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Ministerial Round Table

15.30, 14th May 2013

Venue: A, CCV –Opposite CICG

DSG’s Opening Remarks and Questions

Good afternoon Excellencies,

  • Thank you for accepting our invitation to the Ministerial Round Table – and let me say here how much we appreciated your powerful contributions to the Opening Segment of WSIS yesterday.
  • Your commitment to the WSIS Process is clear, and this round table will give us the opportunity to discussyour vision regarding the WSIS process, and in particular with reference to the challenges to be addressed beyond 2015.
  • Inputs provided by you, as world leaders, will provide strategic guidance and will pave the way for further discussions on the WSIS Review Process.
  • This afternoon, as moderator of this session, I will put forth some key issues and challenges with respect to the WSIS+10 process for discussion and debate – and I will look forward to hearing your opinions.
  • We have the pleasure to have with us two former presidents of the WSIS PrepComs, Janis Karklins and Adama Samassekou, who will be acting as vice chairs. Mr Janis Karklins, ADG of UNESCO.
  • As you may know this ministerial round table will be held in a dialogue style, so I would like to encourage all ministers to raise the flag to take the floor. I would like to request you to remain focused and limit your interventions to 3 minutes.
  • We have made four questions available to all of you to remain focused., i.e.:
  • Ten years after Geneva Phase of WSIS, what have we achieved and what challenges do we face, taking into account the development of the information society?
  • Is the WSIS process necessary in the future in order to ensure a balanced and coordinated approach at the international, regional and national levels to address the emerging challenges faced by the information society?
  • How can be the WSIS process be aligned with the Post Millennium Development Goals Process?
  • What are the opportunities that the WSIS Review process is providing to us? What are the key elements that should be considered?
  • We do not have speaking order here, however I would like to invite the colleagues that hosted regional events to report on the key findings in respect to WSIS +10 – and in particular, Moldova, Cambodia and Uruguay, as well as Tunisia holding every year ICT4All Forum.
  • Moreover we are only one year away from the High Level Event on WSIS+10,which will be held in Sharm el Sheikh, and we need to ensure that the outcomes of this event are impactful in every way. In order to do so let us brainstorm on expected results, and what needs to be done to ensure that ICTs remain at the top of the global political agenda, and what needs to be done to continue fostering the global sustainable development agenda.
  • Today we have with us the Minister from Egypt, and I would also like invite him to say a few words on his expectations for Sharm el Sheik next April.