The 2017 edition of the "World Summit on the Information Society Forum (WSIS Forum)" will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 12 to 16 June; the Forum is an annual meeting co-organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The theme of this year's WSIS Forum is "Information and knowledge societies for sustainable development goals”; it will be chaired by Mr. Jean Philbert Nsengimana, Rwandan Minister of Youth and Information and Communication Technologies.
Portugal will be represented at the event by the Secretary of State for Infrastructures, Guilherme W. d'Oliveira Martins, and by the Chair of ANACOM's Board of Directors, Fátima Barros.
The Portuguese Secretary of State for Infrastructure will participate as a speaker at the high-level session on "Digital Economy and Trade" and at the ministerial roundtable. Portugal will also hold bilateral meetings with government representatives from other ITU Member States.
Fátima Barros will participate as a speaker at the high-level sessions on "Bridging Digital Divides" and "ITU role on shaping the future wireless ecosystem".
This forum draws on the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which took place in two phases (Geneva, 2003 and Tunis, 2005) and defined a set of concepts and policies aimed at putting information and communication technologies Communication (ICT) at the service of global development. In particular, the Tunis Agenda (2005) reiterated the benefits of ICT in citizens' lives and made a commitment to develop mechanisms to combat digital divides by defining a set of specialist lines of action.
The WSIS Forum, held annually in a multi-stakeholder format, aims to follow-up on the implementation of the WSIS action lines.
The ITU traditionally plays a key role in organising this event, in partnership with other United Nations agencies.
Further information:
- WSIS Forum 2017 https://www.itu.int/net4/wsis/forum/2017/
