witsa.org€¦ · Web view2015. Executive Summary. Prepared by: Dr James Poisant. Secretary General. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PROGRESS & ACTIVITY REPORT. Purpose of Report. UN Agencies

WITSA PROGRESS & ACTIVITY REPORTJanuary-September 2015

Executive Summary

Prepared by:Dr James PoisantSecretary General

1This document is the property of the World Information Technology & Services Alliance (WITSA)It is a proprietary document intended for WITSA members ONLY. Copyright 2014 WITSA

TABLE OF CONTENTSPROGRESS & ACTIVITY REPORT

Purpose of Report

UN AgenciesUN Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD)UN Global CompactUN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF)Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG)UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)International Trade Center (ITC)International Telecommunications Union (ITU)UN World Health Organization (WHO)UN World Summit Youth AwardsUNODC Vienna International Centre, Organized Crime and Illicit Trafficking Branch Division for Treaty Affairs_____________________________________________________________________________________

International OrganizationsAPACNetMundial Initiative CouncilWorld Economic Forum (WEF) New York City & GenevaOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD)/BIAC______________________________________________________________________________

Financial InstitutionsThe World BankInter American Development Bank______________________________________________________________________________


WITSA WITSA’s World Congress on ITWITSA Committees Global Policy Action CommitteeFinanceAuditGlobal TradeEducation

World Congress on ITHost Calls/MeetingsHosting Agreement Status

WITSA Meetings 2015January-May June /JulyAugust/SeptemberOctober/NovemberDecember

OtherOpen Entry


PROGRESS & ACTIVITY REPORTJanuary 1-September 30, 2015

Purpose of ReportThe main purpose of this report is to provide the WITSA Board of Directors as well as all WITSA members with a snap shot of WITSA’s activities and progress. The report is not meant to be inclusive of all WITSA activities but sufficient to provide those members who may be interest a fairly good view of the inner workings of the WITSA organization. Comments and recommendations are always welcome. Please send to Jim Poisant at jpoisant @witsa.org.

International OrganizationsIntroduction: In order to be recognized as the global voice of the ICT industry it is necessary for WITSA to have established relationships with key internationally recognized organizations and institutions. These organizations are vital to WITSA’s branding efforts, messaging and vision as well as WITSA policy positions as they promote the expanded use of ICT’s around the globe.

UN Agencies

UN Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD) - UNCTAD which is governed by its 194 member States, is the United Nations body responsible for dealing with development issues, particularly international trade – the main driver of development.

MOU signed between UNCTAD SECRETARY GENERAL Kituyi and WITSA Chairman Gutierrez signed this landmark agreement in Geneva, Switzerland at the United nations Building on March 24, 2015

WITSA hosted a reception for 100 people after the signing reinforcing WITSA’s brand. SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant participated in UNCTAD’s Session at WSIS event

May 27th, in Geneva as a follow up to the MOU; working in cooperation with each other. Torbjorn Frederickson, UNCTAD is scheduled to participate in WITSA’s WCIT 2016 in

Brasilia, Brasil.


SECRETARY GENERAL met with Mr Torbjorn Fredericksson on May 26 and May 27th

in Geneva, Switzerland to discuss an opportunity to work with UNCTAD to develop and deliver training programs in order to establish ICT associations in developing countries. Mr Frederickson had met with the Swedish Development Co-operation Agency (Sida), regarding interest and funding.

On May 27th the SECRETARY GENERAL participated in UNCTAD’s E Business Session at the WSIS conference where he was asked to make comments to the session participants.

On July 13th SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant working with Mr Fredericksson wrote an invitation to SECRETARY GENERAL Kituyi to speak at the WCIT 2016 as the opening speaker. (Pending)

Secretary Kituyi received and invitation to speak at the WCIT 2016.______________________________________________________________________________

UN Global Compact “The Global Compact asks companies to embrace universal principles and to partner with the United Nations. It has grown to become a critical platform for the UN to engage effectively with enlightened global business.” – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

WITSA joined the Global Compact in 2014 (Associations representing Business category of Membership)

At this time no one from WITSA has attended any 2015 meetings. In one case there was a meeting held in NYC and WITSA SECRETARY GENERAL registered to attend. His registration was rejected. He followed up with a concern that they were leaving the ICT industry out of their meetings. No response received.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is the United Nations’ central platform for reflection, debate, and innovative thinking on sustainable development.

WITSA’s application was submitted to ECOSOC on May 26, 2015 by Anders Halvorsen, WITSA’s Vice President for Administration. The status of application is pending.

It appears that WITSA will not learn if it is member until early 2016. ___________________________________________________________________________

Internet Governance Forum (IGF) The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) serves to bring people together from various stakeholder groups as equals, in discussions on public policy issues relating to the Internet. While there is no negotiated outcome, the IGF informs and inspires those with policy-making power in both the public and private sectors. At their annual meeting delegates discuss, exchange information and share good practices with each other. The IGF


facilitates a common understanding of how to maximize Internet opportunities and address risks and challenges that arise.

On June 2, 2015 WITSA received notice that its proposal for a workshop was denied. WITSA members have attended several IGF Meeting and will continue to do so, budget

permitted.

Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) WITSA members Silvia Bidart and Hossam Elgamal were appointed as members to this

prestigious organization. - Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) member represents a multi-stakeholder group (i.e. civil society, academia, technical community, Government, and private sector) which is recognized by IGF, affiliated with IGF work, and/or is accredited by the United Nations ECOSOC.

UNESCO- In 1945, UNESCO was created in order to respond to the firm belief of nations, forged by two world wars in less than a generation that political and economic agreements are not enough to build a lasting peace. Peace must be established on the basis of humanity’s moral and intellectual solidarity. UNESCO strives to build networks among nations that enable this kind of solidarity, by:

On May 27, 2015 SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant met Mr Cedric Wachholtz, Program Specialist UNESCO, Paris, France in Geneva at the WSIS Forum. Cedric was involved in inviting WITSA to participate in a conference in Paris, France in March 2015. Chandrasekhar participated in the conference on behalf of WITSA. WITSA’s SECRETARY GENERAL discussed WITSA’s potential involvement in UNESCO. WITSA being a consortium of associations presented a new type of membership to UNESCO according to Cedric. It was determined that further dialogue between WITSA and UNESCO needed to take place before a role for WITSA could be established. T-33 (0) 14568476

No updates in July/August or September

International Trade Center (ITC) - The joint mandate of the UN and the WTO As the joint agency of the United Nations and the WTO, ITC is the only multilateral agency fully dedicated to supporting the internationalization of SMEs. Its joint mandate combines a focus on expanding trade opportunities with the aim of fostering sustainable development. - See more at: http://www.intracen.org/itc/about/how-itc-works/#sthash.v6GECYQ9.dpuf


March 24, 2015, Chairman Gutierrez and SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant met with Andrea Santoni a representative from the ITC in Geneva to discuss offering WITSA a business benching marking tool. Tool is presently under review.

WITSA’s SECRETARY GENERAL will meet with ITC in Geneva during the week of May 24th.

SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant met with Martin Labbe and Andrea Santoni at the International Trade Center headquarters in Geneva on May 26th to discuss the ITC’s business bench marketing tool that the ITC developed to assess the general governance and operations of businesses/associations.

Note: As mentioned, Mr Andrea Santoni met with Chairman Guitierez and SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant in March of 2015 in Geneva to offer the tool at no cost to WITSA and its members.

SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant tested to tool and had problems navigating through it. Since that time a revised version had been created.

On May 31st SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant evaluated the revised tool and provided written feedback to the ITC. Assuming the ITC makes suggested changes, Dr Poisant will make it available to a random sample of WITSA members to gather additional feedback on the applicability of the tool for all WITSA members. Once this occurs and the ITC makes applicable changes the tool will become available to all WITSA members.

SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant met James Howe Principle Counselor, Marketing, Branding, Competitive Enterprises, International Trade [email protected] t 4122730 0645/m 4179179 3181. SECRETARY GENERAL participated in an Ecommerce Session hosted by UNCTAD on May 28, 2015 in Geneva

On July 29, 2015 SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant emailed Martin and asked if there was any news.August- During the month of August several emails were written between WITSA and the ITC regarding the assessment tool. The last message from SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant suggesting that the ITC will offer its existing tool to all WITSA members at no cost. If WITSA members show interest in further work being conducted by the ITC it was further discussed that the ITC could invest in a special tool ONLY for ICT associations.

International Telecommunications Union-(ITU) Geneva -ITU is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies – ICTs. The ITU allocates global radio spectrum and satellite orbits, develop the technical standards that ensure networks and technologies seamlessly interconnect, and strive to improve access to ICTs to underserved communities worldwide. ITU membership is unique among UN agencies in having both public


mailto:[email protected]

and private sector membership. So in addition to ITU’s 193 Member States, ITU membership includes ICT regulators, leading academic institutions and some 700 private companies.

March 25, 2015-Chairman Gutierrez/SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant met with the head of Strategic Planning and staff to discuss ITU’s future plans.

May 2015, WITSA’s SECRETARY GENERAL had a follow up with meeting (Invitation ONLY Breakfast) with the ITU’s SECRETARY GENERAL.

SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant also met Sec Gen Houlin Zhao in Geneva on May 26, 2015 at the WSIS Conference.

SECRETARY GENERAL attended an (Invitation ONLY) breakfast with Sec Gen Houlin Zhao on May 27, 2015 in Geneva.SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant was introduced to SECRETARY GENERAL Zhao and received a warm welcome from him. He was aware of WITSA and expressed a desire to work together.

SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant met with a team from the ITU led by Mr Tomas Lamanauskas, ITU’s head of Strategic Planning. The meeting revolved around a potential relationship between the ITU & WITSA. Mr Lamanauskas committed to propose such a relationship in a follow-up proposal.

As a direct result of these meetings the ITU sent SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant an offer for WITSA members to submit speakers for the World Telecom Conference hosted by the ITU in Budapest, Hungary in October 2015.

On August 19th SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant spoke to Tomas Lamanauskas. Tomas invited him to speak at the upcoming ITU Telcom World 2015 in Budapest, Hungary http://telecomworld.itu.int/ from Oct 12-15th. Mr Lamanauskas offered Dr Poisant agreed a number of speaking opportunities during the conference. SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant accepted the invitation in order to enhance WITSA’s relationship with the ITU.

In September SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant accepted an additional placement on the Budapest program and WITSA was asked join the ITU as a partner in a program called Emerge. WITSA agreed.

The ITU speaking engagement was posted and announced to all WITSA members in September.

The World Health Organization is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It provides leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries, and monitoring and assessing health trends. The U.S. Government is a contributor to the WHO.

Dr Joan Dzenowagis , eHealth Unit World Health Organization 20 Ave Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland tel. +41 (22) 791-2504 /cell +41 (79) 217-3469


http://www.un.org/en/

http://www.who.int/en/

http://telecomworld.itu.int/

August 3, 2015-call took place-Excellent call. Ms D agreed to participate in the WCIT 2016 and moderate the health care session. SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant sent her the MOU with UNCTAD as she expressed a desire to enter into an agreement with WITSA SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant to reconnect to review status of MOU.

World Summit Youth Awards Located at the International Centre for New Media, Leopoldskronstraße 30 | AT - 5020 SalzburgThe World Summit Award (WSA) is the global follow-up initiative of the United Nations World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) organized by the International Center for New Media (ICNM), Salzburg, Austria. It partners with the key UN organizations and agencies in the framework of the UN Geneva Agenda and the Tunis Action Plan and selects and promotes the world's best e-Content and innovative ICT applications; to date more than 160 countries are actively involved. WITSA’s SECRETARY GENERAL has participated as a speaker and award granter in Dubai, Montreal, and Austria. This organization offers WITSA a firsthand opportunity to involve the world’s youth within WITSA’s agenda.

On May 24 and May 25th -World Summit Youth Awards meetings to took place in Geneva to discuss youth inclusion in WITSA, WCIT events. SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant met with Nora Wolloch, Project Manager, World Summit Awards and Dr Peter Bruck, President. The WSA is expected to send Dr Poisant a proposal regarding a formal relationship between the two organizations as applicable to WITSA’s WCIT congresses.

July 1, 2015-Received proposal SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant had a conference call with Nora Wolloch regarding

WCIT 2016. It was agreed that the WYSA would need to get sponsors to pay all expenses for youth winners and that WCIT 2016 would not lose money in the deal. A formal proposal is expected from the Youth organization by the end of July 2015. A proposal was received from the WYSA by SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant. It was sent to the Brasil project team for consideration.

In September during a visit to Brasilia SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant met with Ms Flavia Malkine to discuss working with the Youth Awards during the WCIT 2016 Congress. She wrote to the Youth Awards and is following up them. The intention is to work with them to add a youth component to the congress.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Chief, Organized Crime and Illicit Trafficking Branch Division for Treaty Affairs UNODC , Vienna International Centre,P.O. Box 500, A-1400, Vienna, Austria -Tel. + 43-1-26060-4272 Emai: [email protected]: www.unodc.orgUN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

SECRETARY GENERAL provided a copy of the UNCTAD/WITSA MOU with Lodie. She said that she would consult with colleagues and let WITSA know of the collective decision regarding possible collaboration between UNODC and WITSA.


http://www.unodc.org/


On June 16th, 2015 SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant registered WITSA’s Secretariat to being to receive UNODC Newsletters (see link) http://www.unodc.org/runtime/newsletter/confirm-subscription.jsp?token=rdUJGRNgXHyRxcZZNLg8gAGJwoV6Sb6&cid=1&lng=en&subscriptionId=51076

UNODC is mentioned in research material related to Cybersecurity. SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant will review the organization to see if it fits into WITSA’s overall communications and brand marketing plan as well as fitting into WITSA WCIT programs.

No Updates as of September 2015.

APEC-To be Determined_____________________________________________________________________________

NetMundial Initiative Council - The NetMundial Initiative is a plan for international governance of the Internet that was first proposed at the Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance (GMMFIG) conference (23–24 April 2014)[1][2][3] and later developed into the NetMundial Initiative by ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade along with representatives of the World Economic Forum (WEF)[4] and the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee.

Initial NETMundial Mtg-San Paulo, Brasil April 23-24, 2014 (WITSA Members attended). WITSA Paper was submitted and accepted.

NMI Council Resulted from San Paulo meeting-WITSA’s S was appointed to Council (1 of 5 from Private Sector globally)

WITSA’s SECRETARY GENERAL attended initial council meeting in San Francisco (Stanford University) on April 30th

Inaugural meeting scheduled in San Paul, Brasil June 30th. SECRETARY GENERAL met privately with:

-The Secretary/Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Brasil-The President \& CEO of ICANN Fadi Chehadé-The Assistant Secretary of Commerce, Lawrence Strickling, US Department of Commerce

On May 22, 2015 Members of the Council received a surprising message from the president of ICANN, that he was leaving ICANN but would stay involved in the NMI.

SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant attended the Inaugural NetMundial meeting from June 29-30th in San Paulo, Brasil.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetMundial_Initiative#cite_note-wef-4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Economic_Forum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fadi_Chehade

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICANN

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetMundial_Initiative#cite_note-bbc-3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetMundial_Initiative#cite_note-pctech-2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetMundial_Initiative#cite_note-circleid-1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_governance

http://www.unodc.org/runtime/newsletter/confirm-subscription.jsp?token=rdUJGRNgXHyRxcZZNLg8gAGJwoV6Sb6&cid=1&lng=en&subscriptionId=51076



SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant had the opportunity to meet with senior officials from China and the European Union. In addition he met with Jack Ma the chairman of Alibaba. SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant discussed his involvement in WCIT 2016.

August 4-SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant wrote an email to both Jack Ma and the Minister as a reminder to answer his email requests.

SECRETARY GENERAL agreed to work on a subcommittee on the Council.

World Economic Forum (WEF) Geneva-The WEF an International Institution committed to improving the state of the world through public-private cooperation. The WEF engages political, business, academic and other leaders of society in collaborative efforts to shape global, regional and industry agendas. Together with other stakeholders, it works to define challenges, solutions and actions, always in the spirit of global citizenship. In addition the WEF serves and builds sustained communities through an integrated concept of high-level meetings, research networks, task forces and digital collaboration.

March 26, 2015 WITSA’s SECRETARY GENERAL met at WEF Headquarters to discuss future relationship with ICT staff.

Relationship could include having WITSA subject matter experts contributing to shaping the WEF issues. Inviting WITSA leaders to participate in WEF thought leadership events, and possibly a formal partnership where WITSA leadership contributes with leadership from other partners in our community in shaping the agenda for the WEF.

On May 27th SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant met at WEF’s headquarters in Geneva with Bruce Weinelt, Bruce leads up WEF’s work on Digital Transformation of Industries. Essentially looking at industry by industry the direction digitisation is taking or in other words, the IT’isation of each industry. The meeting lasted for two hours and concluded that SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant would meet with Alan Marcus on June 10th in Washington DC to continue discussions on forming a relationship between the WEF and WITSA.

On May 28, 2015 (Geneva), SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant met Alex Wong, Senior Director, Head, Center for Global Industries (Geneva) Head Basic & Infrastructure [email protected] t 41 (0) 869 1460 c 41 (0) 792102618-Alex organized high level meeting at the WSIS Forum Geneva-WITSA was warmly welcomed by the WEF as well as the 30 attendees to include the Sec General of the ITU. WITSA SECRETARY GENERAL met Met Virat Bhatia, President AT&T, South Asia (May 28, 2015) Geneva. Very familiar with NASSCOM and Chandrasekhar. He was made aware of the WCIT [email protected] T-91-124-4848716 C 91 98110 47476

June 10-SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant met with Alan Marcus in Northern Virginia. Mr Marcus discussed potential relationship arrangement with J Poisant. One would be paid membership in the WEF the other being invited to attend particular meetings as



guest experts. The paid membership (60K per year + 29K to attend the annual Davis conference) was discussed but not considered by SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant at this time. The alternative expert relationship appeared to be the best option at this time. Mr Marcus is to get back to SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant with additional information regarding the expert category of WEF involvement.

On September 22nd SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant spoke to Alan Marcus about WITSA’s potential relationship with WEF. Mr Marcus said that WITSA was under consideration as a potential member of WEF’s 2016 Global Agenda Council. The WEF will select new members of the council in the spring of 2016. If WITSA is selected, WITSA will be invited to participate in major WEF meetings. These meetings may include DAVOS, Switzerland.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) The OECD uses its wealth of information on a broad range of topics to help governments’ foster prosperity and fight poverty through economic growth and financial stability. We help ensure the environmental implications of economic and social development are taken into account.

WITSA’s SECRETARY GENERAL has had a long standing relationship with Dr Andrew Wyckoff, Director of the OECD’s Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation.

BIAC- is the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) to the OECD. Dr Andrew Wyckoff is a confirmed WCIT 2016 speaker. Call with Michelle (BIAC) took place on September 30, 2015.

International Council for IT in Government Administration ( ICA ) -The International Council for Information Technology in Government Administration (ICA) is a non-profit international organisation. It promotes and facilitates the informal exchange of ideas, knowledge and experiences on management and the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) in central government administration. ICA is an international forum that supports senior management in the formulation of IT policy to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of governments at local level. SECRETARY GENERAL Applied for membership June 4, 2015

June 5, 2015-SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant requested membership with the ICA SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant followed up on WITSA’s application for Associate

membership pn July 14th to the ICA Secretariat. On July 15th SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant received the following reply from the

ICA Secretariat: Dear Mr. Poisant, We thank you for your interest in becoming an associate member of ICA. Your request has been thoroughly reviewed; however we regret to inform you that our membership is limited to governmental officials. Associate


http://search.tb.ask.com/search/redirect.jhtml?action=pick&ct=GD&qs=&searchfor=ICA+International+Council+for+IT+in+Government+Admin&cb=XN&pg=GGmain&p2=%5EXN%5Exdm470%5ES11595%5Eus&qid=a7332bc92ca34045ae97c377a7362b07&n=781aa0c2&ots=1433518454646&ss=sub&pn=1&st=sb&ptb=5655F54B-D4CF-4F1E-A26E-36DE77AD554B&tpr=jre10&si=CD15543_&redirect=mPWsrdz9heamc8iHEhldEaIXxUOe4UetGBL%2Fb%2Fp0bNFQpSBV1CBJyrkYqSEpx3Ud&ord=0&

memberships are defined by non-private sector activity. Once again, your interest was greatly appreciated. Kind Regards, ICA Secretariat

On July 15th SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant wrote to Tim Conway as he was the one who recommended membership if the response was questionable?

No Change in September.

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CIO Executive Council - The CEC was launched in 2004 by CIO magazine. Current membership includes hundreds of the world’s top CIOs from organizations of every size and industry.Nowhere in the world will you find a more concentrated or experienced group of IT leaders than within the CEC. The CEC was launched in 2004 by CIO magazine. Current membership includes hundreds of the world’s top CIOs from organizations of every size and industrySECRETARY GENERAL Poisant developed a working relationship with the CEC leading up to the WCIT 2014 wherein the council recruited CIO’s to take part in the congress –CIO Perspectives Session.

On July 23, 2015 an agreement was finalized between the Council and WITSA to continue working together to supply CIO’s to the WCIT’s.

On July 29 the agreement was send to the WCIT project heads in Brasil. The essence of the agreement is the CIO Executive Council will recruit CIO’s for the WCIT’s CIO Perspectives Panel and WCIT 2016 will pay them $1,000.00 per placement. WCIT 2016 approved the agreement.

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The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization On July 21, 2015 SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant received an Invitation to the Annual

Forum of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation as a program participant (14th to 16th September 2015) in Nairobi, Kenya. As SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant is scheduled to return to Brasil in support of the WCIR 2016 during this period he invited Waudo Siganga to take his place on July 21, 2015. Waudo accepted the invitation and is coordinating with the CTO.

On August 28th Dr Siganga received an invitation to participate in the program. He accepted the offer.

He reported that the meeting was a success and he enjoyed participating.

Financial Institutions

The Inter American Development Bank- The IADB works to improve lives in Latin America and the Caribbean. Through financial and technical support for countries working to reduce


poverty and inequality, we help improve health and education, and advance infrastructure. Our aim is to achieve development in a sustainable, climate-friendly way. With a history dating back to 1959, today the IADB the leading source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean. The IADB provides loans, grants, and technical assistance; and we conduct extensive research. The IADB maintains a strong commitment to achieving measurable results and the highest standards of increased integrity, transparency, and accountability.

WITSA’s SECRETARY GENERAL Negotiations underway for WITSA relationship (MOU) with the IADB office of Partnerships. Three meetings between the IADB and Dr Poisant have taken place in Washington DC.

On June 2, 2015 SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant wrote an email to Mr Miquel Porrua, IADB’s Lead EGovernment Specialist reminding him of WITSA’s willingness to engage in a relationship with the IADB.

On July 24th SECRETARY GENERAL was contacted by M Porrua. Mr Porrua committed to setting up a meeting with the Office of Outreach and Partnerships to see if WITSA can become a partner

- Regarding the WITSA meeting in Brazil next year, the commitment to collaborate remains.

- He told SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant that IADB was committed to invite WITSA to any event they organized related to ICTs.

- A meeting has been set up between SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant and the IADB Partnership office for September 3, 2015. Meeting has been delayed

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The World Bank - The World Bank is a United Nations international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programs. The World Bank is a component of the World Bank Group, and a member of the United Nations Development Group.

Negotiations underway for WITSA relationship. WITSA’s SECRETARY GENERAL met with Randeep Sudan, Practice Manager (Global), Information and Communication June 4th call took place between the World Bank, (Randeep), Luis Stein and J Poisant-very positive resulting in the bank asking Mr Stein to assess the level of interest within the Chilean government for World Bank support. Assuming the results are positive the bank is willing to send a team to Chile to assess a possible working relationship with the bank.

Mid July 2015 SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant contacted Luis Stein to ask if there were any activities between Chile (gov’t) and the WB. He said no but he was working on something and asked that I not contact the bank until he notified me.

Aug 23rd-Dear Jim, Thank you for your email, and for following up on our previous conversations! We are currently in the middle of defining core areas which we should be focusing on, in the context of the SDGs and also the operationalization of the World Development Report 2016 on the subject of Digital Dividends. We will have a better


clarity on our country strategies at the end of this exercise. This is another 3-4 months down the line. Regards, Randeep

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WITSA Activities

WITSA’s World Congress on IT- Overview

September 28, 2014 the WITSA Board of Directors voted to award the WCIT on an annual basis. Four (4) awards were granted as follows:2017-Taiwan2018-India2019-Armenia2020-Malaysia

Each congress requires a $750,000.00 (USD) Licensing fee. Primarily due to these fees, WITSA faces the best financial condition in its existence. Status:

o SECRETARY GENERAL provided all hosts WITSA’s Operations Manual (on WITSA’s Site)-Manual contains comprehensive planning chart.

o SECRETARY GENERAL provided all hosts with tailored Host Agreements.o 2016-Brasil-Contract signed /License fee paid in full.o SECRETARY GENERAL recruited and confirmed 21 key speakers for program SECRETARY GENERAL scheduled for multicity sponsorship development trip

June 2015 June 21-23–Brasilia Governor´s meeting/ IT

companies/organizations/event operations June 24-Rio de Janeiro – IT companies/EMBRATEL June 25- Rio/Curitiba - IT companies/POSITIVO June 26- Curitiba/São Paulo - IT companies/ TOTVS June 27-Internal wrap up WCIT meeting June 29 - IT companies /NetMundial Initiative Dinner June 30-NetMundial Inaugural meeting September 12-18th Brasilia.-multiple business & government meetings.

2017-Taiwan-Contract signed (300K Paid/balance due 2015)September 5-11th, 2015 multiple business & government meetings

Dates confirmed for WCIT 2017 10-14th September 2017 (Taipei) 2018-India-Contract pending 2019-Yerevan, Armenia contract signedWeek of March 8th , 2015 SECRETARY GENERAL traveled to Armenia Official Signing press conference/Radio Interview


Meeting with Board of Director (UTIE) and staff Contract signing was on National News SECRETARY GENERAL toured conventions sites to evaluate and select best

venue for WCIT 2018 SECRETARY GENERAL toured Tumo Center for Creative Technologies

(showcase for Technology Education) SECRETARY GENERAL met with Mr Vigen Sargsyan, Chief of Staff to the

President of Armenia to receive presidential commitment to WCIT 2019 SECRETARY GENERAL participated in press conference (WCIT 2018 contract

signing) with the Armenian Economy Minister Karen Chshmarityan to reaffirm Aremenia’s commitment to support the WCIT. . http://witsa.org/witsa-wp-site/witsa-news/economy-minister-armenia-to-upgrade-its-it-rating-by-hosting-world-congress-of-information-technology-in-2019/

2020-Malaysia Contract pendingStatus-David Wong informed SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant that PIKOM was in discussion with MDEC on the formation of WCIT 2020 and PIKOM needed more time.June 22-July 1st

SECRETARY GENERAL sent all WCIT hosts a newly developed Sponsorship Propect form to track prospects and to establsih a database of sponsor contacts and results.

As of September 30th the following progress has been made on the WCIT 2016 Program:

WCIT 2016 Speaker List (September 30, 2015)1. Vint Cerf, VP and Chief Evangelist, Google (co father of the Internet)

2. Gary Beach, Chairman Emeritus, CIO Magazine

3. Alan Marcus Senior Director, Head of Information Technology and Telecommunications Industries, World

Economic Forum

4. Prof. Howard A. Schmidt Ridge Schmidt Cyber LLC/

Former Special Assist to the President and the Cybersecurity Coord for US Fed Gov/ Chief Sec Officer for Microsoft

5. Torbjörn Fredriksson Chief at ICT Analysis Section UNCTAD, Geneva, Switzerland

6. Andrew Wyckoff Directorate for Science, Tech and Innovation Org for Economic Co-operation and Devel – OECD

7. Randeep Sudan, Sector Manager for Information and Communication Technologies, The World Bank

8. Fadi Chehadé / President and CEO, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

9. Fernandes Almeida- Secretary for Information Technology Policy, Brasil

10. Som Mittal, Former president of Nasscom, India 16

This document is the property of the World Information Technology & Services Alliance (WITSA)It is a proprietary document intended for WITSA members ONLY. Copyright 2014 WITSA

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11. Prof Hartmut Richard Glazer, Exec Secretary Brazilian Internet Steering Committee

12. Minister Alex Mora, (Secretary) of Foreign Trade at Government of Costa Rica

13. Oren Gershtein, Owner IdealityRoads, Israel

14. Dr Loan Dzenowagis, eHealth Unit World Health Organization

15. Honorable Zuaid Ahmed, State Minister IT Government of Bangladesh

16. George Newstrom Vice President & General Manager Dell Service US Federal Government

17. Manu Bhardwaaj, Sen Adv & Coordinator International Comm & Information Policy, US State Department

19. Dr Soumitra Dutta, World Eco Forum, Dean Cornel University

20. Aldo Rebelo Min of Science, Tech & Innovation, Brasil

21 Helio Graciosa, Member of the Board of Directors TROPIC S /ALGAR, Cleartech LTDA and TELEBRASIL.

22. Santiago Gutierrez, Chairman, WITSA

Invited

1. Laurence Strickling, Assist Sec of Comm & Comm Info, US Depart of Commerce

2. Jorge Sukarie is President of ABES Software Association

3. SECRETARY GENERAL Kituyi, IUNCTAD

4. Arlodo Cedraz de Olivera, President TCU

5. President Dilma Van Rousseff

WCIT Host Meetings (Conference Calls)-The S G scheduled period meetings with all WCIT host in order to exchange information and to discuss leveraging assets between hosts and between WITSA.

April 2nd and May 7th-SECRETARY GENERAL Conducted two (2) WCIT Host Meetings/Conference calls

SECRETARY GENERAL provided program theme and architecture for WCIT programs. (Attachment)

SECRETARY GENERAL prepared an Events System RFP for potential use by all WITSA WCIT hosts. Expect results by end of June 2015.

SECRETARY GENERAL conducted a conference call with hosts from 2010, 2017 and 2019 to review 11 session descriptions for use in sponsorship marketing and speaker negations.


August-SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant added the State department, the World Health Organization to the program

_________________________________________________________________________

WITSA’s Global Policy Action Committee (GPAC)-The main purpose of the GPAC is to create documents which establishes and promotes WITSA voice in policy related issues. Each year an extensive vetting occurs within WITSA and its main stakeholder to prioritize these issues.

Policy Issues vetting process competed Five (5) 2015 Policy priorities Identified:

1) Women in IT, 2) Cyber Security, 3) Internet Governance,4) International Trade, 5) Cross Border Information

Principle Paper Sub committees formed (leaders selected) Working groups underway with initial drafts Committee tasks on Schedule February 23, 2015 a GPAC meeting (call) was conducted Report to BOD May 22, 2015

GPAC Sub Committee Meetings/Calls Int’l Trade : 4/23 & 5/13

The existing (September 2013) is in the process of being updated to take into account the flux of regional and bilateral trade agreements, Net Neutrality, trade and investment, and cross border data flows.

Internet Governance : 4/22Existing paper is in the process of being amended, mainly in light of the IANA transition issues and ICANN accountability. A draft will be circulated to the working group for finalization soon.

Restrictions on free flow of information : 4/21Draft principles were presented at our meeting in Herndon in May. Further amendments are being made in follow up to the JEITA-Digital Europe-ITI trilateral meeting which took place in Washington DC at the end of August. These will soon be presented to the working group for finalization via conference call.

Cyber Security : 4/21, 5/14Draft principles were presented at the WITSA meeting in Herndon in May. Further amendments have been made based on input received from working group members. A draft paper exists and is being amended before being circulated to the group for input.


Women in IT : 4/20Principles have been drafted and finalized. The principles are being incorporated into a WITSA declaration. Once finalized, members activities will be incorporated into an annex, to be presented to WITSA’s stakeholders

On May 21st and 22nd the GPAC committee met and reported to the full WITSA BOD on its progress.

Note: As of September 30th ALL papers are incomplete and not on schedule. Actions are in place to expedite the process of having drafts reviewed by WITSA members. ________________________________________________________________________Status on 2014 Member Survey-Each year WITSA conducts an annual member survey. In 2014 more members responded than ever before.

2014 Member Survey Completed-Results presented to BOD on May 22, 2015____________________________________________________________________________

WITSA’s Global Advisory Council-In 2014 WITSA’s SECRETARY GENERAL established a Global Advisory Council (members Attachment II). This council’s main function is to provide WITSA with expert advice and perspectives on WITSA’s policy efforts. It should be noted that both “Fathers of the Internet” are members of this council.

April 23 2015-Conducted 1st Quarter meeting (Conference call)

WITSA’s Global Partner Program Taiwan-SECRETARY GENERAL signed renewal agreement with III, Taiwan.

This renewal is the second with III. Taiwan was previously represented by ETRI. On May 20, 21 and 22nd 2015 SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant met with Dr

Gary Gong, Director of III in Washington DC during the May WITSA BOD meeting. In addition to being the main contact for II as WITSA’s Global Partner Dr Gong is the main government contact for Taiwan’s WCIT 2017.

Mexico-Mexico IT renewed its program membership for 2015 (4th year)________________________________________________________________________

WITSA Member Meetings NASSCOM Leadership Forum/India February 12-14, 2015: Deputy Chairman Roger Latchman/SECRETARY GENERAL/

and Brasil WCIT 2016 delegation in Attendance


SECRETARY GENERAL met several times with the Brazilian Delegation to review outstanding aspects of the NASSCOM Leadership Forum

SECRETARY GENERAL met with R Chandrashekhar and Shivendra Singh to discuss Chandrashekhar’s role representing WITSA at OECD in Paris in March 2015.

February 24, 2015 WITSA BOD Meeting March 26, 2015, WITSA’s Vice President of Administration hosted a Viet Nam

delegation (WITSA Member VINASA) in Northern Virginia at the Northern Virginia Technology Council and the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority.

April 3, 2015 SECRETARY GENERAL, VP Administration met the ITI’s new VP International Relations (Washington DC) to brief him on WITSA and ITI’s future involvement

SECRETARY GENERAL met with both the IADB and World Bank during the 1st qtr of 2015.

November 17, 2014 SECRETARY GENERAL met with Vint Cerf to award him WITSA’s Eminent Person’s Award

May 14, 2015-SECRETARY GENERAL and VP Administration visited and reviewed venue and hotel sites for WITSA’s May 20-22, 2015 BOD Meeting

Discuss potential of partnering with the ICT World Congress in Latin America in coordination with Luis Stein (agreement not reached)

On May 26, 2015 SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant met Ms Loide Lungamenti, Chief Crime and Illicit Trafficking Branch, UN Division for Treaty Affairs [email protected] VIENNA, Austria. Ms Lungamenti expressed an interest in being associated with WITSA. SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant sent UNCTAD/WITSA MOU to her on June 2, 2015 to continue the dialogue between organizations.

On May 27, 2015 SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant met with David Gross (Former UN Ambassador to the UN) Prior to joining Wiley Rein (law firm), Gross served as the U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy at the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs from 2001 to 2009. He was responsible for the formulation and advocacy of international communications policy for the United States. He was appointed by President George W. Bush and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate for the rank of Ambassador. David is an old friend of WITSA’s SECRETARY GENERAL. He presently is with a very large and influential law firm in Washington DC. David is an excellent resource for potential WCIT speakers as well as high-level officials and executives. 202 719 7414.

SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant arranged a meeting between CISA, Taiwan and Mr. Matthias Ifesieh of ITAN Nigeria in Taipei, Taiwan on June 3rd 2015.

May 27, 2015 SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant met with Lynn St Amour the President/CEO of Internet Matters. She was the former President of the Internet Society


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Senate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Department_of_State

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Department_of_State


(ISOC). The meeting centered on her thoughts regarding the NetMundial Initiative/Council.

May 28, SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant met Tarek Kamel, Senior Advisor to the President of ICANN. Mr Kamel was the former IT Minster for Egypt. SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant has known him in that capacity since 2010. Minister Kamel has agreed to participate in WITSA’s Advisory Council as well as WCIT 2016.

June 10, 2015 SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant to meet in Washington DC with Alan Marcus, Senior Director, Head of Information Technology and Telecommunications Industries, World Economic Forum USA to discuss WITSA/WEF relationship.

July 2, 2015 SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant introduced the CEO of WCIT 2016 to Luis Stein as she was traveling to Chile in a few weeks (Agenda attached)

SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant confirmed the State Department on the WCIT 2016 program

August 19, SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant received a letter from US Treasury Department regarding WITSA request to allow the Iranian Guild (ICT Association) join WITSA

August 4, 2015 NASSCOM confirmed the dates of December 4 & 5th for the Fall BOAD meeting in Delhi.

Fall BOD meeting in Delhi, India confirmed for the 4 & 5th of December. _____________________________________________________________________

OTHEROpen Entry –Is an Entry portal into E-Commerce Stores and Marketplaces. Dan Salcedo, Open Entry founder and president won one of WITSA’s highest awards for his web site which has enabled thousands of entrepreneurs who had little hope and no opportunity to market their products globally to benefit. SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant has known Mr Salcedo for a number of years. Based on this relationship and respect for WITSA as an organization, Mr Salcedo has agreed to provide WITSA with a specially designed B2B portal which will allow WITSA members to market their products globally at no cost to WITSA. SECRETARY GENERAL Poisant submitted an array of ICT Products & Services to Open Entry for inclusion in a test site BETA test:

June 17, 2015Dear Sabur,

Recalling the Board meeting on May 22nd we took note of your interest in creating a B2B web portal for WITSA members and contacted a long time friend and acquaintance Mr Dan Salcedo the founder and owner of Open Entry. Dan and his company OpenEntry won WITSA’s highest Global ICT Excellence Award for Digital Opportunity several years ago and they are experts in hosting and operating B2B and B2C web portals.

Based on the close relationship we have with Dan he is offering WITSA the opportunity to offer all WITSA members the ability to connect to other WITSA members in a global marketplace. Please


open the preliminary demo Http://NM.OpenEntry.com/WITSA. As you see from the rough demo Open Entry is intended to allow entrepreneurs from developing countries with the opportunity to advertise and sell their products around the globe. In WITSA’s case we can use the Open Entry Portal to allow WITSA member companies to advertise and market their products and services globally BUT NOT sell through the portal; rather to connect with potential buyers and sellers. In other words, the portal will allow for companies to connect with potential buyers and sellers so that they can contact each other to establish relationships in the hopes that business will take place in the near or distant future. Basically, WITSA can offer its association members (per country) an opportunity for their members to showcase and hopefully sell their products & services while networking around the globe.

As of the end of August we are waiting to load another countries product/service data (Kenya?) before launching the BETA version to WITSA members.I'm mortified to inform you that I've come to the painful decision to close OpenEntry.com and, therefore, we won't be able to provide the WISA GBx (NM.OpenEntry.com/WITSA) that I had promised. Recently I've been doing diligence that I should have done months ago and discovered that in the last two years (while I was distracted) OpenEntry's two main competitors, Wix.com and Shopify.com, had been through successful IPOs and raised hundreds of millions of dollars. Even though OpenEntry has some unique features, they are not easy to spot. Therefore, it's unrealistic to continue to spend personal resources and the chances of outside investors is vanishingly remote. I know that you told your WITSA colleagues all about the GBX and I apologize for any awkwardness this might have caused. I'm especially disappointed personally to let you down since you've been so supportive to OpenEntry and me in my travails. I'll keep in touch and let you know where I wind up next.

All the best, Dan/Daniel Salcedo, Ph.D./Founder & CEO.

End of September 2015 WITSA Status Report


http://Shopify.com/

http://Wix.com/

http://NM.OpenEntry.com/WITSA

http://NM.OpenEntry.com/WITSA

Documents

witsa.org€¦ · Web view2015. Executive Summary. Prepared by: Dr James Poisant. Secretary General. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PROGRESS & ACTIVITY REPORT. Purpose of Report. UN Agencies