UN - United Nations

Committees/Groups in which UMIC Assures the Representation or Participation of Portugal and respective delegates within the UN:

• CSTD – Commission on Science and Technology for Development of which Portugal is a member since May 2009 and up to December 31, 2012
  National Delegate: Luis Magalhães, President of UMIC.
  The CSTD, created in 1992, is a subsidiary organ of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) whose objectives are to provide high-level advice to the UN Council and General Assembly on Science and Technology (S&T) policies and its implications for development, to which were recently added the issues related to the Information Society. It is established that the CSTD integrates 43 countries with mandates of four years, including 10 Western countries, 11 African countries, 9 from Asia, 8 from Latin America and the Caribbean, and 5 from Eastern Europe.
  The representatives of the Member States in the CSTD are appointed by the UN on the basis of qualifications and professional or scientific knowledge necessary for the Commission's mandate. The entry of Portugal to the CSTD was approved by ECOSOC on May 18, 2009, through the election of Luis Magalhães, President of UMIC, with term to expire at the end of 2012. Portugal joined the group of Western countries, currently consisting of: Austria, Belgium, USA, Finland, France, Israel, Portugal, Switzerland and Turkey.
  ECOSOC was charged in 2005, within the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, to oversee the entire UN system of following up of the results of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which included a mandate to review the CSTD itself in order to strengthen this Commission with skills for this extended mandate. The ECOSOC decided in the session held in July 2006 that the CSTD would be the focal point of the system following up the results of WSIS, giving advice on related subjects by making recommendations on achieving the World Summit Outcome, for what it should:
  • Assess the regional and international progresses in the implementation of the Action Lines that resulted from the WSIS;
  • Promote the sharing of best and most effective practices and lessons learned, identify obstacles and propose measures for overcoming them in order to continue the effective implementation of the WSIS outcomes;
  • Promote the dialogue and the partnerships in coordination with other funds, programs and specialized UN agencies, to contribute to achieving the WSIS objectives;
  • Ensure the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to achieve the internationally agreed development goals, with the participation of governments, private sector, civil society, the UN and other international organizations, according to their different roles and responsibilities.
• IGF – Internet Governance Forum
  Participation in the National Delegation: Luis Magalhães, President of UMIC; Ana Cristina Neves, Head of International Relations of UMIC; Pedro Veiga, President of FCCN.
  The IGF was created within the United Nations, in the 2nd phase of World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Tunis on 16-18 November, 2005. The 1st IGF meeting was held in Athens, Greece from the 30th of October to the 2nd of November 2006, the 2nd IGF meeting was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 12-15 November 2007, during the Portuguese Presidency of EU and the 3rd IGF meeting was held in Hyderabad India, 3-7 December 2008. The 4th IGF meeting was held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, 15-18 November 2009.
  UMIC assures the national representation at public consultation meetings on the IGF and at the community coordination meetings associated with the consultation meetings on the IGF. During the Portuguese Presidency of the EU, the community coordination meetings meetings for the public consultations on IGF and for the IGF meeting in Rio de Janeiro were chaired by Luis Magalhães, President of UMIC. In the second half of 2007, Luis Magalhães has incorporated the "Advisory Group Internet Governance Forum" by appointment of the UN Secretary-General.
• WSIS – World Summit on Information Society Process
  The WSIS had as objective the adoption of the Declaration of Principles for the Information Society and the preparation of an action plan that aims to associate the benefits of information and ICT to economic and social development in a global perspective.
  On 18-22 May 2009, in Geneva, took place the ITU Forum dedicated to the WSIS process, which was attended on the part of UMIC by Ana Cristina Neves, Head of International Relations of UMIC, and Carlos Santos Silva of the MIT – Portugal Program. On the 19th of May there was a session organized by the OECD, at the invitation of ITU and UNCTAD – United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, entitled "Measuring the Impact of ICTs". This session was centred on the use of statistics in policy decisions, particularly in policies for development. The OECD invited Portugal, through UMIC, to participate as a speaker to present ideas on the current limits that the assessment of ICT has on measuring the impact of ICT on the economy and society. Ana Cristina Neves was the UMIC speaker in this panel with the intervention Measuring ICT 4 development. In this session, chaired by Torbjörn Fredriksson, Officer-in-Charge of the ICT Analysis Section of UNCTAD, also counted with the participation of Susan Teltscher, Head of the Market Information and Statistics Division of ITU, Vincenzo Spiezia, Head of the Information and Communication Technologies Unit of OECD, and Mario Cimoli, Officer-in-Charge of the ICT Innovation Unit, Division of Production, Productivity and Management of UN-ECLAC.
  The 2nd phase of World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), where UMIC organized the presence of Portugal in the exhibition and the workshop "Building the Knowledge Society in Portugal", was held in Tunis on 16-18 November 2005, and the 1st phase of WSIS was held in Geneva on 10-12 December 2003. UMIC also assured the national representation at meetings of the Preparatory Committee of the two phases of WSIS.
• EuroDig – European Dialogue on Internet Governance, evolving to become the European IGF
  National participation assured by: Luis Magalhães, President of UMIC; Ana Cristina Neves, Head of International Relations of UMIC; Pedro Veiga, President of FCCN.