by Mr. Ramadorai Good Morning Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen It gives me great pleasure to address you all at this opening meeting of the UN Commission on Science Technology and Development. On behalf of the International Chamber of Commerce, and as Chair of ICC’s BASIS initiative, Business Action to Support the Information Society, and also on behalf of my company Tata Consultancy Services, I would like to thank the Secretary General of UNCTAD, Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, the President and members of the CSTD, and the secretariat, for inviting me to address you this morning, in this august gathering.
by Ayesha Hassan Thank you Chair. I will address each of the questions that you just posed. I have a few general comments that I'd also like to make. On behalf of the Global Business Community of the International Chamber of Commerce and its initiative, Business Action to Support the Information Society -- BASIS -- which includes, as many of you know, companies and associations from all sectors and around the world. I'm pleased to provide these general comments on the draft program and the schedule for the IGF in Hyderabad, and just note that ICC-BASIS has submitted a comprehensive written contribution that is both on the IGF and ICC Web sites as well as in the back of the room, to provide greater detail on our priorities.
Ilkka Lakaniemi My name is Illka Lakaniemi speaking here on behalf of the ICC/BASIS. I would like to do the following comments on the issues. On the issue of the host country co-chair, ICC/BASIS supports the reconfirmation of Mr. Nitin Desai as the chair of the Advisory Group as our input ahead of the IGF in Rio on the taking stock and way-forward sessions outlined. We believe that the chair of the IGF Advisory Group has an important role to play and must be neutral objective and balanced in this guiding role. The naming of a co-chair was an experiment that has concluded. We support only a special liaison from the host country of India being appointed to assist the chair, Mr. Nitin Desai, with planning and logistics. We support this approach because such a role will help facilitate this important aspect of a successful IGF meeting. In addition, it will enable us to return to the clearer situation of having one chair and allowing Mr. Desai to focus more completely on the work of the Advisory Group and the open consultations.