OneWorld International Foundation on behalf of the Grassroots Caucus.pdf

/wsis Document WSIS-II/PC-3/CONTR/81-E 2 September 2005 Original: English OneWorld International Foundation on behalf of the Grassroots Caucus - 1 - (WSIS-II/PC-2/DOC/3-E) 1. The Group of Friends of the Chair (GFC) was created in accordance with the decision of PrepCom-1 (Hammamet), and following discussion within the WSIS Bureau, in order to prepare a document to serve as a basis for negotiations in PrepCom-2. 2. The membership of the Group comprised representatives from six governments from each region, plus five regional coordinators and the two host countries. The secretary-general of the ITU and a representative of the secretary-general of the UN participated as ex-officio members of the group. Non-member governments participated in the meeting as observers. 3. The Group held 6 meeting days between 22 October 2004 and 11 January 2005. Some 2.5 days of the meetings were held as ?special sessions? with participation open to all stakeholders. In addition, members of the Group took part in consultations to discuss the work of the Task Force on Financial Mechanisms (TFFM), on 16 November 2004 (am) and in the week beginning 7 February 2005. 4. The Group worked on the assumption that the outcome of the Tunis phase would be one document in two parts. To facilitate the work, the document was split into a Political Chapeau and an Operational Part. 5. The Group developed drafts on the basis of contributions from all stakeholders, as well as discussions during the meetings. Contributions to the work of the Group and drafts of the rolling texts are available on the Group?s website at /wsis/gfc. 6. The two annexes to this document present the current versions of the Political Chapeau (Tunis Commitment) and Operational Part (Tunis Agenda for Action). Chapter two of the Operational Part, on financial mechanisms, is provisional and may be further revised ahead of PrepCom-2. These documents are presented for the consideration of