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Information minister represents Zambia at WSIS
Geneva, May 12, ZANIS ——— Information Minister Kennedy Sakeni is in Geneva, Switzerland to attend the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
An Information Society is one in which creation, distribution and manipulation of information becomes the most important economic and cultural activity.
Computers and Telecommunications are some of the machine tools of an Information Society.
ZANIS reports from Geneva that the International Telecommunication Union, (ITU) the host, has invited Mr Sakeni as a special guest speaker at the summit.
In recognition of Zambia’s efforts in promoting and increasing the use of Information, Communication and Technologies in development, ITU has commended Zambia for its significant achievements and progress being made in implementing the World Summit on the Information Society outcomes.
The promotion of ICTs applications in Zambia are enabling members of the public achieve their potential in development, which has recorded in most cases, to improve their quality of life.
Zambia stands to benefit from the summit as ICTs applications play a significant role in enhancing government operations, health services, capacity building, employment, job creation, business, agriculture, transport, protection of the environment, management of the natural resources, disaster prevention, among others.
The use of ICTs results in increased productivity help to promote poverty eradication.
With the rich and abundant natural resources that the country is endowed with, the transfer of advanced technology is of value addition on the resources as it advances the economic development thereby creating jobs for the majority Zambians.
The World Summit on the Information Society, which will be held from 13-17, May, 2013, is taking place at the ITU Headquarters in Geneva.
Geneva is the second largest city in Switzerland and the most international town with over 40 per cent of its population coming from outside that country.
Germany, French and Italian are official languages in Switzerland while a small per cent of the English language is spoken and is mainly among the foreigners.
According to record, the summit was set off in order to build an evolving multi-stakeholder platform aimed at addressing the issues raised by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) through a structured and inclusive approach at the national, regional and international levels.
The WSIS goal is to reach a common vision, desire and commitment in building a people centred information society where everyone can create, access, use and share information in as far as sustainable development is concerned.
The UN General Assembly Resolution 56/183 endorsed the holding of the World Summit on the Information Society in two phases.
The first phase was held in Geneva in 2003 while the second took place in Tunis in 2005.
The objective of the first phase was meant to develop and foster a clear statement of political will and take concrete steps to establish the foundations for an information society for all, to reflect the different interests at stake.
The objective of the second phase was to put Geneva’s plan of Action into motion and to find solutions as well as reach agreements in the fields of internet governance, financing mechanisms, and implementation of the Geneva and Tunis documents.
Participants to the summit are from all over the world and include Governments, the private sector, international organisations, the civil society, and academia
The forum will embrace a series of high level dialogues, interactive sessions and thematic workshops.
It will also provide structured opportunities to network, develop partnerships and participate in the multi-stakeholder discussions and consultations based on the WSIS implementation.
