The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva from 10-12 Dec 2003 will provide a unique opportunity for all key stakeholders to assemble at a high-level gathering and to develop a better understanding of this revolution and its impact on the international community. The anticipated outcome of the Summit is to develop and foster a clear Declaration of political will and a concrete Action Plan for achieving the goals of the Information Society, while fully reflecting all the different interests at stake.

The Summit will be the outcome of a wide variety of inputs including Declarations and Actions Plans from 3 Preparatory Meetings, 4 Regional Conferences, and several themes and content meetings.

The Summit is being held under the high patronage of Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General, with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) taking the lead role, in cooperation with other interested UN agencies, and will occur in 2 phases.

1st Phase - Geneva 10-12 Dec, 2003: Hosted by the Govt of Switzerland, members of the ITU will adopt a Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action. Donor countries and donor agencies will be asked to commit funds to projects listed in the Plan of Action.

2nd Phase - Tunis 2005: Development themes will be a key focus in this phase, and it will assess progress that has been made and adopt any further Plan of Action to be taken.

There are 2 ultimate purposes of the World Summit on the Information Society:

1. To reach a consensus on the definitions of- and goals of the Information Society. These will be reflected in the Declaration of Principles, an example of which may include: "Every person in the World will have internet access by 2015".
2. To identify in the Plan of Action how each country will achieve the Declaration's goals, how much it would cost, and who would be providing funding.