UNESCO’s World Panel on Communication and Information holds today its first meeting at the Organization’s Headquarters in Paris. During the one day brainstorming session, the group will discuss the role of UNESCO related to the challenges of the new technological environment in the Organization's fields of competence. The Panel, established earlier this year by UNESCO’s Director General Federico Mayor, is aimed to identify the main challenges - risks as well as promising trends - of the new information and communication technologies for societies worldwide. The Panel concentrates its work on free access to information and the transformation of that information into knowledge for all by respecting cultural identity as well as human rights and freedoms. It is a forum for reflection and the exchange of ideas and is expected to foster dialogue among information and communication experts, the educational, scientific and cultural communities, the private sector, governments and parliaments, and the general public. In particular, the Panel should propose concrete and interdisciplinary strategies, policies and actions to be implemented at the international, regional and national levels in particular with a view to: encouraging the free circulation of ideas and universal access to the information and data needed for individual enrichment and the development of societies; building national capacities in the areas of communication, information and informatics, including training at all levels to ensure effective use of the new information and communication technologies, especially in the developing countries and in disadvantaged communities worldwide; and promoting new forms of international cooperation in order to guarantee access for all to cyberspace. The participants of today's meeting are : Ferial Al-Freih, Kuwait Taik-Sup Auh, Republic of Korea Tengku Mohd. Azzman Shariffadeen, Malaysia Juan Luis Cebrian, Spain Simon Davies, United Kingdom Nathalie Dusoulier, France Gareth Grainger, Australia Richard Keune, Germany Torben Krogh, Denmark Vijay Menon, Singapore Ludovit Stanislav Molnar, Slovakia Alejandro Piscitelli, Argentina Suzanne Richer, Canada Carlos Romero Sanjines, Peru Joachim Tankoano, Burkina Faso Michel Treheux, France Margarita Vasquez de Parga, Spain El Sayed Yasin, Egypt        Contact: Mustapha Chamaki, UNESCO, CII Sector, Unit for Special Projects