WSIS Tunis phase, 2nd Preparatory Committee, Geneva, 17-25 February 2005, Sub-committee 1, Agenda Item 6. - Statement by Mr. Petter Wille, Deputy Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NORWAY
Mr Chairman,
Let me first of all congratulate you on the progress made since we met in Hammamet, Tunisia for the first preparatory committee. Let me also thank Secretary-General Utsumi and ambassador Karklins for their reports on the activities leading up to this prep.com.
The contribution from the Group of Friends of the Chair is a significant step in the right direction. My delegation believes that the draft Political chapeau and Operational part should serve as the basis for our further negotiations in this committee.
My delegation would also like to welcome the report from the Task Force on Financial Mechanisms. We believe that the findings in the report can serve as an analytical basis in order to reach an agreement on the importance of the development dimension of the information society.
Mr Chairman,
The internet has become an integrated and vital part of the basic infrastructure in most nations. The internet has also become an integrated part of the global public infrastructure. It may be argued that the internet has become a global public good, and that the task ahead of us is a pioneering exercise in global governance.
An important message from the Geneva declaration was the desirability of creating a people-centred, inclusive, and development-oriented information society. We committed ourselves to strive for a society where everyone is able to create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge.
We also reaffirmed that democracy, sustainable development, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms as well as good governance are at the heart of the information society. This dimension remains of significant relevance as we now move towards the summit in Tunis.
Mr. Chairman,
Reports show that Africa only counts for 2% of the world’s internet users. The digital divide is therefore an enormous challenge facing us in the years to come. That is why Norway believes that the development dimension of the Information society should be at the forefront of the discussions at this prep.com.
In this regard it is important that ICT for development should be considered as a horizontal and multi-dimensional issue. The internet can only become an enabler of development in an enabling environment, characterized by good governance and ensuring the right to freedom of expression and the independent role of both the media and the civil society.
Information – the ability to generate it, the access to it, and the freedom to share it – is increasingly the key to development and to pluralistic, prosperous and socially stable societies, at the national as well as at the global level.
Mr Chairman,
Norway believes that we should strive for coherence between the WSIS-process and the broader UN system wide strategy of achieving the Millennium Development Goals. In this regard we should take into consideration the so called Sachs-report – “Investing in Development” and the High Level-meeting in New York in September. It is important that the summit in Tunis is a coherent follow-up of the High level meeting.
In this way, the WSIS-process can also prove to be a significant test case for member states to show that the United Nations system is what it is intended to be – the most prominent arena for the global community to deal with the global challenges.
To conclude, Mr. Chairman,
Let me wish you and fellow delegates all the best for this meeting, which in deciding the principles and operational parts of the Tunis declaration, should prepare for a most successful outcome of the Tunis Summit.
Thank you