In June 2001, the ITU Council endorses the ITU Secretary-General’s proposal to hold WSIS in two phases, in 2003 and 2005. Later in the year, the UN General Assembly, through Resolution 56/183, also endorses the holding of WSIS in two phases. It invites the ITU to ‘assume the leading managerial role’ in preparing WSIS. It also invites and encourages governments, UN bodies, other intergovernmental organisations, non-governmental organisations, civil society, and the private sector to contribute to the summit and its preparatory process.
Digital cooperation
Decision to organise WSIS
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference held in November 1998 in Minneapolis puts the basis of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Adopted at the conference, Resolution 73:
– Instructs the ITU Secretary-General ‘to place the question of holding a world summit on the information society on the agenda of the United Nations Administrative Committee on Coordination;
– Instructs the ITU Council to ‘consider and decide on the Union’s contribution to the holding of a world summit on the information society’.