Zukang beckons stakeholders on Internet governance ‘09

Under-Secretary-General, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), Mr. Sha Zukang has extended invitation to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) stakeholders on the forthcoming Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2009.

He said that the fourth annual meeting of the Internet Governance Forum has been scheduled to hold in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, from November 15 through 18, 2009, and is being hosted by the Government of Egypt. Participation, he said, will be open to all entities accredited to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) among other institutions and persons with proven expertise and experience in matters related to Internet governance.

Zukang noted that the overall theme of the meeting will be Internet Governance – Creating Opportunities for All.

He pointed out that the theme reflects the basic purpose of the IGF to develop a common understanding of how to maximize the opportunities the Internet offers for all nations and peoples, and how to address the risks and challenges, while also raising awareness of the development dimension of Internet governance.

Highlighting that a broad-based consultation process through the Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) has generated the following proposed agenda for the meeting, which include “Managing critical internet resources; Security, openness and privacy; Access and diversity; Internet governance in light of WSIS principles; Emerging issues – impact of social networks; and Taking stock and the way forward – desirability of the continuation of the forum.”On the last item, he said, regarding the future of the IGF beyond its five-year mandate, they would like to invite ideas and comments from all stakeholders and urged stakeholders to share their views at: http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/index.php/review-process.

IGF was extensively propagated at the second phase of WSIS in Tunisia in 2005, especially with the endorsement of paragraph 72 of the agenda, which read: “We ask the UN Secretary-General, in an open and inclusive process, to convene, by the second quarter of 2006, a meeting of the new forum for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue—called the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).”

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D