UN/WSIS: Secretary-General of Johannesburg Summit Appointed Special Adviser for World Information Summit

Press Release
                                                                      
Secretary-General of Johannesburg Summit appointed special adviser for world 
information summit                                                            
     
21 July - United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today appointed Nitin 
Desai, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, as his 
Special Adviser for the World Summit on the Information Society(WSIS), which 
aims to bridge the digital divide between rich and poor.                   
                                                                      Mr. 
Desai was the Secretary-General of the World Summit on Sustainable 
Development in Johannesburg last year.                                        
           
                                                                      The 
WSIS is the first summit to deal with the information society, including 
critical issues in the use of information and communications technology for 
development. Taking place in two phases - first in Geneva from 10 to 12 
December, then in Tunis in November 2005 - it is being held under Mr. Annan's 
patronage and has been welcomed by the UN General Assembly.                   
                                                             
"The existing digital divide threatens to exacerbate the gaps between rich 
and poor, within and among countries," Mr. Annan said in a statement issued 
by a spokesman. He called on "leaders from the developed and developing 
world, private sector and civil society to use the unique opportunity 
provided by the Summit to forge an action plan that will put technology at 
the service of human development."                                         
                                                                      "We are 
delighted Mr. Desai has agreed to assist us in the successful completion of 
WSIS," said Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary General of the International 
Telecommunication Union (ITU). The General Assembly has invited the ITU to 
take the lead responsibility in organizing the Summit, with full support from 
the UN family.                                                    

For his part, Mr. Desai felt "very honoured by the Secretary-General's 
request to be his advisor on this summit, which is going to be dealing with 
issues that will have a profound effect on how our societies develop in the 
twenty-first century."                                                        
    
                                                                              
            
Some 700 delegates attending a WSIS intersessional meeting in Paris last week 
agreed to refine the draft outcome documents of the Summit -a declaration of 
principles and an action plan. "We had a very positive meeting here, with 
constructive discussions," said Mark Furrer, the Head of the Swiss Delegation 
at the intersessional meeting. The third and final session of the Preparatory 
Committee for the Summit will take place from 15 to 26 September in Geneva.   
                                                    
                                                                      For 
information, contact Gary Fowlie, ITU, wsismedia@itu.int, or Edoardo Bellando 
(212) 963 8275, bellando@un.org; or visit the WSIS web site at 
http://www.itu.int/wsis/.                                                     
           
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