Implementation of the outcomes of the recently concluded World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS) gathered momentum with the launch of the United
Nations Group on the Information Society (UNGIS). High level representatives of
twenty-two UN agencies met on Friday, 14 July 2006 at ITU Headquarters in Geneva
under the chairmanship of ITU Secretary-General Yoshio Utsumi to facilitate the
process.
UNGIS will serve as an interagency coordinating mechanism within the UN
system to implement the outcomes of WSIS. The Group will enable synergies aimed
at resolving substantive and policy issues, avoiding redundancies and enhancing
effectiveness of the system while raising public awareness about the goals and
objectives of the global Information Society. UNGIS will also work to highlight
the importance of ICTs in meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
To maximize its efficiency, the Group agreed on a work plan in which it would
concentrate its collective efforts each year on one or two cross-cutting themes
and on a few selected countries.
In the coming period, UNGIS will focus on bringing the efforts of the UN
system to bear on expanding access to communications, for instance through
multimedia community centres, teleshops, etc. Drawing on the respective
competencies of the different members of the Group, UNGIS will also focus on
applications related to e-health and e-tourism. At the same time, the Group will
examine the e-readiness strategies and policies of one or two countries, to be
proposed by UNDP, to develop a comprehensive toolkit for bringing the benefits
of the Information society to developing countries.
During the first year, UNGIS will be chaired by ITU, with UNESCO, UNDP and
WHO acting as vice-chairs.
UNGIS has been established by the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr Kofi
Annan, at the request of the Summit and in consultation with members of the UN
system Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB).
WSIS has contributed towards a better understanding of the key issues and
challenges of the Information Society. Throughout the process, critical issues
such as infrastructure, capacity building, the regulatory environment and
financing have been discussed and refined. Pioneering work on financing ICTs for
development and on internet governance has resulted in the most comprehensive
international documents ever endorsed on the topics at the international level.
The Summit set critical targets for global connectivity and ICT for
development to be reached by 2015 and established 11 action lines to achieve the
objectives of the Information Society. The outcome outlines a detailed blueprint
involving governments, the private sector, civil society, the United Nations and
other international organizations for implementation and follow-up at the
national, regional and international levels.
Information on the meeting is available here.
