BA to be Represented at World Summit on the Information Society
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Dr. Fathi Saleh, Director of the Center for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CULTNAT) at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, has been invited to participate in the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), to be held in Tunisia in November 2005.
CULTNAT received the prize for "the best application of electronic documentation of heritage," one of 21 prizes awarded by the summit to the best applications of cultural and heritage electronic documentation around the world, during the first phase of WSIS in Geneva in 2003. A total of 800 institutions from 130 countries attended the summit, and specializations varied from electronic governance to health and education, as well as entertainment, science and heritage.
The idea of establishing the WSIS stemmed from a desire for global dialogue, and the realization that access to information and knowledge is a prerequisite for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The International Telecommunication Union, following a proposal by the Government of Tunisia, resolved at its Plenipotentiary Conference in Minneapolis in 1998 (Resolution 73) to hold a World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and place it on the agenda of the United Nations.
In 2001, the ITU Council decided to hold the Summit in two phases, the first from 10 to 12 December 2003 in Geneva, and the second from 16 to 18 November 2005 in Tunis. This was endorsed by the UN General Assembly (Resolution 56/183).