<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">Sorry for not reporting earlier. Here are the main points discussed with Amb. Karklins on October 12<sup>th
</sup>. Renate Bloem was also present.</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">The purpose of the meeting was to address :</font></span></p>
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-<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span></span><span dir="ltr"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">logistical issues related to the intersession and the resumed PrepCom in </span>
</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Tunis</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"></span></font></p>
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-<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span></span><span dir="ltr"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Amb. Karklins general vision on the summit process and achievable objectives in
</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Tunis</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"></span></font></p>
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-<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span></span><span dir="ltr"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">CS positions regarding follow-up and implementation</span></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">On the intersession</font></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face=""> </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">J. Karklins confirmed that CS actors will be given badges to access the Palais des Nations during the intersession in order to be able to interact with governmental delegations. The Executive Secretariat will take care of this and is in contact with the Security of the Palais. I stressed the importance of CS having nominative badges with their organization and not simple visitor badges that would symbolically amount to denying CS right to be there.
</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><font face=""><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">The PrepCom President confirmed his willingness to hold a daily interactive meeting with CS representatives every morning between
</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">9:15</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"> and 10. </span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">He also agreed to have CS comments on parts one and four distributed to delegations as an attachment to his own document if we wish to do so.
</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><font face=""><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">On the resumed PrepCom in </span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Tunis</span>
</b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"></span></b></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><font face=""><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">It most probably will not take place in the </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Kram
</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Center</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">, but the precise location is not fixed yet. A 600 seats room is considered and PrepCom rules will apply. He agreed that making sure that seats are available for CS is essential, but believes that this should not be a problem, given that full governmental delegations will probably only arrive for the summit itself. More information will be given in the coming weeks and the key actor in charge for that aspect will be the Secretariat.
</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">On the objectives of the Intersession</font></span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">President Karklins reiterated his objective of closing Political Chapeau and parts 1 and 4 during the Intersession in order to leave the more contentious issue of Internet Governance for the resumed PrepCom.
</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><font face=""><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">He stressed that, after the Tunis Summit, all documents adopted in </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">
Geneva</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"> and </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Tunis</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"> will be viewed together as a single set of documents. Many aspects of the Political Chapeau are strongly inspired (or even "recycled") from the Geneva Declaration. As a consequence, if problems arise on some contentious issues – in particular Human Rights – a rational solution would be either to drop them altogether (as they were addressed already) or to repeat the formulations agreed in Geneva.
</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">I stressed the importance of at least reiterating the Geneva Formulations, given the obvious reaction of the press in the context of the summit if paragraphs on human rights and Freedom of Expression were present in the preliminary drafts of political chapeau and absent form the final text.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">On Internet Governance</font></span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><font face=""><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">The rising visibility of this debate in the press was mentioned. Amb. Karklins hopes the coverage of the
</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Summit</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"> will become broader and not focus only on this issue. </span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><font face=""><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">A key question in the resumed PrepCom will be what document becomes the basis for discussion : can the present Chair's "food for thought" be accepted as a basis or rather something along the lines of the "cross-regional" proposal (
</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Argentina</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"> and others) ?</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><font face=""><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">A lot will depend on whether the different actors are willing to have a positive outcome in </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">
Tunis</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"> or not. The </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">US</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"> government has showed some openness on discussing issues in existing forums and on recognizing a legitimate interest of governments in managing their ccTLDs. But the issue of the root-zone file and oversight is a non-starter and the
</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">US</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"> government probably does not feel it needs to start negotiations on that point. Whether an agreement can be found around the creation of a Forum and postponing the discussion on the root-zone file is not clear.
</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face=""> </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">In any case, a Forum would not be tasked with any implementation but only provide a space to raise issues and find the appropriate framework to address them.
</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">On follow-up</font></span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">Amb. Karklins confirmed that follow-up could be structured around the three legs already mentionned: implementation, evaluation and policy debate. Each agency, upon decision of their respective governing bodies, will integrate the WSIS outcomes in their activities and the whole WSIS follow-up should become an integral part of the follow-up framework of UN Conferences, particularly resolution 57/270 B.
</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">Two elements were highlighted in response :</font></span></p>
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-<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span></span><span dir="ltr"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">WSIS is the first summit to devote two full years to the key question of follow-up and the establishment of a multi-stakeholder approach; the result of these two years cannot be only to request everyone to do what they should normally do;
</span></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt"><font face=""><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><span style="mso-list: Ignore">
-<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span></span><span dir="ltr"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Resolution 57/270B was adopted only because implementation and follow-up of past conference were recognized as insufficient; it is a only minimal set of rules to guarantee that at least something happens; it does not preclude in anyway – quite on the contrary – to do better; in particular, there is no reason for the WSIS not to be able to do what other Summits have done : set up a dedicated commission or reform an existing one to help coordinate actors
</span></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">He expressed his vision of a two-layer mechanism : the inter-agency (ie intergovernmental) implementation and follow-up and, on top of it, a multi-stakeholder coordination. But he did not elaborate much.
</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face=""> </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face=""> </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face=""> </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">Responding to comments on the importance of establishing a truly multi-stakeholder follow-up mechanism and the unique opportunity this WSIS process provides to pioneer an innovative framework within the UN system, he strongly stressed that, given the present situation in the UN system, a completely new body (ie a Commission for the Information Society) is out of the question : governments will not accept it.
</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><font face=""><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">On the other hand, he recognized that requesting the UN SG after </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">
Tunis</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"> to make proposals on coordination in time for the ECOSOC meeting in July (as suggested by the EU presidency during PrepCom3), could potentially be a way to move forward and avoid a deadlock and an inter-agency battle.
</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face=""> </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">But in any case, the PrepCom President is at the service of governments and can only do what they want to do. Such an approach has to come from the participants and gather enough support if it is to prevail.
</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">On the structure of the text</font></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face=""> </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">Amb. Karklins saw no objection against somewhat restructuring the text, merging all or part of Chapter one into Chapter four to make the Tunis Declaration more readable and coherent. (Note : this was subsequently formally proposed by him in his Friday mail).
</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face=""> </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">In general, the discussion was very open and Amb. Karklins is very keen on seeing an acceptable solution emerge from the intersession on Follow-up, in order to clear the way for the resumed PrepCom to focus on the single issue of Internet Governance.
</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">That'all folks.</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">Best</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face=""> </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="">Bertrand</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p>