World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
On November 16-18, 2005, Tunisia hosted the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The proposal to hold this international meeting to address this issue was launched by Tunisia in 1998, during the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference held in Minneapolis, USA. The United Nations adopted this Tunisian initiative unanimously and decided to hold the Summit in two phases, the first in Geneva in December 2003, and the second in Tunis in November 2005.
The Geneva phase led to the adoption of a Plan of Action and a Declaration of Principles, underlining the necessity to establish an inclusive and solidarity-based information society ensuring the full development of citizens and the rapprochement among peoples and civilizations.
The first preparatory meeting for the second phase, held in July 2004 in Hammamet, entrusted to the Tunis phase the mission of finding practical and durable solutions to the question of narrowing the digital divide between the North and the South, as well as to the issue of Internet governance.
More than 21,000 participants, representing governments, international institutions, NGOs, associations and private enterprises from all the countries of the world attended this global meeting. Tunisia has called upon government civil society and private sector representatives of all countries to participate actively in the summit and the process leading to it.
(For more information, visit the website www.wsistunis2005.org)
