Vipin V. Nair

Tunis , Nov. 15

THE United Nation's World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) will begin in this North African city on Wednesday amidst scepticism that its focal point — who should govern the Internet in future — will remain an inconclusive issue.

Nobody attending the WSIS here seems to believe that the US will budge from its stance on the issue of Internet governance, acceding to the demand of developing nations and the European Union to let an independent body, perhaps the UN's International Telecom Union, to have a say in the matters relating to running the Internet.

The first phase of WSIS, held in Geneva two years ago, had sought to thrash out this issue, but discussions ended in a stalemate.

The US was not ready to dilute its influence over the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which assigns and administers domain names.

"I don't think there is going to be any significant outcome from a big summit as WSIS. But I really hope that there would be some consensus on Internet governance," Mr Kiran Karnik, President of Nasscom, had told Business Line last week.

Segun Oruame, a Nigerian journalist who tracks information and communication technology development in Africa, is certain that second phase of WSIS would be as inconclusive as the first phase when it comes to Internet governance.

"The Bush administration is not going to give up its sway over ICANN at this Summit. They would eventually... may be there would be more debates like this," he says.

A delegation from India, led by the Union Minister for IT and Communications, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, is attending the Summit. Top officials such as the Chairman, Telecom Commission, Dr J.S. Sarma, are also in the Indian delegation.

India has stated that it would like to `extend its support for the open architecture of Internet governance'.

It is also pitching for more affordable and relevant information and communication technologies.

An India pavilion has been set up at the `ICT 4 All' exhibition taking place along with the Summit. Institutions such as C-DAC and corporates like HCL and NIIT are present at the India pavilion.

More than 15,000 attendees, comprising government officials, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), corporates and media are converging in Tunis for the Summit.

Amazingly modern and European to the hilt, Tunis is now bursting at its seams. All hotels are full. Airlines are making a killing. Restaurants are choc-a-bloc with people from all over the world, wearing the WSIS badges.

Tunisians, who speak Arabic and French, are sharing tables at their favourite restaurants lined up on the pavement with the world. And many of them look a bit nonplussed at this invasion.

For many of the attendees who are here for the first time, Tunis is a big surprise. "I never expected Tunis to be like this. It's incredibly European than African," says Tran Le Thuy, a Vietnamese now doing her post graduation in New York.

For Tunisia, now betting big on the prospects of tourism, the WSIS is an opportunity to showcase itself to the rest of the world. At least for the next few days, the spotlight will be on Tunisia.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu Business Line