Swiss President Pascal Couchepin will be taking advantage of the upcoming G8 meeting in Evian near Geneva early next week to encourage wholehearted support for the key World Summit on the Information Society to be held in December 2003 in Geneva. He will also be speaking at the associated G21 meeting.

The World Summit on the Information Society will be held in two phases. The first phase of WSIS will take place in Geneva hosted by the Government of Switzerland from 10 to 12 December 2003. The second phase will take place in Tunis hosted by the Government of Tunisia, from 16 to 18 November 2005.

In an introduction to the official WSIS online brochure, Mr Couchepin says:

’What kind of society do we want for our people ? How should we live together? Such questions are the daily bread of politics. The job of politicians is to reconcile ideals with what is possible. Then the possible must actually be implemented. The fact that many countries are fast becoming knowledge-based societies raises questions affecting individuals, the internal organisation of States as well as international co-operation.

The first phase of the WSIS will take place in Geneva from the 10 to 12 December 2003. This will be a unique opportunity to develop a world-wide vision for the information society at the highest possible level. The Summit is to result in a political declaration and a plan of action. And since information and knowledge concern society as a whole, Switzerland particularly supports the involvement of civil society and business in this process.

I am very pleased that my country will host this Summit. I will do my best to ensure that the first UN summit in Geneva since Switzerland gained full membership of the UN will be a success.’

Switzerland will be heavily involved in organising some 40 events in parallel to the Summit linking the public and private sector in the use of new technologies.