The World Summit on the Information Society calls for a multistakeholder approach to bridge the digital gap

A three-day Summit held in Geneva from 10-12 December 2003, brought together Heads of State, Prime Ministers, Presidents as well as UN agencies, the private sector and civil society to address issues concerning the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for a better world.

Participants to the Summit endorsed the Declaration of Principles which included a common vision of an information society's values, and a Plan of Action. However, the Civil Society representation expressed its dissatisfaction through a Declaration stating that the views of their organizations were not adequately reflected in the Summit documents.

This event represents the first ever UN summit on information and communication. The summit was organized to be held in two phases: the first phase already organized in Geneva and the second to be held in Tunis in 2005 to measure the goals set during the first phase. The main objectives of the Plan of Action is to build an inclusive Information Society; to put the potential of knowledge and ICTs at the service of development; to promote the use of information and knowledge for the achievement of internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration; and to address new challenges of the Information Society, at the national, regional and international levels. The main target is to bring half the world's population within ICT reach by the year 2015.

The issues in which the negotiators spent more time debating during the Summit were related to Internet governance and financing ICT investments in underserved economies. A task force to carry-out a review of existing ICT funding mechanisms was established and a study was launched on the possible creation of an International voluntary Digital Solidarity Fund.

The summit was also an opportunity to create partnerships to fund projects that foster access of the poor to ICT technologies. An innovative initiative will bridge the digital divide in Bhutan by providing faster, cheaper and more reliable communication to remote mountainous areas of this country. This project called Bhutan E-post is funded by the government of India, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Bhutan Telecom and Post, Worldspace and Encore India.

The World Health Organization along with ITU and Cisco Systems announced the creation of a Health Academy to provide virtual health education to the general public, starting with pilot projects for schools in Jordan and Egypt.

Deeper talks on Internet governance were left to be held in Tunis from 16-18 November 2005, as preparation for the second phase are currently under way.

To visit the website on the second phase of the summit, please click here.

To read the contribution of documents from the Working Groups on Internet Governance and Financing, please click here.