BUILDING THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

Joint Facilitation Meeting on Action Lines C2, C4, C6:
Information and Communication Infrastructure, Capacity Building, Enabling Environment

Open to all WSIS Stakeholders, including ITU membership

ITU HQ, Geneva, 19-21 May 19, 9.30 – 18.00
Rooms K, Montbrillant Building, ITU (2, Avenue Varembé)

DRAFT AGENDA

Day One, Monday, 19 May 2008

9:30 – 9:45

Welcome & Opening Remarks

• Mr. Houlin Zhao, Deputy Secretary General, ITU

• UNESCO

9:45 – 11:15

WSIS Action Line C2: Facilitation Process

Chair: Mr Emamgholi Behdad, Chief, Projects and Initiatives Department, Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU

11.15 -11.30

Coffee Break

11:30 – 13:00

Ambassadors Round Table on Financial Mechanisms for Infrastructure Development and Other ICT Initiatives

Chair: Mr Houlin Zhao, Deputy Secretary General, ITU

• H.E. Mr Sameh Shoukry, Ambassador, Permanent Representative, Egypt

• H.E. Mr Swashpawan Singh, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative, India (TBC)

• H.E. Mrs. Venetia Sebudandi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative, Rwanda (TBC)

• H.E. Ms. Alexandra Segura, Chargé d’affaires a.i. Minister Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the UN

• H.E. Pasquale d’ Avino, Minister Counsellor, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Italy to the UN

13:00 – 14:00.

Lunch break

14:00 – 16:45

Round Table on the ICT Projects and Necessary Mechanisms for Successful Implementation

Chair: Mr Emamgholi Behdad, Chief, Project and Initiatives Department, Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU

• Mr. Mario Franco, Coordinator of Fund for Information Society, Ministry for Public Works, Transport and Communications, Portugal

• Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade, Spain

• Mr Cisse Kane, Project Manager, Digital Solidarity Fund

• Mr. Roger Mellet-Brossard, WebForce

• Mr. Francis Muguet, ENSTA

• François Magne, BluWan

• Open discussion

16:45 – 17:15

ITU Global View

ITU and Microsoft demonstration

Day Two, Tuesday, 20 May 2008

WSIS Action Line C6: Facilitation Process

9:00 – 10:30

Creating an enabling environment for ICT growth

Chair: Ms Radhika Lal, Policy Advisor, ICT for Poverty Reduction & MDGs, United Nations Development Programme

• The changing regulatory environment: recent trends
  RME activities: overview
  Nancy Sundberg, Regulation and Market Environment Division, Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), ITU

• Mongi Hamdi, Chief, Science and Technology Division for Services Infrastructure for Development and Trade Efficiency, UNCTAD

• Marcus Kummer, Executive Coordinator of the Internet Governance Forum’s Secretariat, United Nations

• Open discussion

10:30 – 11:00

Coffee Break

11:00 – 12:30

Enabling environment driving innovation : best practices

Chair: Ms Radhika Lal, Policy Advisor, ICT for Poverty Reduction & MDGs, United Nations Development Programme

• Bogdan Dospinescu, Tariff Regulation and Universal Service Unit, National Regulatory Authority for Communications and Information Technology, Romania

• Mr. Thierry Albrand, Vice President, Digital Bridge, Alcatel-Lucent

• Mr. Miguel de la Rosa, Deputy Director General of Institutional Strategy for Latin America, Telefonica

• Mr. Dominic Vergine, Chief Executive, Aptivate

• Open discussion

12:30 – 14:00.

Lunch break

14:00 – 15:30

Infrastructure Sharing: extending ICT access to all on the national level

Chair: Mario Maniewicz, Chief, BDT Policies and Strategies Department

International Telecommunication Union

• Reducing the cost for network deployment: mobile and fiber sharing
  Susan Schorr, a.i. Head, Regulation and Market Environment Division, BDT, ITU

• India’s experience with mobile sharing
  Mr. S.K. Gupta, Advisor (Converged Network), TRAI

• Open discussion

15:30 – 16:00

Coffee Break

16:00 – 18:00

Infrastructure Sharing: extending ICT access to all on the international level

Chair: Mario Maniewicz, Chief, BDT Policies and Strategies Department

International Telecommunication Union

• Sharing international capacities/ International gateway liberalization
  Vaiva Lazauskaite, Regulation and Market Environment Division, BDT, ITU

• India’s experience with international gateway liberalization
  Mr. S.K. Gupta, Advisor (Converged Network), TRAI

• EASSy Cable Project

• Open discussion

Day three, Wednesday, 21 May 2008

WSIS Action Line C4: Facilitation Process

9:00 – 10:30

Challenges and New Approaches in Building Capacity

Chair: Ms Radhika Lal, Policy Advisor, ICT for Poverty Reduction & MDGs, UNDP

10:30 – 10:45

Coffee Break

10:45 – 12:30

Global Capacity Building Initiatives

Chair: Ms Radhika Lal, Policy Advisor, ICT for Poverty Reduction & MDGs, UNDP

12:30 – 13:00

Way Forward

Chair: Ms Radhika Lal, Policy Advisor, ICT for Poverty Reduction & MDGs, UNDP