Tunis — On the occasion of the third anniversary of the Tunis World Summit of the Information Society, Hammamet will host a major international Forum dubbed "ICT + all- Tunis+3" on November 27-28, 2008. The Forum is placed under the Patronage of President of the Republic.

The Forum, whose major theme is "Broadband, industry of content for development" aims at examining ways of bridging the digital divide and increasing ICT accessibility for development.

1000 Participants from some 50 countries will take part in the event which will tackle such issues as "The Benefits and challenges of broadband", "Ultra High-Speed Broadband for businesses and investment promotion" and "Broadband and Mobile Services". Best practises, as well as ways of boosting the use of ICT in development and investment will be explored throughout the several panels and workshops scheduled during the event.

ICT ministers, experts, Bank CEO's and Heads of enterprise are expected to take part in the works of the Forum. High-level participants will include among others, Prime Minister, Mr Mohamed Ghannouchi, the Minister of Information and Communication Technologies, Mr Hadj Gley, Mr Donald Kaberuka , the President of the African Development Bank, Mr Cheick Sidi Diarra, Special Representative of UNCTAD in New York, Dr Hamadoun. I. Toure, Secretary General of ITU as well as the vice-presidents of HP, Intel and Microsoft.

The two day event which is organized by the Ministry of Communication Technologies is also sponsored by the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Development Bank (ADB), the Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID) and the Tunisian Union for Industry, Commerce and Handicrafts (UTICA).

Several parallel events will be scheduled before the event, including the a technological salon gathering 70 representatives of Tunisian and international ICT companies and an "offshore village" which aims at promoting Tunisia as digital destination for outsourcing and export.