World Summit on the Information Society

First Meeting of the Preparatory Committee (Prepcom-1) of the World Summit on the Information Society – Geneva International Conference Centre, Geneva, 1-5 July 02

Opening address by State Secretary Marc Furrer Switzerland, Host Country WSIS2003

I welcome you with all my best wishes here in Geneva.
I am very impressed by the large number of delegates at this first PrepCom - we can welcome more than 900. Delegates of 115 countries, 29 UN-organisations, 144 non-governmental organisations are represented and 28 organisations from the private sector. It's an impressive number which shows the interest for this Summit.
When I meet people, some of them ask me: why another Summit? Isn't it a waste of time and money?
I answer then very clearly: No, only in a Summit will we be able to find together solutions for the information Society.
Only like that we find solutions which are politically relevant, globally implemented and suitable for the civil Society and the private sector.
And we must achieve these high goals with this Summit.
Another important point I always add: This Summit will be a special Summit, it will be different from the others. It has two phases: one in Geneva and one in Tunis two years later.
But also the topic is special: It is the first time the ICT, which have more and more influence on our life, is the subject of a World Summit and therefore the civil Society and the private sector play an important role at this event. So there is a chance to have a successful Summit. And I sensed a positive attitude and an open spirit towards the WSIS at the meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York two weeks ago.
But everything depends on us, as delegates. And on the involvement of the stakeholders and of their co-operative attitude to contribute to the process.
Governments and the International Organisations will not be able to achieve any tangible results without the active participation of the other stakeholders, the private sector and the civil Society. This makes this Summit again different from other Summits, as the private sector is the driving force of ICT development. Resolution 183 of the General Assembly recognises this particular situation and attaches great importance to the participation of civil Society. In the final analysis it is the civil Society - citizens, industry, consumers and academics - who apply ICT, be that as users, consumers, or producers. Only in this way can we incorporate concrete and substantial recommendations into the action plan.
And that leads me to the main point of my message: we must strive for tangible results and a substantial action plan.
Those who have no telephone, no internet - not only in their home, not even in their village nor in their neighbourhood will not be satisfied with some nice general political statements of the WSIS. They will want concrete plans on how they can achieve access to the information Society. Especially those who need to use the ICT for education or for better medical help.
So I ask you to always bear in mind that we have come together to find substantial solutions. Real solutions. We have to overcome political obstacles. It is not the proceedings which count, it is the substance.
And as I said before we can find those solutions only by working together closely with the non-governmental organisations and the private sector.
Governments don't build telephone lines and don't implement telecom-applications. For that we need our partners from the private sector and from the civil Society.
So I ask you to be open in this partnership and welcome them, as partners, also warmly in this first PrepCom.
Switzerland is proud to be the host of the first phase of the Summit - we know it will not be an easy task, but a necessary and a satisfying one. With my colleagues, we will do our utmost to get the results that we aim for at the end of the week: The results should be to agree on the themes and topics of WSIS to be treated, and to settle the proceedings of the Summit.
Finally, I thank very much the ITU-General Secretary Yoshio Utsumi and his team, as well as Pierre Gagné and the Executive Secretariat, for having prepared this PrepCom.
I thank the UN-missions here in Geneva for their preparatory meetings and I thank very much the UN-Secretary General Kofi Annan for his interest and, most importantly, his commitment to this Summit.
We will need all your help, your ideas, your support and especially your endurance. Though the time until the Summit is short - the way is still long. Let us take this journey together with a positive spirit and with the will to succeed.