1. The African Regional Preparatory Conference for the WSIS Access: Africa’s key to an inclusive Information Society 28 January – 4 February 2005 Accra, Ghana By Makane Faye Senior Regional Advisor African Development Forum (ADF IV) 11 – 15 October 2004

2. The African Regional Preparatory Conference of the WSIS W S I S 2003 G E N E V A WSISPREPCOMSWSISPREPCOMS Bamako 2002 (First African Regional Preparatory Conference to the WSIS) PREPCOMIPREPCOMI Accra 2005 (African Regional Preparatory Conference to the WSIS) WSISPREPCOMSWSISPREPCOMS W S I S 2005 T U N I S

3. Regional Conference for the second phase of the WSIS Host: The Government of Ghana Coordinator: The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Date: 28 January – 4 February 2005 –Preconference workshops: 28 January – 1 February –Conference: 2-4 February Venue: –Accra International Convention Centre –Koffi Anan Centre of Excellence

4. Meeting of the African Ministerial Committee in Charge of Information and Communication Technologies Dakar, Senegal, 19 – 20 April 2004 Established the African Ministerial Committee Responsible for ICT Made recommendations in relation to WSIS: –States to commit themselves to the Digital Solidarity Fund –Support to the WSIS 2005 in Tunisia –Support to the African Regional Preparatory Conference of the WSIS, 2 - 4 February 2005, Accra, Ghana

5. 5 th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union (AU), 30 June – 3 July 2004, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Welcomed the offer of the Government of Ghana to host the next Regional WSIS Preparatory Conference meeting Urged all Member States to actively participate in the WSIS preparatory process Adopted Decisions on the Report of the Chairperson of the Commission on the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and on the Digital Solidarity Fund

6. Preparations for the African Regional Preparatory Conference for the WSIS Planning Committee with 7 Sub-committees on: –Programme/Documentation –Fundraising/Sponsorship –Logistics/Secretariat/Accreditation –Publicity/Media Relations –Hospitality/Protocol/Transportation –Events/Projects –Security

7. List of Pre-Conference Workshops (28 January – 1 February 2005) Evaluation of the implementation of the Geneva Plan of Action E-strategies (National, Sub-Regional, Sectoral) Access and Infrastructure Enabling environment and Regulation Free and Open-Source Software Cultural Diversity and Multilingualism in the Cyberspace Indicators for the Information Society Private Public Partnership: techno parks and incubation SNA workshop on e-Schools

8. List of Pre-Conference Workshops (28 January – 1 February 2005) – ctd. The Digital Solidarity Fund Internet Governance Youth and the Information Society Gender mainstreaming in the information society: Access, opportunities and applications Law and Intellectual Property ICT & Poverty Reduction Academia Forum Parliamentarian Forum Media Forum Civil Society Forum Multi stakeholder Forum

9. Theme of the Conference Access: Africa’s key to an inclusive Information Society Financing the information society Indicators and benchmarking ICTs for socio-economic development Access and Infrastructure Industrialization Internet Governance 5 sub-themes (plenary and parallel sessions)

10. Expected Results of the Conference Input to the second meeting of the WSIS Phase II PrepCom-2, 17 – 25 February 2005, Geneva, Switzerland Strengthening of Africa’s participation in the second (Tunis) phase of the WSIS: –Preparedness of delegations on major issues –Strengthened Bamako Bureau to coordinate Evaluation of the progress made in the implementation of the Geneva Action Plan and recommendations for the way forward

11. Thank You! mfaye@uneca.org www.uneca.org/aisi We invite you to support the Accra Conference and Pre-Conference workshops and participate actively in both events