UN creates website for IGF

IN line with expectation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) stakeholders, the office of the United Nations (UN) Secretary General, has created a website for the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).

Executive Coordinator of the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG), Mr. Markus Kummer, revealed this at the international conference on "Internet Governance: The Way Forward" held in Malta recently.

He also said that the WGIG secretariat set up after the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in December 2003 in Geneva is currently listening to the pulse of stakeholders on how best to make the proposed IGF at the second phase, a success.

According to him, UN secretariat has also created an online platform to enable stakeholders post questionnaire to stimulate discussion on IGF.

This online discussion platform, he said, could be found at http://www.intgovforum.org/questionnaire.htm, while the website for IGF is located at http://www.intgovforum.org/.

He called for common understanding on the nature, character and structure of IGF.

Mr. Kummer however, raised some questions for stakeholders, which he said, are pertinent for IGF to truly reflect the multi-stakeholder approach as requested in the Tunis outcome document.

Some of these important questions include what is the forum expected to deliver and what should be the outcome, just as there is need to address the structure of IGF; its format and if it should be an open or closed forum.

Others are how often it should meet, how long should the meeting be, and what kind of procedures should it follow as well as how it should be funded to name a few.