Brussels, 15/12/2003 (Agence Europe) - The United Nations World Summit on the Information Society, held in Geneva from 10 to 12 December, will at the end of the day not have allowed very concrete progress to be made in favour of the poor countries. The 11,000 delegates, including around forty leaders of some 175 mostly Arab or African countries, were to adopt a declaration of principle taking stock of the global information society. They were also to agree to an action plan intended to help the countries concerned to achieve the information society. Finally, participants left the most arduous issues to one side, mainly that of the digital solidarity fund that Africans are calling for to be able to diffuse the new technologies such as the internet or cell phones more widely (one of the more ambitious aims being to link up villages throughout the world via internet by 2015) or the creation within the UN of an agency entrusted with the task of controlling the internet, a proposal that has come up against a categorical refusal from the United States.
The above issues should be discussed again during a second negotiating phase to be held in Tunis in 2005. The summit therefore concluded with a neutral political compromise, without any concrete commitments. Erkki Liikanen, European Commissioner responsible for the European Society policy, had been entrusted by President Prodi with the task of representing the European Commission throughout the summit. His counterpart, Poul Nielson, responsible for aid to development, attended discussions with the ACP partners on 10 December. Mr Liikanen, who hoped to see the adoption of principles "which will provide a roadmap for all countries of the world", said that the EU has made a great effort "to bridge the digital divide, both within and outside the Union". He went on to add: "We do not encourage technology for the love of technology, but we recognise how important it is for achieving development objectives (…). However, in order to gain the most benefit from this, countries must set up the appropriate political and regulatory framework, a framework that encourages broader and more affordable access and which promotes competition".