Greece suggests dates for IG forum

Remmy Nweke, who was in Malta

Greek government has suggested dates for the hosting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) inauguration, scheduled to hold in Athens, this year.

The suggested dates are October 24, 25, and 26, according to the Greek chairman of the IGF Steering Committee, Ambassador George Papadatos.

Disclosing this recently at the international conference on "Internet Governance: The Way Forward" in Malta, he said, the government came up with these dates after careful examination and in order to avoid conflict with any other international engagements, within the industry.

"On the issue of dates we have already outlined a possibility which in our view had taken into account conflicts with other similar meetings and religious holidays," he declared.

Additionally, the Greek government said the recommended dates are in line with an indication to this effect as contained in a letter from the Secretary General of United Nations (UN), Mr. Kofi Annan.

Dr. Papadatos further expressed hopes that they would soon confirm these dates with United Nations.

He reassured that his committee’s readiness to continue work with all stakeholders towards the "next step after Tunis," the inaugural meeting of IGF.

The conference was organized by Diplo Foundation with offices in Malta and Geneva, Switzerland. This came after a 10-day workshop on ‘ICT and Contemporary Diplomacy’ for members of the diplomatic community made up of candidates from developing countries.

Diplo Foundation organizes online postgraduate level academic courses and training workshops on a variety of diplomacy-related topics for diplomats, civil servants, staff of international organisations and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and students of international relations, especially candidates from developing countries.

It also through research and conferences investigate topics related to diplomacy, international relations and online learning.