The 18th meeting of the ITU Council working group on implementation of outcomes of the World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS) was held last 25-26 May in Geneva.
The group reviewed activities undertaken by the ITU with a view to implementing the WSIS action lines, especially C2, C5 and C6 under its responsibility. The group also noted the success of WSIS Forum 2011, which gathered more than a thousand participants who attended about a hundred discussion sessions associated to application of the Summit action lines.
Also analysed was a proposal from Russia for a new ITU Council Resolution on the “ITU role in the implementation of the WSIS outcomes and future activities beyond WSIS+10”. The aim is to reflect decisions made at the last Plenipotentiary Conference. As there was no consensus over production of a new resolution (as opposed to the possibility of revising existing ones), the group decided that the text will remain open for comments by members, for presentation at the 2011 session of the ITU Council.
Noteworthy regarding the group devoted to internet-related public policy issues was the discussion of an ITU document on internet governance. A group of European countries, among them Portugal, holds that it is out-of-date and provides incorrect information, and should therefore be withdrawn from circulation. Other member states such as Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran, defended the ITU secretariat’s position, saying that given the rapid changes affecting the sector the members should be more tolerant and simply allow the document to be updated. The group adopted this form of conduct and the ITU will update document, taking into account the comments submitted by the European countries.
This working group will next meet in the afternoon of 10 October to finalise preparations for the 2011 session of the ITU Council.
