This June, in Cancun, Mexico, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will hold a minister-level meeting that will set the common ground of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) policy for the next decade within the richest countries in the world. It’s the 2016 OECD Ministerial meeting on the Digital Economy (the 2016 Ministerial) organized by the OECD once every 8-10 years.

On December 16, after an intense round of negotiations among United Nations (UN) member states, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the final outcome document regarding the ten-year review of the implementation of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+10). Public Knowledge welcomes this outcome document as a positive step towards achieving an inclusive knowledge society and promoting a free and open Internet.

This year marks the end of two major United Nations (UN) processes that signify the beginning of a new era in international development, an age when Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), such as the Internet and telecommunications, are considered vital to facilitate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UN has recognized how important international development is by adopting the SDGs and initiating a ten-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+10).The WSIS+10 process will ultimately produce an outcome document with the potential to steer the course of ICTs for development. Stakeholders input will help preserve the WSIS vision of building a people-centric, inclusive, and development-oriented Information Society.

In less than six months, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) will vote on an outcome document that will set the course for the post-2015 implementation of the World Summit on Information Society’s (WSIS) goals. This negotiation has the potential to influence the role of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in international development for many years to come. The time leading up to the December 15 – 16, 2015 intergovernmental meeting is crucial because this is the time in which the WSIS ten-year review (WSIS+10) outcome document will be shaped. The two core upcoming dates for contributions are July 31st and October 15th.

In December 2015, the conclusion of the ten-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), otherwise known as the WSIS +10 review, will take place in New York at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). The purpose of this two-day, intergovernmental meeting will be to conclude the assessment of the WSIS Action Lines implementation and set the course for WSIS goals post-2015. The preparatory discussions and final review will potentially have a significant impact on the way the Internet is governed, the protection of human rights online, and the future of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) for development (ICT4D).