<P>Bertrand and Wolfgang</P>
<P>Where can I find Bertrand's letter to Karklins ? I suppose other CS members would also be interested in its content. </P>
<P>I hope getting an answer before monday afternoon, i.e. before the "stakeholder meeting" at ITU.</P>
<P>Thanks in advance.</P>
<P>Jean-Louis Fullsack</P>
<P>CSDPTT</P>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #ff0000 2px solid">> Message du 27/04/05 19:24<BR>> De : "Wolfgang Kleinwächter" <WOLFGANG.KLEINWAECHTER@MEDIENKOMM.UNI-HALLE.DE><BR>> A : plenary@wsis-cs.org<BR>> Copie à : <BR>> Objet : AW: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Clarifications on the ITU informal consultation on WSIS implimentation<BR>> <BR>> FYI<BR>> <BR>> This is the agenda of the ITU meeting, may, 3 - 4, 2005. All documents can be downloaded for FREE.<BR>> <BR>> http://www.itu.int/council/wsis/wsis_WG.html<BR>> <BR>> Best<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> wolfgang<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> ________________________________<BR>> <BR>> Von: plenary-admin@wsis-cs.org im Auftrag von Renata Bloem<BR>> Gesendet: Mi 27.04.2005 18:18<BR>> An: plenary@wsis-cs.org<BR>> Betreff: RE: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Clarifications on the ITU informal consultation on WSIS implimentation<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> Hi Bill<BR>> <BR>> Thanks, for these clarifications. I was out of town and therefore did not<BR>> speak to anybody in the ITU, but my own interpretation of the meeting was<BR>> very similar to yours. I sent this yesterday to Tracey and the CSB, see<BR>> below.<BR>> I was, however, surprised to hear that they expected some CONGO people to<BR>> attend. We were not asked to send this around as they had indicated of<BR>> having very limited space.<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> >Dear Bertrand, Tracey and all,<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> >Having been in Nairobi last week and again away until today, let me just<BR>> >join in this discussion.<BR>> >When I received the invitation for this consultation, I saw it mainly as an<BR>> >attempt of the ITU to position itself in WSIS and follow-up in relation to<BR>> >its own constituencies, (if you look at the agenda of the following<BR>> WG->WSIS)<BR>> >other UN agencies and the UN in general<BR>> <BR>> >I have not been involved in this ITU WG-WSIS so far, but if you look at<BR>> >some of their working papers, it becomes clear that they need to address<BR>> >some of what the ITU should do in order to play a more substantive role in<BR>> >WSIS follow up: e.g.<BR>> <BR>> >to align it more clearly with WSIS goals and objectives;<BR>> >to reflect more relevantly the MDGs<BR>> >to have closer engagement with CS, (!)even<BR>> >to have closer cooperation with the rest of the UN<BR>> >and probably a number of other to dos.<BR>> <BR>> >With other words, I see this exercise in the first place to get their house<BR>> >in order to prepare better for becoming the whatever.overall coordinator of<BR>> >the Plan of Action (according to the Russian proposal, not necessarily<BR>> >endorsed by all governments).<BR>> <BR>> >So the very brief consultation with other stakeholders should therefore be<BR>> >seen in my view in this in-house perspective as one (among many)<BR>> >consultations for follow up. (UNESCO, UNCTAD, OECD all prepare many<BR>> >meetings, including on follow-up)<BR>> <BR>> >I agree fully with Bertrand's letter (and thank you Bertrand!) to Janis<BR>> >Karklins, in which way a more structured dialogue should take place. But I<BR>> >would somewhat hesitate to send the other letter to Yuri Grin at this time,<BR>> >precisely not to give more importance to that meeting than it has. However,<BR>> >together with those who will attend, I will certainly raise the concerns.<BR>> <BR>> >Best<BR>> <BR>> >Renata<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> Renate Bloem<BR>> President of the Conference of NGOs (CONGO)<BR>> 11, Avenue de la Paix<BR>> CH-1202 Geneva<BR>> Tel: +41 22 301 1000<BR>> Fax: +41 22 301 2000<BR>> E-mil: rbloem@ngocongo.org<BR>> Website: www.ngocongo.org<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> The Conference of NGOs (CONGO) is an international, membership association<BR>> that facilitates the participation of NGOs in United Nations debates and<BR>> decisions. Founded in 1948, CONGO's major objective is to ensure the<BR>> presence of NGOs in exchanges among the world's governments and United<BR>> Nations agencies on issues of global concern. For more information see our<BR>> website at www.ngocongo.org<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> Hello Tracey,<BR>> <BR>> The ITU Council's Working Group on WSIS has long had a meeting scheduled on<BR>> the 3rd and 4th http://www.itu.int/council/wsis/wsis_WG.html to talk about<BR>> ITU's role in WSIS. The chair of the Council decided a couple of weeks ago<BR>> to add on an informal meeting on the day prior to hear from other<BR>> stakeholders, in part I think because ITU's been taking a lot of heat from<BR>> CS about being a closed shop (especially in WGIG). Three key points:<BR>> <BR>> First, this is not a WSIS meeting; if it was it'd have been done by the WSIS<BR>> secretariat and would have had to follow the relevant rules etc. It's an<BR>> ITU meeting, about ITU's role in WSIS, and an informal one at that, under<BR>> the authority of the chair, which is why it hasn't appeared on the ITU's<BR>> website and calendar of events. Second, given the genesis described above,<BR>> I wouldn't read too much into the way this was done in terms of setting<BR>> precedents on CS participation in ITU, much less in WSIS. The chair of an<BR>> ITU body can always call an informal meeting to hear what people have to say<BR>> and invite whomever she or he wants.<BR>> <BR>> Third, I just spoke with the head of the SG's strategy and policy shop, and<BR>> asked who was invited and why. He said that they'd simply pulled email<BR>> addresses of people on the CS bureau, CS people based in Geneva like myself,<BR>> and a few others they knew of. Originally they thought they'd have a room<BR>> that seats thirty, so they were trying to keep it small. But there's been<BR>> more demand than expected, so they've now moved it to a room that seats 100.<BR>> He told me that about sixty people are registered at present, perhaps half<BR>> of them from CS. I expressed surprise because I'm not aware that there's 30<BR>> WSIS CS people in Geneva, and he said well there are CONGO people, some<BR>> folks from out of town, etc. Didn't ask him to read a list. He emphasized<BR>> that now that they have a bigger room, they can accommodate more people if<BR>> others would like to register. I suggested they put the meeting<BR>> announcement with a registration link somewhere visible on the website, and<BR>> he said they'd get on it. So anyone else who wants to go, maybe check the<BR>> URL above in a day or so.<BR>> <BR>> I should add that it's not obvious how many ITU members will be attending,<BR>> since ITU-T is also holding a meeting that day to provide input into the<BR>> Council Working Group. So probably attendees will be speaking mostly to the<BR>> chair and some staffers, rather than to governments and corporations. As to<BR>> the Council WG itself, participation in that is more ambiguous. I was told<BR>> I could attend as an individual 'expert' but not as a CS person, since CSOs<BR>> have no standing right to participate unless they are Sector Members or<BR>> Associates. Unfortunately, I can't go to any of this, as I'm speaking at<BR>> the OECD's 2005 Forum in Paris, but if someone else wants to ask for an<BR>> 'expert' invite it might work.<BR>> <BR>> Hope this helps,<BR>> <BR>> Bill<BR>> <BR>> > -----Original Message-----<BR>> > From: plenary-admin@wsis-cs.org [mailto:plenary-admin@wsis-cs.org]On<BR>> > Behalf Of Tracey Naughton<BR>> > Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 4:43 PM<BR>> > To: plenary@wsis-cs.org<BR>> > Subject: [WSIS CS-Plenary] re: invite to the ITU informal consultation<BR>> > on WSIS implimentation<BR>> ><BR>> ><BR>> > Hello<BR>> ><BR>> > The CSB is formulating feedback for the ITU about the forthcoming<BR>> > informal WSIS Implementation meeting. It has been convened at short<BR>> > notice and it's unlikely to have the participation of people from<BR>> > developing contexts, (which is not to negate the value of those who<BR>> > will be able to attend by virtue of being based around Geneva). It goes<BR>> > without saying that many of us would like to have input.<BR>> ><BR>> > It would appear that few people have been invited but we would like to<BR>> > get a sense of who did receive an invite as background to our feedback.<BR>> > So far we know that myself, Ralph Bendrath and Adam Peake received<BR>> > personal invitations. Ralph also posted the invite to the plenary list<BR>> > but it's the direct ones we would like to record.<BR>> ><BR>> > Please let the list know. Thanks<BR>> ><BR>> > Tracey<BR>> ><BR>> ><BR>> ><BR>> > Tracey Naughton<BR>> > NYAKA<BR>> > Communication for Development Consultant<BR>> > 201 Somerset Hall<BR>> > 239 Oxford Road<BR>> > Illovo 2196<BR>> > South Africa<BR>> ><BR>> > landline & fax: +27 (0) 11 880 5030<BR>> > cell / mobile: +27 (0) 82 821 1771<BR>> > email: tracey@traceynaughton.com<BR>> > skype: tracey_naughton<BR>> ><BR>> ><BR>> ><BR>> ><BR>> <BR>> <BR>> _______________________________________________<BR>> Plenary mailing list<BR>> Plenary@wsis-cs.org<BR>> http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/plenary<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> _______________________________________________<BR>> Plenary mailing list<BR>> Plenary@wsis-cs.org<BR>> http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/plenary<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> _______________________________________________<BR>> Plenary mailing list<BR>> Plenary@wsis-cs.org<BR>> http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/plenary<BR>> <BR>> </BLOCKQUOTE>