Geneva — "We're almost there." These were the words from a tired South African delegation involved in drafting the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Declaration of Principles and the Plan of Action.

The delegation met with South African Communications Minister Dr Ivy Matesepe-Casaburri at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva last night for a progress briefing.

The minister - joined later by Arts and Culture Minister Ben Ngubane - thanked the delegation for their hard work, and said she was pleased with the progress that had been made. She said all eyes would be on the developing world after the upset at the WTO meeting in Cancun earlier this year. At that time, the developing countries mutinied against the reluctance of wealthy world powers to cut farm subsidies.

"South Africa is often accused of punching above her weight, and I think we do tend to do that, but as leaders in the developing world, we must ensure that our position is clear," Matesepe-Casaburri said.

It was for this reason that the minister insisted on meeting most of the South African delegation attending the Summit, and held the briefing to "make everyone aware of the issues", she said.

Head of the Drafting Committee, Lyndall Shope-Mafole, said the representatives from around the globe attending high-level meetings for the past few days in a bid to finish the Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action (which have been in the making since July last year) have resolved nearly all the big issues.

Despite ambiguity in the almost-finalized document in the paragraphs concerning press freedom and diversity, Shope-Mafole says she is proud of the ground that was covered.

"It must be remembered that this is the first time that a document of this sort has been drafted globally with civil society, governments and business getting involved.

"However, the question of the Digital Solidarity Fund remains to be seen to and the developed world is still contesting the need to hold a second phase of the Summit in Tunisia in 2005," Shope-Mafole said.

If approved, the fund, proposed by Senegal, will help finance Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development in the developing world.

Deputy Head of the South African delegation, Ingrid Poni, said other sticky issues at the negotiations included Internet governance, Internet security and issues of press freedom.

The transference of Internet governance from US corporation ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) to the United Nations has been viewed as one of the biggest victories for the developing world. The UN has been given until 2005 to take control of the digital highway.