Internet Governance

World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)

The United Nations convened the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to develop a "common vision and understanding of the information society and the adoption of a declaration and plan of action for implementation by Governments, international institutions and all sectors of civil society".

WSIS was held in two phases: the first in Geneva, hosted by the Government of Switzerland from 10 to 12 December 2003, and the second in Tunis hosted by the Government of Tunisia, from 16 to 18 November 2005.

The Internet Pavilion at the ICT4all exhibition during WSIS phase 2, Tunis, November 15th to 19th 2005

Download the Internet Pavilion brochure (PDF/658KB)

The Internet Pavilion on stand 1323 brings together a number of the key organisations responsible for both day-to-day management and policy setting in the Internet sphere. Co-exhibitors include the Internet Society, IETF, the NRO, ICANN, CENTR and LINX.

The Pavilion's goals are twofold:

1) To demonstrate the successful open, neutral, bottom-up, collaborative and multistakeholder nature of the Internet and showcase the organisations that have fostered and supported its development

As it is a decentralised and collaborative environment, it is sometimes hard for observers to comprehend the nature and success of Internet governance mechanisms, as they exist today.

The purpose of the Internet Pavilion is to help the participants of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) understand how the existing governance mechanisms work and how these mechanisms relate to the findings of the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) Final Report and the WSIS principles in general.

The Internet Pavilion will also provide comprehensive information on how participants of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) can participate more fully in the existing governance mechanisms.

The Internet Pavilion will facilitate an understanding of why a collaborative and cooperative governance model is essential to the success of the Internet and the roll out of the Information Society in the future.

2) To promote the Internet as a primary tool for capacity building and development

The Internet Pavilion will publicise best practices in the use of the Internet for development in support of the WSIS goals on capacity building.

The Internet Pavilion will focus on the global reach of the Internet, and its breadth and scope for engagement by all parties around the world. The Internet Pavilion will act as a medium through which the co-exhibitors and invited guests will reinforce the very important role that the Internet has in promoting education, economic development, knowledge transfer, etc.

For more information, see: http://www.expo.ict4all-tunis.org/