Since the outset of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process, UNESCO has been committed to implementing the WSIS outcomes. The plenary of the General Conference, UNESCO’s highest decision making governing body, adopted today a resolution on UNESCO’s activities for the implementation of the WSIS outcomes and future measures for reaching its 2015 goals.

With only four years left until the 2015 target date for achieving the WSIS goals, 195 Member States expressed their overall satisfactions with the achievements and progress made by UNESCO and reconfirmed its important role in bridging the digital and knowledge divides. It has been decided that UNESCO should further strengthen its role as facilitator, coordinator and implementer of the WSIS outcomes, and host a multistakeholder WSIS review event in 2013, in the lead up to the 2015 review by the UN General Assembly. The purpose of this event is to assess the achievements of global WSIS efforts since 2003 and also to discuss latest trends, developments and challenges in building inclusive knowledge societies.

As the integral part of the WSIS review preparatory process, the event is set to also produce recommendations for a possible post-2015 Action Plan, which will be further developed in the subsequent review preparatory meetings such as WSIS annual Fora hosted by ITU (for more information about the WSIS review preparatory process, please visit the UNGIS website at www.ungis.org).

The UNESCO-hosted event intends to include a high-level component, bringing together Ministers, CEOs, representatives of civil societies and intergovernmental organizations, experts and practitioners.

More information about the 2013 event will be available on the UNESCO official website for WSIS at www.unesco.org/webworld/wsis.

You can also contribute to UNESCO’s action in the post-WSIS process by joining the social networking online platform, the WSIS KC - Knowledge Communities.

Since its foundation, UNESCO has been at the heart of international thinking about the impact of the changing information and communication landscape.  As the United Nations’ specialized agency for education, science, culture and communication, it focuses on the potential for new technologies to advance development and enhance the rights of people around the world. Within the post-WSIS process, UNESCO plays a threefold role as a lead facilitating agency or coordinator of the WSIS implementation at global level, as facilitator and implementer of the six Action Lines, within the framework of its own programme and budget.