At least 62 heads of state from nations including Cuba, France, Germany and Iran are due to travel to Geneva for the first stage of the conference from December 10 to 12 in a bid to bridge the digital divide between rich and poor.

But with just four weeks to go, delegates from 135 countries appeared little closer to signing a draft set of goals, while advocacy groups also taking part in the negotiations remained frustrated at an absence of "political will".

"I am a bit disappointed by the lack of progress we've had this week," said Pierre Gagne, executive director of the secretariat at the summit, referring to five days of discussions that looked set to continue late into Friday night and possibly Saturday.

"There is a lack of will from governments to negotiate certain issues," notably freedom of expression over the Internet, he told a news conference.

"Unless there is a miracle, no draft declaration will be adopted" during the preparatory talks this week.

Delegates had agreed on 80 to 85 percent of the discussion points on the table, but divisions remained on the question of control over the Internet, the role of the media, freedom of expression and how to finance the global development of the information society.

"With 15 percent left, the most difficult part is ahead of us," said Adolf Ogi, a former Swiss president and now special delegate to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

Countries would continue to engage on a bilateral level to the last moment and a final meeting on the draft declaration and plan of action would take place in the coming weeks or even during the conference, organisers said.

"Everybody will have to give something so everybody will be quite unhappy but that is the only way to get a result" said Marc Furrer, Switzerland's secretary of state for the WSIS.

A main sticking point appeared to be that governments in industrialised countries did not want to be involved in regulating the Internet, while advocay groups claimed that nations such as China, Pakistan and Tunisia hoped to use the summit to gain power to censure the dissemination of information.

Wolfgang Kleinwaechter, who represented the non-governmental organisations, expressed his frustration over the way the discussions were progressing.

"We feel there is no political will among some governments," he said.

Although the NGOs would continue to work with governments on the joint set of goals, they would also promote their own agenda.

"This process is going so badly, someone has to take the initiative to save it from destruction," the civil society groups said in a joint statement.

"If governments don't, we today declare ourselves ready to assume this important responsibility with all actors sharing our concerns.

About 7,000 people are expected to attend the two-day summit in Geneva, while a second meeting will take place in Tunisia in 2005.

SPACE.WIRE