IGF success, priority for Greek govt– Papadatos

CHAIRMAN, Greek Steering Committee for the inaugural meeting of Internet Govenance Forum (IGF), Dr. George Papadatos, has declared that the successful hosting of the event is a priority to his government.

ITREALMS Online recollects that at the end of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) second phase in Tunis, recently, it was agreed that IGF be constituted by the United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan, to further discussions on Internet Governance among stakeholders.

He made this known at a two-day consultation with the office of the Secretary General held in Geneva recently.

“The successful organization of the Internet Governance Forum is a priority for the Greek government,” he declared.

Dr. Papadatos also said that the government had begun a number of steps toward ensuring sound take off of the preparation of the first meeting of IGF.

For him, the government through the Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr. Michalis Liapis, had set up a steering committee, to make sure that various tasks to ensure successful hosting is brought to bear on the organization.

He enumerated some of these steps so far taken to include the creation of specific website, www.igf-greece2006.org, for the meeting.

The website, he said, is also fully bilingual, with the second language being French, even as it has recorded what he described as impressive hits amounting to thousands in recent times.

As at the time of filing this report, Dr. Papadatos said, that current Internet global administrator, the New York based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) and the UN Deputy Secretary General, Ms Louise Frechette, who is overseeing the preparation at UN, have all been adequately briefed.

“We have already reported the state of our preparations in meeting with the Group of 77 in Geneva, the Western Group, the Eastern Group and Coordinating Committee of Business Interlocutors (CCBI).” he said.