A/RES/56/183 other international organizations interested in participating in the process leading to the Summit, Considering that the Summit is to be convened under the patronage of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, with the International Telecommunication Union taking the lead role in its preparation, in cooperation with interested United Nations bodies and other international organizations as well as the host countries, Recalling the ministerial declaration concerning information and communication technologies, adopted by the Economic and Social Council at the high-level segment of its substantive session of 2000,3 and the subsequent work done in this regard, including the creation of the Information and Communication Technologies Task Force, as well as the welcoming of the forthcoming Summit by the Council in its agreed conclusions 2001/1, 4 Recognizing the need to harness synergies and to create cooperation among the various information and communication technologies initiatives, at the regional and global levels, currently being undertaken or planned to promote and foster the potential of information and communication technologies for development by other international organizations and civil society, 1. Welcomes the resolution adopted by the Council of the International Telecommunication Union at its 2001 session, in which the Council endorsed the proposal of the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union to hold the World Summit on the Information Society at the highest possible level in two phases, the first in Geneva from 10 to 12 December 2003 and the second in Tunis in 2005, pursuant to resolution 73 adopted by the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union at its 1998 session, held in Minneapolis, United States of America; 2. Recommends that the preparations for the Summit take place through an open-ended intergovernmental preparatory committee, which would define the agenda of the Summit, finalize both the draft declaration and the draft plan of action, and decide on the modalities of the participation of other stakeholders in the Summit; 3. Invites the International Telecommunication Union to assume the leading managerial role in the executive secretariat of the Summit and its preparatory process; 4. Invites Governments to participate actively in the preparatory process of the Summit and to be represented in the Summit at the highest possible level; 5. Encourages effective contributions from and the active participation of all relevant United Nations bodies, in particular the Information and Communication Technologies Task Force, and encourages other intergovernmental organizations, including international and regional institutions, non-governmental organizations, civil society and the private sector to contribute to, and actively participate in, the intergovernmental preparatory process of the Summit and the Summit itself; _______________ 3 See Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-fifth Session, Supplement No. 3 (A/55/3/Rev.1), chap. III, para. 17. 4 A/56/3, chap. V, agreed conclusions 2001/1, para 7. For the final text see Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-sixth session, Supplement No. 3. 2