17 July 2007,UNESCO Headquarters, Paris

Mr Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted to welcome you to the Second Meeting of the United Nations Group on the Information Society (UNGIS), of which UNESCO today takes over the chairmanship.

I wish to extend a special welcome to Dr Hamadoun Touré, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union. Let me congratulate Dr Touré for his leadership, and for the achievements the ITU has made as Chair of UNGIS over the past twelve months.

Thanks to ITU, UNGIS has now become an established part of the various follow-up and implementation mechanisms of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

ITU has also worked hard to consolidate information sharing among WSIS stakeholders. Its stocktaking database is emerging as an important tool to track progress in advancing the WSIS vision of a "people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented information society".

Let me also welcome the representatives of the other UN and international agencies who are participating in today’s meeting. It is crucial for the UN system to achieve coherent follow-up to the WSIS outcomes. UNGIS plays an important role in this context. As its new Chair, UNESCO looks forward to working closely with all of you to help the UN deliver more effectively as one.

We must keep at the forefront of our minds the purpose of these meetings. For UNESCO, it is to build "knowledge societies"; that is societies where people can express themselves freely, where they can access and use information and knowledge, where cultural and linguistic diversity is seen as a richness, and where quality education is accessible to all.

I am pleased to see increasing support within the WSIS movement for such an inclusive and pluralistic approach, and for viewing technology in terms of human development and well-being rather than as an end in itself.

UNESCO will continue to work with the various WSIS stakeholders, including the organizations that you represent, to promote the actions needed to build knowledge societies, and to transform the vision of Geneva and Tunis into a reality for all.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The process of building knowledge societies requires social and political change.

Indeed, governments have a vital role to play. They can promote leadership and help develop a sense of "ownership" of national development goals. They can also empower people to develop their own solutions and capacities, a goal that lies at the heart of the WSIS process.

Coordinated international support is also important. Within the UN system, there is already a major drive across all agencies, funds and bodies to "deliver as one"; that is, to strengthen the coherence, relevance and effectiveness of the UN’s work in support of both national priorities and internationally agreed development goals, including the MDGs.

Different modalities for "delivering as one" are currently being tested in eight pilot countries. Here we all – and you as members of UNGIS in particular – will be challenged to define how best the UN can respond to the needs of Member States.

As a specialized coordination body of the UN system, UNGIS is well placed to become an efficient communication and coordination channel among those UN organizations that have been assigned responsibilities to facilitate the implementation of the Geneva Plan of Action and to mainstream the results of WSIS across their own mandates and activities.

However, in order to better meet its objectives, UNGIS will require more focused actions by its members.

At its first meeting in Geneva in July 2006, UNGIS decided to concentrate on expanding access to communication and knowledge, as well as on e-health and on e-tourism. UNGIS also chose to identify one or two countries on which it should focus its activities.

Within the context of UN reform and the drive to "deliver as one", I suggest that UNGIS examines to what extent it could participate in the eight pilots. Its role would be to work through the UN country teams concerned to propose to governments possible actions, with clearly defined expected results, in response to national priorities in the area of information and communication for development. UNGIS members could thereby draw on their respective strengths and comparative advantages to enhance the coherence and effectiveness of the UN system as a whole.

The WSIS Plan of Action has established a mechanism to facilitate implementation according to thematic action lines. Participation in the "Delivering as One" pilots would enable this thematic approach to be integrated with the thematic activities chosen by the UN country teams, with the WSIS Action Plan serving as a roadmap.

We are, of course, aware that not all agencies here have offices in the eight pilot countries. For its part, UNESCO is resident in six countries, but in the other two cases we engage as a non-resident agency through our offices in neighbouring countries. This is possible thanks to the inclusive approach adopted in the pilots, which UNESCO welcomes, and hopes will be continued as the pilot process is extended.

The doors, therefore, are open for all UN entities to participate. It is our responsibility to demonstrate how we can contribute and the added value this would bring.

In this process, all agencies should be aware of the need for the strong involvement and commitment of actors at the country level – including local government, civil society and the private sector. As I have said, national ownership and leadership is crucial.

It is also important that UNGIS links its work more closely to that of the Action Line Facilitators within the UN system.

UNGIS further needs to clarify its role vis-à-vis other mechanisms that have been established following WSIS, including the Global Alliance for ICT and Development and the Internet Governance Forum.

UNGIS members must likewise work more closely with UNCTAD, in its capacity as Secretariat for the Commission on Science and Technology for Development, which also has a role in the WSIS follow-up.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The WSIS follow-up requires a strong platform to share information and knowledge at the international level. One further important question for UNGIS to consider, is how this could contribute to the modernization of UN-wide information and communication systems, particularly at the country level.

We all hope that UN reform will provide a catalyst for harmonizing various business approaches and infrastructure systems, including IT-based systems and related information tools. The WSIS follow-up could provide important support in this regard, especially with respect to effective knowledge management and sharing across UN agencies. This would contribute significantly to the UN’s capacity to deliver as one

Beyond this, there are strong expectations that UN agencies can assist Governments in implementing specific WSIS recommendations, such as using ICTs for enhancing governance in Member States. Meeting these expectations represents a major challenge for all of us. Yet I am confident that by working together we can move forward.

This is, therefore, a very important year for the United Nations Group on the Information Society. Achieving greater coherence is at the top of our agenda, not only in terms of the WSIS follow-up, but also of how this process can support and advance other development goals, as well as the broader UN-wide drive to deliver more effectively as one.

Let me assure you that UNESCO, as Chair of UNGIS, stands ready to provide all the support needed. Beside me is Mr Abdul Khan, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, who I am sure you all know. I am also pleased to present Mrs Miriam Nisbet, who in September will take up the function of Director of the Information Society Division, which will provide the Secretariat for UNGIS over the coming twelve months.

I wish you all a very successful meeting, and look forward to the outcome of your work with great interest.

Thank you.