Secretary-General's press conference

I'm extremely happy to be able to participate in this important meeting.

And I'm glad that so many participants from all sectors of life came together to discuss this issue: governments, private sector, civil society, international organizations and others.

Obviously we have been able to reach an agreement last night but the test and the challenge is going to be in the implementation.

We need solutions to bridge the digital divide and unleash the benefits of information technologies to all classes of society, poor as well as rich, urban as well as rural.

As I have said, the lifeblood of this digital revolution is freedom. Without freedom, the technological revolution will stall.

I want to thank the Tunisian authorities, President Ben Ali, the government and the people of Tunisia, for the wonderful way they have received all of us. No doubt there has been an intense debate over free speech and human rights at this Summit. I think when you have this sort of discussion, it can only be beneficial to the society concerned and other societies around the world. As the United Nations, we have certain ideals, whether enshrined in the charter or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that we all seek to adhere to. That struggle never ends.

I will pause here and take your questions. I think you all heard me speak this morning and you may have quite a few questions for me.

Q: Thank you from the Tunisian television and CNN Well, my first question is …

SG: One question please, there are so many of you. Yes?

Q: This is the first time ever we all know that the civil society has participated as a full stakeholder in this Summit. Can you, Mr. Secretary, evaluate the participation of the civil society and do you intend to make civil society participate in other events, UN events? Thank you.

SG: Let me say that I have always been very supportive of civil society participation in these kinds of conferences and UN events. Ever since I became Secretary-General I made it clear that the issues we are dealing with. The United Nations cannot tackle [them] alone and we need to work in partnership with civil society, the private sector, foundations, universities, and we have been doing that. Unfortunately, we have not opened up the General Assembly and other UN sessions the way this has been opened and I think the Human Rights Commission is perhaps the most advanced, that has given enough space for civil society to participate. But we are making progress, and I think this is a good example, and we should continue to do that, because without working in partnership and pulling in civil society, private sector and other stakeholders we cannot succeed, and I am not limiting that comment only to ICT. Thank you

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, should the United Nations be participating in an event where civil society groups are not allowed to participate and where they are harassed by the host government?

SG: Let me say that there are lots of civil society groups here. Not only are there lots of civil society groups, and I realize that there have been problems, I have not only read about it I have myself raised this issue at the highest level, including with the President of Tunisia, about the need for us to adhere to these universal values. You also have to understand, that it is one thing to establish standards, and to achieve them. Many countries are going through reform, they are going through changes, reforms have to be home-grown, and they will have to determine how fast and the pace of reform. We, the outsiders, can encourage and help and adhere to the standards that we think everyone should achieve. And as I said, sometimes, by organizing these conferences, whether in a country like Tunisia or in others and putting the spotlight on them where these issues of human rights and others are discussed, it is extremely helpful and helps push the cause forward.

Q: Mine is not a question, Secretary-General, it is simply to thank you as you come to the end of your UN term to thank you for the consistency you have demonstrated in the defense of freedom of expression and to thank you, on behalf of African journalists.

SG: Thank you very much. It's not very often, in my role, that I get thanks and compliments.

Q: Secretary, I would like to ask, what would this Summit bring to the thousands of the deprived people in the developing countries? What will change in their life after this Summit? Thank you.

SG: I think the idea, one main idea of the Summit is to try and help development and social issue, and to help implement the Millennium Development Goals. I do believe that information technology is a tool that can help us accelerate the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals. It is a tool that can help us expand education, and ensure that young people everywhere have access to educational materials and even do long distance learning. It is a tool that allows women from villages to be able to sell their produce and handicrafts. Some, I can tell you right now, are sitting in villages in India and Africa and are selling to shops in New York and Europe, because of this capacity. And we would want to expand the access of this tool to almost every society and we will bring the benefits to all classes of society. And later this evening, I will be unveiling with Professor Nick Negroponte the hundred dollar computer which is also a very strong encouragement and in fact the objective of those who came up with that hundred dollar computer is to try and aim for a computer per child, so that the children can grow, not only grow through learning, but also through peer reaction and peer discussion. So there could be lots of benefits from this conference if we implement, not only what has been agreed, but the spirit that brought us here.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, there are some quarters here that are complaining that the United States has won with this agenda document, that the domain naming still stays with ICANN [Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers] and some of the governance still stays with ICANN. What is your viewpoint, is that in fact the case, and what does this mean in terms of the future of such Summits and the development of the internet? Are we going to have this debate open up again into a contentious and unhappy situation again?

SG: I think my own statement this morning was very clear, as to where I stand on that. I don't think anyone came to this conference determined to take over the role of ICANN. And as I said, we should leave the issue of the management of the technical aspects to technical institutions, not least of all to protect it from the heat of day to day politics. What is important is that everybody accepts that it has to be run competently and professionally.

What most people here want is to ensure that not only is it run effectively and expand it, but that it's expanded in the interest of all people. In the issue of internet governance as I mentioned this morning, the US has exercised its responsibilities fairly and admirably. And yet the Internet has become a tool which is very important for most governments whether in the area of education, social issues or environmental issues and is a very big part of their communication network. And I think it is only normal that they would want to be involved in the discussion of issues of governance. Let's assume it was another country other than the US, let's assume it was Germany for example that is handling the governance issue that the US is handling today. You think the US would sit back and say we don't need to have a say? All that is being said is, let's have a forum, where one will be able to discuss these issues and make an input. And so I think the agreement that was reached last night establishing a multi-stakeholder forum, open to all, so that they can have their views and voices heard, is a very positive way to develop. As to the final part of your question, as to whether this issue would be opened up again or not, I think is a question of evolution, and only time can tell. I cannot give you an assurance, that this issue will not come up, but I think we have made a very good start of cooperation, and we can go further, down the line.

Q: (in Arabic)

SG: As I said earlier, I have raised these issues of human rights and other access and freedom issues with the authorities. But the fact that the meeting is taking place here where you say internet access is limited, should be encouraging to all of you. The objective of the Summit was to open up and expand internet access and ensure that people everywhere do have access and can use it to improve their conditions and their lives. It's a noble objective which we are aiming for and we are going to try and achieve. We did not come here to achieve it today, or tomorrow. It's going to take time, not only in Tunisia but elsewhere. So we have to be realistic when we assess these situations or even consider the objectives and the reasons why we are here. So I hope what has happened here will be an incentive and propel all of us forward to expand internet connectivity and the issues of freedom of expression that you have discussed here so intensively.

Q: Mr. Annan, since the first phase of WSIS in Geneva we are talking a lot about digital divide and I don't think nothing happened yet. Do you think that the objective of this Summit will be achieved in time? If not, is there any alternative? Thank you. I hope that I …

SG: I'm not sure I will agree with you that since we met two years ago nothing has happened on internet divide. In that period, many people have had access to internet, many people have access to mobile telephones, many people have access to distance-learning, many doctors in third world countries are using telemedicine to treat their patients. So a lot has happened, perhaps not fast enough. And I hope this Summit will propel us forward and give us one more reason to work harder to ensure access to all those who need it.

Q: Secretary-General, sir, two years ago when the Summit first met in Geneva we already had set the date for Tunis so we had it for the first opportunity to appraise what had happened. Now that we are going past the Tunis event, do you as Secretary-General see the need for a road map going quite a few years with specific milestones so that achievements can be evaluated every two years, so that the whole idea of using information for empowerment does not become an open-ended project?

SG: Yes, I suspect this session this meeting will bring us to the end of the Summits on information technology at least at this stage. But the agenda that has been established is an ongoing agenda. And I would not be surprised if five years or so from now one comes back together to review what has been achieved. At the UN we have a tendency to do five year reviews, in fact we just did five year review of the Millennium Development Goals last September and so even though it has not been planned now, I will not be surprised if we do come back and do five year reviews. But I think in monitoring, and since we are monitoring the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals and this tool, this internet tool, and ICT can have such an impact on the achievements of the goals I suspect as we report on MDGs we may indirectly deal with the contribution of ICT in our achieving those goals. Thank you.

Q: (in Arabic)

SG: I think first of all let me say that I agree entirely with you and this morning I had the chance to applaud and commend the efforts made by the government and the people of Tunisia to make this conference possible. The objectives of the conference you have stated quite clearly. But as have all discussions have demonstrated and also the agreement that was reached last night, one of the main objectives is to open up discussions on governance issues to ensure that others, the views of others, are heard. And this is why a forum has been created, a forum that will include governments, civil society, private sector, will meet to discuss governance issue and therefore the voice of the third world civil society and governments would also be heard. Even if we don't have a structure that takes decisions on governance issues, we are moving in the right direction. What is important is that your views and ideas are taken into consideration and I think it would be in the interest of those who have responsibility for the governance issue to factor in views and opinions of others at the forum. Otherwise, there'll be additional pressure to even go beyond that.

Q: Je voudrais vous demander vôtre sentiment, comment vous expliquez la contradiction entre la volonté affiché par les états, de vouloir réduire le fossé numérique et mettre l'internet à la disposition de la plupart des populations du monde, et leur réticence, voire leur refus, de s'engager à financer le fond de solidarité numérique. Merci.

SG: Vraiment, on a souvent créé des fonds et on a demandé les pays donateurs et les individus et les fondations de contribuer. Tout ça, ça prend du temps. ça prend du temps et je crois que ce qui est important est qu'on doit s'y mettre, et pousser les pays donateurs, les pays qui ont la capacité de contribuer d'âgir aussitôt que possible, de nous permettre d'aider les pays en voie de développement. Pas seulement les gouvernements, mais les societés privées, des individus peuvent payer des contributions. Merci.