In late 2025, the United Nations concluded its 20-year review of the outcomes emanating from the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Noting that the Caribbean region has been an active participant from WSIS’s inception in 2003, we invited Nigel Cassimire, the Deputy Secretary General of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union, to discuss the findings of the review and resulting resolution, including the initial rationale and objectives of WSIS; whether WSIS is still relevant in today’s digital environment; how the review addressed matters related to AI; and how regional bodies, such as the CTU, can take the global 2025 outcomes and make them actionable in their member states.

 

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The internet, the giant network of interconnected networks, which increasingly underpins virtually all aspects of our lives and societies, continues to evolve and even thrive thanks to constant engagement and consensus by stakeholders in a variety of spaces. At the country and diplomatic levels, much of that discourse occurs through the United Nations (UN) and its 193 member states.

However, the resolutions or positions that the UN and its member states take on an issue may appear far removed from those of us on the ground, who either might be responsible for implementation or are otherwise affected by those resolutions. Moreover, as the internet becomes even more ubiquitous and an essential tool supporting newer and more advanced technologies, there is a growing imperative for all of us, including policymakers, captains of industry, C-suite executives and community leaders, who shape policies and strategies, to move beyond our own domain and see the bigger picture—nationally, regionally and internationally.

From an internet perspective, a critical instrument that continues to influence how the internet is integrated into our societies is the outcomes from the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), pronounced “wi-sis”. WSIS comprised two UN summits held in 2003 in Geneva (Switzerland) and 2005 in Tunis (Tunisia) that aimed at creating an inclusive, development-oriented global information society through which to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Several action lines were identified, including strengthening the enabling environment, ensuring access to information and knowledge, and leveraging ICTs to support sustainable development, in fields such as public administration, business, education and training, health, employment, environment, agriculture and science.

A 10-year review of WSIS was held in 2015, and last year, 2025, the 20-year review concluded in December. So, how did the world perform? That question is among many we sought to have answered in this episode.

 

Introducing our guest

Nigel Cassimire

Nigel Cassimire is the Deputy Secretary General and Head of Regional Policy Development of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU). He is also the Coordinator of the Caribbean Internet Governance Forum.

Since July 2005, Nigel has been a Consulting Telecommunications Specialist. He has worked extensively with the CTU Secretariat in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, in developing and promoting harmonised Caribbean positions in the areas of spectrum management, internet governance, and ICT policy. He has also successfully conducted consultancies for several of the member governments of the CTU.

Nigel is a Telecommunications Engineer with over thirty years of experience in the technical, operational and executive management of telecommunications systems and services. He has an intimate understanding of a broad range of ICTs and services, with practical experience in network and service planning, operations management and domestic and international telecommunications policy development.

 

Insights into our conversation

In being involved in the WSIS process from almost the start, Nigel was able to put the entire initiative and its evolution into context. Further, although no one could have truly predicted in the early 2000s the transformative impact of the internet, it appears that the core principles underpinning WSIS and the action lines set out at that time remain relevant 20 years later.

It was gratifying to hear that the Caribbean region has been involved in the global Internet Governance discussions from the start and even helped shape some of the definitions that are still in use today. Additionally, in the recently concluded review, the UN recognised that Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are particularly challenged and that the multistakeholder approach, which facilitates bottom-up engagement and consultation across a broad range of communities and constituencies, has been effective in encouraging inclusion and building consensus.

Below are some of the questions that drove our conversation with Nigel.

  1. Before we get down to the nitty-gritty, please give us a brief overview of WSIS, its rationale, and its objectives.
  2. The original WSIS goals were set in 2005 when the ‘Information Society’ looked very different. Was there a significant shift in the 2025 review compared to the original vision?
  3. How does the WSIS+20 review process interact with the UN Secretary-General’s Global Digital Compact?
  4. The 2005 Action Lines didn’t account for LLMs (large language models) or generative AI (artificial intelligence). How has the 2025 review addressed the ‘AI Divide’ between the Global North and South?
  5. Did the 2025 WSIS review sufficiently link Internet governance with climate resilience and disaster recovery?
  6. How can regional bodies, such as the CTU, take the global 2025 outcomes and make them actionable in their member states?

 

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Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that were mentioned during the episode, or might otherwise be useful:

 

 

Images credit:  CTU;  rawpixel.com (Freepik);  ITU ;  rawpixel.com (Freepik)

Music credit: The Last Word (Oui Ma Chérie), by Andy Narrell

Podcast editing support: Mayra Bonilla Lopez