<DIV>Rik,</DIV>
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<DIV>Thank you for keeping those of us off-site informed. It is very much appreciated.</DIV>
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<DIV>Amali De Silva-Mitchell, Vice President, Vancouver Community Network, Canada</DIV>
<DIV><BR><BR><B><I>Rik Panganiban <rikp@bluewin.ch></I></B> wrote:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">General WSIS Prepcom Progress Report<BR>By Rik Panganiban, Reports Coordinator, WSIS CS News Centre<BR>September 17, 2003<BR><BR><BR>Governments yesterday, September 16, finished giving their general <BR>comments on the new Draft Declaration of Principles, moving on today to <BR>the Draft Action Plan in Sub-Committee Two (Content and Themes.) They <BR>plan to finish today receiving general comments from governments on the <BR>Plan of Action.<BR><BR>In an innovative modification of summit procedure, civil society, the <BR>private sector and some inter-governmental organizations have been <BR>intervening periodically on sections of the draft text, with specific <BR>contributions on specific paragraphs. Already several delegations have <BR>made reference to these contributions, emphasizing their value in the <BR>process.<BR><BR>At the same time, several informal sub-committees, m
ost of
them <BR>continuing work they began at the Paris Intersessional, have been <BR>meeting on specific contentious areas of the Declaration, in particular <BR>internet governance, the right to communicate, enabling environment, <BR>internet security, and media. These informal groups were initially <BR>open to civil society observers presence and limited participation, but <BR>their status as of now is not clear.<BR><BR>Meanwhile, Ms. Linda Mafole of South Africa is chairing a drafting <BR>committee focusing on the draft Declaration, which has begun meeting <BR>today to refine and shorten the Draft Declaration.<BR><BR><BR>More detailed and up-to-date reports on the government negotiations, <BR>civil society proposals, interventions and other news can be found on <BR>http://www.prepcom.net/wsis.<BR><BR>=====================================================<BR>Rik Panganiban<BR>Reports Coordinator<BR><BR>Civil Society News Centre for the WSIS<BR>web: http://www.prepcom.net/wsis<BR>e
mail:
rik.panganiban@ngocongo.org<BR>=====================================================</BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR><DIV>
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<P><STRONG>Amali De Silva-Mitchell</STRONG></P>
<P>Tel: 604-736-9012 & Email: <A href="mailto:amalidesilva@yahoo.com">amalidesilva@yahoo.com</A></P>
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