Ebisawa backs WSIS effort

Mr Katsuji Ebisawa - President of Japan's national public service broadcaster NHK and of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), the EBU's sister union - has agreed to speak at the World Electronic Media Forum (WEMF) and to explore the possibility of NHK contributing high-definition co-production to the event.

The WEMF will be organized by the United Nations, the EBU and Switzerland in December 2003 as an important parallel event to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to be held in Geneva in December 2003.

The United Nations invited Mr Ebisawa to become involved in the WEMF in a letter from UN Under-Secretary-General Shashi Tharoor delivered personally by EBU President Arne Wessberg in Tokyo on 14 April.