Meeting of the Ministerial Committee for the follow up of the WSIS

The African Regional Preparatory Conference for the WSIS

1 February 2005

Background

The meeting of the NEPAD Heads of State Implementation Committee which was held in Kigali on 13 February 2004 requested President Obasanjo to convene in Dakar, a meeting of African ministers in charge of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to coordinate issues related to the WSIS. Accordingly, the meeting was organized by President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal from 19-20 April 2004.

Meeting of the African ICT Ministers, Dakar 19-20 April 2004

The objectives of the meeting were as follows:

• Provide information on the WSIS process and outputs so far;

• Discuss harmonization of African positions on the outputs of the Summit (Declaration of Principles and Action Plan);

• Discuss the Digital Solidarity Fund;

• Discuss African participation in the Tunis phase;

• Set up a Ministerial Committee to follow up and monitor Information Society summits, continental projects, programmes and policies;

• Prepare a report and a resolution for the Summit of African Heads of State to be held in Addis Ababa in July 2004.

The meeting adopted the following decisions:

• Creation of an Oversight Ministerial Committee on ICT;

• Preparation of a draft Resolution on the Digital Solidarity Fund;

• Recommendations on various ICT issues.

Meeting of the African ICT Ministers, Tunis 25 June 2004

The African Ministers met in Tunis on 25 June 2005 during the first Preparatory Committee (PREPCOM 1) of the Second Phase of the WSIS. The objectives of the meeting were to:

• Harmonize African positions for the Tunis phase;

• Discuss the content and structure of the Tunis phase;

• Exchange information on the Task Force on Financing Mechanisms and on the Digital Solidarity Fund;

• Discuss Africa's participation on Internet Governance issues;

• Discuss participation of the African civil society in the process of the Tunis phase.

Meeting of the African ICT Ministers, Accra 1 February 2005

The Protocol establishing the Ministerial Committee of permanent co-operation on Information and Communication Technologies stipulates that the Committee has its main objective as "coordination of the formulation, follow up and harmonization of African initiatives, programs and projects on the information society".

As indicated above, the Committee met twice, in Dakar and Tunis respectively and is expected to hold its next meeting in Accra on 1 February 2005, prior to the African Regional Preparatory Conference for the WSIS .

Objectives of the meeting

The meeting is expected review Africa's participation in the second phase of the WSIS and chart the way forward. The meeting is specifically expected to:

• Review the reports of the pre-conference workshops held in Accra from 28 January - 1 February, especially concerning implementation of the Geneva decisions, the development of key indicators on ICTs, Internet Governance and the Digital Solidarity Fund 2005

• Discuss Africa's participation in the Working Group on Internet Governance and the Task Force on Financing Mechanisms

• Approve the programme of the African Regional Preparatory Conference for the WSIS

• Discuss Africa's participation in the second phase

• Discuss follow up mechanisms, including elaboration and implementation of an African Regional Plan on the Information Society

Date and Time

The session will be held on 1 February 2005 from 09:30 to 12:30 AM

Participants will be:

• Ministers in charge of ICTs in African countries

• Representatives of African ICT Ministers

• Representative of the African Union