UNU Update: Summit on the Information Society

	UNU Update
	The newsletter of United Nations University and its network of research and training centres and programmes
		Issue 22: January 2003

Official logo of the
World Summit on the
Information Society

UNU joins committee organizing
information technology summit

United Nations University has been appointed an official member of the High-Level Summit Organizing Committee (HLSOC) for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) which will take place in Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005).

Hans van Ginkel

James Wolfensohn

Supachai Panitchpakdi

The summit will bring together heads of state, executive heads of UN agencies, industry leaders, NGOs and media representatives to formulate strategies for spreading the benefits of the information technology revolution to all parts of the world.

Preparations for the Summit are ongoing at both the regional and global levels. The second preparatory committee meeting for WSIS will take place in Geneva February 17-28. UNU will launch its commitment to the WSIS process by helping to organize the regional conference of the WSIS in Tokyo January 13-15 in collaboration with the Japanese ministries of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications and Foreign Affairs. Associated side events will be held at UNU Centre in Tokyo on January 11-12.

UNU views the Summit as a landmark event in the global evolution of the Information Society and will make substantive contributions as one focal point for online education, in
relation to capacity building on computer science for developing countries, on the role of ICTs in natural resource managment in Africa and by introducing the University's policy-relevant research to the WSIS process.

The HLSOC has been established under the patronage of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Members include UNU Rector Hans van Ginkel, the Director General of the World Trade Organization, Supachai Panitchpakdi, World Bank President James Wolfensohn, the Executive Director of UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the executive secretaries of the UN Regional Economic Commissions.

Other members of the committee are the executive heads of: the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), International Labour Organization (ILO), International Maritime Organization (IMO), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Environment Programme (UNEP), UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Universal Postal Union (UPU), World Health Organization (WHO), World International Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

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