Shanghai Regional Meeting (31 May 2005)

UNITAR and the Regional Cooperation Office for City Informatization (RCOCI) of Shanghai Municipal Government are co-organizing the Asia-Pacific Regional Preparatory Meeting for II World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities on the Information Society (Bilbao Summit 2005 ). This preparatory meeting will take place in Shanghai, China on 31 May 2005 in the context of the Annual Forum on City Informatization in the Asia-Pacific Region (CIAPR V).

The objective of this meeting is to explore the vision and strategy of the Asia-Pacific cities on the Information Society, and to discuss new financing models for scaling up Information and Communication Technology (ICT) projects. There will be a working session at the end of the day to prepare the Bilbao Declaration and the Plan of Action which will represent the voice of local authorities in the Asia-Pacific region at the Bilbao Summit 2005 and the World Summit on the Information Society (Tunis Summit 2005). Representatives from local authorities, UN agencies and programmes, the private sector, as well as the academic community will be invited to the meeting.