Pan-European Ministerial Conference,
Bucharest, 7-9 November 2002

Delegates numbering more than 1400 from 55 countries gathered from November 7-9 in Bucharest's House of Parliament for the Pan-European Regional Ministerial Conference, a prelude to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva in 2003 and in Tunis in 2005.

The conference was organized by the Romanian government with support form the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and with the cooperation of the Executive Secretariat of the World Summit. It was an opportunity to create a common regional position for the upcoming WSIS meetings. The ultimate aims of the Summit are to find a new way to close the gap between developing and developed nations and to pinpoint the priorities for the "information society".

The massive marble halls of the parliament building, with its grand chandeliers and classical columns, provided an unusual setting for the Summit stakeholders from government, the private sector, civil society and international organizations to participate in the workshops, roundtables and plenary sessions of the Conference. Policies to achieve information society inclusion according to well-defined social needs were identified and linked to the role of the private sector, which aims to deliver technology to as many people as possible.

The thematic debates, workshops, round tables, parallel events and plenary sessions led to the formation of seven principles with four priority areas for action:

• Securing access to information and knowledge

• Promoting universal access at affordable cost

• Promoting linguistic diversity and cultural diversity

• Developing human capacity through education and training

• Setting up an enabling environment, including legal, regulatory and policy frameworks

• Building confidence and security in the use of ICTs

• Addressing global issues

• Four priority areas of action include: e-Government, e-Business, e-Society and e-Education

The joint declaration issued by governments at the end of the conference and the full report of the Conference deliberations will be reported to the next Preparatory Committee Meeting, which will take place in Geneva, 17-29 February 2003.

For more information, see: www.wsis-romania.ro