So... here we are... the closing plenary. Hard to believe.

The discussion started off with an exploration of the "operational modalities" for the Tunis Summit. It sounds like they are trying to keep things as identical to the Geneva Summit as possible in terms of the agenda, "overpasses" (special passes given to governments and civil society for what they know will be events that everyone wants to go to, but with only 3000 seats in the hall, there will not be space for) to the opening plenaries, etc. The only big differences are that they are going to try to find a way to make the official roundtables a bit more exciting and that civil society will have two chances each afternoon to present, instead of one.

Shifting to discussions on moving the texts ahead, the President of the PrepCom has come out with some suggestions. Basically, he put forward that there NOT be an intersessional (hooray!!!! Too expensive). Instead, the Political Chapeau and Chapter 2 of the Operational Plan (Financing) will be forwarded to PrepCom 3 for the next reading and discussion. The Group of the Friends of the Chair will keep working on Chapters One (Implementation Mechanisms) and Chapter Four (The Way Ahead) of the Operational Part and bring a next round of documents forward to PrepCom 3. Chapter 3 on Internet Governance will take a bit more work. Around July 18, the WGIG will release its report and all stakeholders can submit comments and drafting proposals for the text of Chapter 3 by August 12. There was a ton of debate as to what happens next, with some countries all for the Bureau and WGIG starting work on drafting Chapter 3 in August and others saying nothing should happen until PrepCom3. The President fought hard to find a way to say "We'll keep talking about a way to reconcile those irreconcilable positions between now and PrepCom3." Now they've suspended the plenary to go duke it out behind closed doors.

On the surface, though, it all sounds terribly civilized. It all sounds terribly civilized. They are now looking for a "minimal common denominator of our joint vision."

Maybe it's the fever, but I'm finding this all highly amusing late on a Friday. Nevertheless, I think this is my signal to head out and call it a night. I'm supposed to take IISD's Geneva based interns out for dinner in two hours and it would be mighty nice to go back to the hotel and get rid of my paper-filled backpack first.

So... that's all from me for the PrepCom. Hope you've all enjoyed the coverage. I'll post a summary report on Monday accessible from http://events.takingitglobal.org/wsis2prepcom2/attending