On behalf of cities and local authorities
The intervention of Gérard COLLOMB, Senator-Mayor of Lyon
and Christian FERRAZINO, Mayor of Geneva

WSIS, Geneva, 12 december 2003

Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

As for the majority of essential services: water, health, education, the cities and local authorities are on the front lines in order to ensure universal access for all citizens to the information society.

That is why, throughout 2003, after four continental conferences held in Bilbao, Nouakchott, Curitiba and Shanghai, cities and local authorities held in Lyon, a World Summit in order to build a shared vision of the Information Society for tomorrow.

500 Mayors and local authorities adopted the Declaration which, together with my colleague the Mayor of Geneva, Christian Ferrazino, are going to submit to you.

This Declaration states that the information society which we want to build for tomorrow must reinforce democracy and the respect for human rights.

It highlights that the freedom to communicate and equal access to knowledge are fundamental rights and calls for the respect of cultural and linguistic diversity, as well as plurality in means of information and communication.

It reaffirms its will that the potentialities of the information society must contribute to achieving the Millennium goals, notably by ensuring primary and secondary education for all.

It makes an appeal for a close cooperation between world cities and local authorities in order to bridge the growing divide that separates cities from the North and the South in the field of access to information.

In order to reach this objective, the Lyon Declaration proposes to develop the digital solidarity in three directions:

• we ask cities and local authorities, insofar as possible, to use and develop free software, so that our investment can benefit to all local authorities throughout the world;
• we ask them to increase their decentralised cooperation programmes;
• we support the appeal made by the President Wade to create a Digital Solidarity Fund based on voluntary contributions from all actors, citizens, businesses, States, cities and local authorities.

We have decided to put our money where our mouth is. That is why, the City of Geneva, a city of peace and humanism, has decided to host the Headquarters of this Fund.

With contributions from the Republic of Senegal and the Cities of Geneva and Lyon, the Fund is set up already with more than one million euros. We call upon not only the other cities and local authorities to participate to this solidarity movement, but we also hope to be joined by many States, as well as many businesses and members of civil society.

We submit to you this Declaration of cities and local authorities, submitted at the opening of this Summit to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, and we express the hope, on behalf of all Mayors and local authorities worldwide, that this Declaration of local authorities be annexed to Declaration which you are going to adopt at the end of this session.

Thank you.