

 

 

 

At the out set, I am pleased to address my profound thanks and gratitude to H E Pascal Couchepin, President of the Swiss Confederation for the great effort exerted by the Swiss government to ensure the good preparations for this summit and the smooth running of its deliberations.

I also express my gratitude and appreciation to H E President Zine al ABIDINE Ben All of the Republic of Tunisia for the constructive initiative made by Tunisia to hold a summit for an in-depth consideration of the theme of the digital gap, the first phase of this summit. Tunisia will host its second phase in November 2005.

I am also happy to express my thanks to H E Yoshio Utsumi, the ITU Secretary General and Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Summit, and to HE Adama Samassekou, Chairman of the Summit Preparatory Committee for the great efforts they have exerted, each within his scope of competence, to elaborate the agenda and the programme of work, and for the good preparation of the papers submitted in a manner that would help us steer our deliberations.

Mr. Chairman,

Your Majesties, Highnesses, and Excellencies

The General Secretariat of the Organization of the Islamic Conference has contributed to the idea of holding this summit and the elaboration of the content of its deliberations ever since it was launched. It participated in the five preparatory meetings devoted to the elaboration of its documents and programmes of work. It presented to each meeting a working paper through which it sought to raise the ideas recommended by the relevant ministerial or summit conferences. The latest in this context was the resolution passed by the 10th Islamic summit held in October 2003 in Putra Jaya, Malaysia.

The 57 OIC Member States unified their vision regarding the requirements of the establishment of the society of knowledge and communications and the premises of bridging the digital gap that varies in terms of volume within Member States and increases in comparison with developed nations.

In this context, the Islamic Summit also adopted the proposal made by the Senegalese President, Mr. Abdoulaye WADE, relating to the issue of solidarity in the area of digital technologies and the establishment of a world fund to be funded from telephone calls income and the sales of computers around the world to help developing nations finance projects aimed at addressing the issue of the technological gap.

The Putra Jaya Declaration and the Final Communique adopted by the Islamic Summit underlined the commitment of the heads of states of the OIC Member States to seek to establish the landmarks of the society of knowledge and communications. They also expressed their determination to eliminate the different types of technological discrepancies within Member States on the one hand and between the latter and the other societies on the other hand. The aim being to minimize illiteracy, fighting poverty, improving social and scientific conditions, addressing issues of women, children and youth and providing them with means of education and skills for acquiring new technologies, developing their capacities to compete in the these fields with the aim of developing employment opportunities and promoting encouragement in all sectors of the society whether public, or private, indigenous or civil.

The resolutions adopted by the 6`h session of Islamic Conference of Information Ministers held in Cairo in March, underlined the need for an international and regional integration by pooling resources and capacities for introducing a change to the knowledge economy, the construction of the necessary infrastructures for spreading the new technologies, and providing opportunities of access to the optical fibres and large band information nets to ensure the maximum degree of links, speedy connection and information exchange and follow with the aim of maximizing chances of use at the economic, scientific and social levels from the interaction of the developing and growing electronic knowledge process in the communications net.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The OIC will not spare an effort to contribute effectively to the success of this summit with its two stages. It is keen to participate in crystallizing visions at the levels of both the declaration of principles and the plan of action expected to be issued during this first stage of the summit. The OTC is also prepared to circulate the agreement to be reached in this regard to all Member States, and to invite its various specialized educational, scientific, social and economic institutions to act for the implementation of the orientation and crystallizing the constructive visions to be included in the plan of action, in its activities so as to provide a chance to bridge the digital gap among states and to dully activate them during the second stage of the summit in Tunisia.

In order to be able to establish the society of information, the society of knowledge and communication, as partners not mere consumers, our states will seek to cooperate with all the international and regional concerned parties to monitor the strategic policies in the area of modern information technologies, ensure access to electronic nets , and provide telecommunication infrastructures in order to achieve self production of information, activate the cybernetic spaces and not to suffice ourselves with others' products in these fields. We also look forward to setting new policies for investment in the principle of lifelong education in order to gain preferential advantages in the area of competition, and the legislation required for controlling communication ethics.

We also expect developed nations to display greater solidarity with developing nations to set a common vision for the society of knowledge and communication to give broad way to the transfer of the contents of the new technologies without confinement to equipment in order to have access to sources of knowledge. Therefore, we feel that it is very useful to devote the intersession, (Geneva-Tunisia), for more field-studies at the international and the regional levels according to plans to be agreed upon with the aim of reaching a better definition to the society and communication and the perceptions for bridging the digital gap on the basis of the declaration of principles and the plan of action to be agreed upon in this conference.

I thank you all and wish success for this summit to reach the pursued solutions.

Wassalamu alikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu.

------------

 

RESOLUTION NO. 4/10-INF (IS)
 ON THE INFORMATION SOCIETY
AND PARTICIPATION OF MEMBER STATES
IN THE WORLD SUMMIT OF INFORMATION SOCIETY

The Tenth Session of the Islamic Summit Conference (Session of Knowledge and Morality for the Progress of Ummah), held in Putrajaya, Malaysia, froth 20 to 21 Shabon, 1424K (16-17 October 2003),

Recalling resolution No. 74/9-(IS) adopted by the Ninth Session of the Islamic Summit Conference (Session on Peace, Development and Al-Aqsa Intifadah), held in Doha, Qatar, on 16 and 17 Shaaban 1421H (12 and 13 November 2000) concerning support for the nomination of the Republic of Tunisia for hosting the World Summit of Information Society,

Recalling also resolution No. 6/30-INF of the 30`h ICFM (Session of Unity and Dignity) held In Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran from 27 to 29 Rabiul Awal 1424H (28-30 May 2003), concerning the participation of Member States in the 2"d stage of the World Summit of Information Society to be held In the Republic of Tunisia in 2005;

Referring to resolution No, 3/7-IM(COMIAC) adopted by the Standing Committee for Information and Cultural Affairs, held in Dakar, Senegal, on 13 and 14 Shawal 1424H (17 and 18 December, 2002),

Referring also to the participation of the General Secretariat of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in the first and second preparatory meetings for the World Summit of Information Society, both held in Geneva, 1-5 July 2002 and 17-27 February 2003 respectively (items 25 and 30 of document WSIS 03/PRFPIAI/Rev,l-A), in Paris from 17 to 19 July 2003 and in Geneva (15-26 September 2003),

Referring as well to the Bamako Declaration issued by the African Regional Preparatory Meeting for the World Summit of Information Society held in Bamako, Mali, 28-30 May 2002, and to the Tokyo Declaration issued by the Asian Regional Preparatory Meeting for the World Summit of information Society held in Tokyo (13-15 January 2003), and to the meeting of the Arab League States on the World Summit of Information Society held in Cairo on 16-18 June 2003 and to the Western Asia Preparatory Conference held in Beirut on 4-6 February 2003,

Commending  the Speech of H.E. President Abdoulaye Wade delivered before the UN General Assembly at its meeting on Technology of Information and Communication for Purposes of Development, held in June 2002 (document: A/57/280) and also the gist of his intervention before the second preparatory meeting (Precom 2) for the World Summit of Information Society (held in Geneva, 17-27 February 2003),

 

Having considered resolution No. 4/6 of the-6' ICIM held In Cairo (8-11 March 2003) which commended the recommendations adopted by the Expert Group Meeting held In Jeddah from 4 to 7 May 2002, charged to review end modernize the mechanisms of joint Islamic information action, (particularly the recommendations of the Committee on New Technologies in Radio and Television, and the recommendations of the Coordinating Committee between Officials of News and Programs of TV Satellite Channels - both public and private - in Member States);

Having also considered the two draft of the "Summit Declaration" [WSISIPC3/DT/1(Rev.2H] and the "Summit Plan of Action" [WSIS/PC-3/Doc/10 (Add-2) Rev. 1) issued by the WSIS Third Preparatory Committee (Geneva - September 15-26, 2003),

Taking due account of the Report of the Secretary General on issues related to the Information society;

1.         Reaffirms that the progress of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Member States and assimilation of Its mechanisms and applications should not be considered an end in itself but rather one of the key tools for the achievement of comprehensive and sustained development and guaranteeing easy integration of the information society.

2.         Invites the Member States to:

2.1       Contribute to the information society by formulating the features of an information society through all specialized information and communication institutions and all other related services.

2.2       Adequately prepare for the requirements and aspirations of the Member States through the Islamic Conferences of Ministers of Telecommunication, the meetings of the Ministerial Follow up Committees issued from them and the sessions of the Islamic conferences of Communication Ministers, to enable thorn to effectively contribute to the WSIS in its two phases: Geneva (March 3-5, 2003) and Tunis (November 16-18, 2005).

2.3       Seek to create benefits in all aspects of our daily life through the usage and deployment of ICIS.

2.4       Encourage pluralism of information and diversity of media ownership.

2.5       Enhance sharing of global knowledge for development through the removal of barriers that impede access to information.

2.6       Provide opportunity for capacity building to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge in order to gain access to the information Society and Knowledge Economy, to actively participate in them and benefit fully from them, to upgrade the efficiency in the use of resources and production and to access local and global markets.

2.7       Seek to establish a well-developed information and communication network infrastructure and applications, making greater use of broadband and other innovative technologies where possible to accelerate the social commercial and knowledge progress of countries.

2.8       Benefit optimally from the opportunities offered by ICIs in continuous and adult education, retraining, life-long learning, to ensure universal participation in building the Information Society and full use of its benefits.

3.         Requests the General Secretariat to participate actively in the regional and world preparatory meetings of the WSIS in its two phases (Geneva and Tunis), and to coordinate the participation of Member States particularly during the second phase of the World Summit in Tunis (November 16-18, 2005) with a view to:

3.1       Ensuring that Member States reach comparable views regarding the items included in the Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action to be issued by the Summit (Geneva Session - Phase I),

3.2       Ensuring cooperation among Member States for the purpose of bridging the digital gap within their respective boundaries and between them and the advanced States.

3.3       Seeking to achieve "digital solidarity" as proposed for by H.E. President Abdullah Wade of Senegal, and to set up an international Fund to support this action.

4.         Requests the Secretary General to follow up the implementation of this resolution and submit a report thereon to the 11th Session of the Islamic Summit Conference.