On the occasion of the World Summit on the Information Society from Tunis (the second phase of WSIS), which is occurring in November this year, Romfilatelia, the specialized company in issuing and trading Romanian postage stamps, is releasing a definitive postage stamp with the title WORLD SUMMIT on the Information Society (WSIS – Tunis 2005).
On December 21st 2001, the General Assembly of UN Organization has taken a resolution for the organizing of a World Summit regarding the Information Society (WSIS) in two phases.
The first phase was organized in Geneva (Switzerland), in December 2003, and the required objective was to create an Information Society for everybody, reflecting the various interests of all involved parties. At the Geneva phase, 50 chiefs of state, government officials and vice-presidents participated, as well as 82 ministers, chiefs of delegations from 175 states, together with official representatives of international organizations.
The purpose and the nature of the Statement of Principle and of the Action Plan, adopted in Geneva, grant an important role to the governmental institutions and to the private sector which, through the policies which have been adopted, must assure the framework of regulations that are particular to the new type of society, to the development of the national information and communication infrastructure. The non-discriminating access to public information is necessary, but at the same time, we have witnessed new public-private partnerships and the reduction of the digital gap between states.
In order to prepare the summit from Tunis, there is under development a process for the monitoring and evaluation of the process registered by the actions formulated by the Geneva Plan. Work Groups have been set up to find solutions and agreements in the domain of Internet government, as well as financial mechanisms. These work groups will supply data for the second phase of the WSIS, the one from Tunis.
WSIS - Tunis 2005 represents the enforcement of measures meant to generate the continuous reduction of the digital gap and to accelerate the process of reaching the Millennium Development Goals, through the Information and Communication Technologies (ITC).
WSIS is playing a leading part in the orientation of the activities at the level of each state and it also provides the framework for the free opinion exchange, determining the guidelines for the development of the Information Society; all these generate the shaping of the international opinion and the harmonious implementation of the policies in the domain.
The postage stamp with the face value of RON 5.60 illustrates the logo of the WSIS and it represents a useful piece of information of common interest both for postal services users and for philatelists.
