The President of the WSIS announced on 10 November 2003 that the government bureau would be forming an "open-ended" working group to consider the post-Geneva-to-Tunis phase of the WSIS.

For their part, the Tunisian delegation presented a document detailing plans for the preparatory process for the Tunis Summit. Following are some of their proposals:

• The objective of the Tunis phase will focus on the "adoption of a digital solidarity charter;" evaluation of the Geneva phase, and evaluation of implementation of the Geneva Action Plan
• A preliminary preparatory meeting will be held in March / April 2004 in Tunis
• Holding of a series of regional and thematic conferences between March 2004 and February 2005
• There will be two Preparatory Committee meetings (no scheduled date yet)
• The Executive Secretariat would continue to be based in Geneva in 2004 which later may be moved to Tunis in 2005

Several government delegations expressed strong reservations about the level of detail of the document, noting that a more general discussion of the various options should be the first step. Some wanted more specifics on the budgetary implications of this plan. There were strong reservations to a "charter" expressed by one delegation.

The Tunisian delegation released the revised document on 13 November 2003 for consideration by delegations.

But more than the logistical processes, "civil society should support a variety of modalities that will ensure that as many different views as possible are solicited and that there is concerted and productive dialogue on the most serious issues," noted Rik Panganiban, Report Co-ordinator for the WSIS Prepcom NGO News Centre. "National and regional consultation processes will be as important or more important than international processes," he added.

Source: "Post-Geneva-to-Tunis Phase" by Rik Panganiban as posted on the WSIS Content and Themes mailing list last 11 November 2003