Tunis – The Honourable Minister of Communications, Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Abu Bakar bin Haji Apong, left Tunis, Tunisia today after attending the Second Phase of the World Summit On Information Society (WSIS). The Honourable Minister of Communications led a delegation comprising of senior officials from the Ministry of Communications and the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AiTi). The Summit was attended by 18,000 participants from governments, private sector, civil society and international organizations.

The first phase of WSIS was held in Geneva in December 2003, which was a landmark gathering the objective to develop and foster a clear statement of political will and take concrete steps to establish the foundations for an Information Society for all, reflecting all the different interests at stake.

As a national 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 World Summit on Information Society has adopted the ‘Tunis Commitment’ and ‘Tunis Agenda for Information Society’ which reaffirm the commitments made earlier in Geneva and build on them in Tunis by focusing on Financial Mechanisms for bridging the digital divide, on Internet Governance and related issues, as well as on Implementation and Follow-up of the Geneva and Tunis decisions.

Most importantly the Summit has successfully reached a consensus for the United Nations to convene a new forum for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue- called the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) which will be an open and inclusive process.

1. Desire and commitment to build a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, so that people everywhere can create, access, utilise and share information and knowledge, to achieve their full potential and to attain the internationally-agreed development goals and objectives, including the Millennium Development Goals;

2. Quest to ensure that everyone can benefit from the opportunities that ICTs can offer to improve access to information and communication infrastructure and technologies as well as to information and knowledge; build capacity; increase confidence and security in the use of ICTs; create an enabling environment at all levels; develop and widen ICT applications; foster and respect cultural diversity; address the ethical dimensions of the Information Society; and encourage international and regional cooperation;

3. The adoption of ICTs by enterprises plays a fundamental role in economic growth. The growth and productivity enhancing effects of well implemented investments in ICTs can lead to increased trade and to more and better employment. For this reason, both enterprise development and labour market policies play a fundamental role in the adoption of ICTs;

4. The international management of the Internet should be multilateral and transparent, with the full involvement of governments, the private sector, civil society and international organisations. It should ensure an equitable distribution of resources, facilitate access for all and ensure a stable and secure functioning of the Internet, taking into account multilingualism;

During the Summit, The Honourable Minister of Communications, Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Abu Bakar bin Haji Apong delivered a statement in which he mentioned that Brunei Darussalam through NASIS has developed an e-Strategy Paper. He further reported on the ICT development in Brunei.

Issued by
Ministry of Communications