Bandar Seri Begawan - The Honourable Minister of Communications, Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Abu Bakar Bin Haji Apong, left for Tunisia this afternoon to attend the second phase of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) which will be held in Tunis, Tunisia from 16-18 November 2005. WSIS is expected to welcome some 10,000 participants from UN agencies, governments, the private sector and civil society.

As a follow-up to the first phase of WSIS, Brunei Darussalam held the National Summit on Information Society (NASIS) on 7-8 September 2005. NASIS was attended by people from all walks of life, the government, non-government organizations, business entities, civil societies and the private sector, including students, in Brunei Darussalam to discuss issues related to the establishment of an Information Society, their importance and how they shall be addressed in Brunei context.

The Tunis phase of WSIS will carry forward the process of building a truly global, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society. In general Tunis phase of WSIS will focus on strategies to bridge the digital divide and harness the power of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to spur progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. Among the key agendas of WSIS in Tunis are the highly political issues of Internet governance and financing mechanisms to bridge the digital divide as well as on WSIS follow-up and implementation.

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