United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia

Regional Follow-up to the Outcome of the World Summit on the Information Society

16

-

18

June

2009

Location:

Damascus

Theme:

Mapping the Technology Profiles of the Arab Region

Registration is closed

In keeping with the recommendations of the WSIS "Tunis Agenda for the Information Society" and in order to propel the WSIS momentum forward, ESCWA is holding, a conference entitled " Regional Follow-up to the Outcome of the World Summit on the Information Society ". The conference will take place at the Umayyad Congress Palace in Damascus, between 16 and 18 June 2009.

The main objectives of the conference are as follows:

(1) Reviewing and following-up on the implementation of the WSIS outcomes, the RPoA for building the Information Society in Western Asia, the Arab ICT Strategy and other national strategies and plans of action; this follow-up activity comes after 5 years of the first phase of the WSIS in Geneva, and after 3 years of the second phase in Tunis;
(2) Identifying new projects1 for inclusion in the RPoA and in other plans of action, including the updated Arab ICT Strategy;
(3) Updating the RPoA2 and making recommendations for the enhancement of ICT strategies and plans of action, in light of accumulated experiences.

The main expected outcomes would be as follows:

(a)   A progress report highlighting the implementation activities related to WSIS outcomes, the RPoA and the Arab ICT Strategy.
(b)   An updated version of the RPoA including a list of new projects targeting the needs and realities of the Information Society for the period extending from 2009 to 2015;
(c)   A roadmap for the implementation and follow-up of future WSIS-related activities;
(d)   The creation of the Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID) Arab Region Network.

The conference is organized by the ICT Division of ESCWA, under the patronage of the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic, represented by the Ministry of Communication and Technology, and in partnership with:

Further details are available in the information note. Requests for additional information or correspondence are to be addressed to:

Mr. Mansour Farah, Senior IT Officer and Chief of the ICT Policies Section
ICT Division, UN-ESCWA, Beirut, Lebanon.
Phone: +961-1-978538, Mobile: +961-3-360357
Fax: +961-1-981510
Email: farah14@un.org, escwa-ictd@un.org

1 To propose new projects that fulfill the WSIS objectives and are in line with the RPoA programmes (refer to Chapter III of the RPoA document), kindly fill out the Project Proposal Form provided for each and return it by e-mail to: escwa-ictd@un.org
2 For the lead organizations implementing the projects currently listed in the RPoA (refer to Annex III of the RPoA document), kindly use the Project Update Form provided, to update us on the progress of each project and return it by e-mail to: escwa-ictd@un.org

Tags:

Arab Information Society (IS)