- The inaugural
Internet Governance Forum meeting in Athens, Greece, proved a great success.
This year, the Government of Brazil has generously offered to host the
second IGF meeting in Rio de Janeiro from 12 to 15 November 2007. I take
this opportunity to accept the Government’s offer, and to invite all stakeholders
to attend this important gathering. The meeting will be open to all World
Summit on the Information Society accredited entities. Other institutions
and persons with proven expertise and experience in matters related to
Internet governance may also apply to attend.
- A broad-based
consultative process led by my Special Adviser for Internet Governance,
Mr. Nitin Desai, has laid the groundwork for another successful Forum.
This process included preparatory meetings open to all stakeholders held
in Geneva in February and May this year. These consultations produced general
agreement that the second Forum should build on the success of Athens,
and retain its overall theme of “Internet Governance for Development”,
with capacity-building remaining a cross-cutting priority.
- There was also
broad support for retaining the four main themes of the inaugural meeting:
access, diversity, openness and security. In addition, a fifth theme, “critical
Internet resources”, will also be added to the agenda, together with consideration
of emerging issues. The process leading to the Rio de Janeiro Forum is
an integral part of the meeting itself. That is why I also encourage all
stakeholders to engage in the online discussions hosted by the IGF secretariat
on its website.
- These interactive
forums help guide the preparations of the Rio de Janeiro meeting, and provide
substantive input for the various items on the agenda.
- The Forum is
modest in its means but not in its aspirations. Its hallmark is multi-stakeholder
collaboration, based on the exchange of information and the sharing of
best practices. This new form of international cooperation is both inclusive
and egalitarian. And it presents governments, the private sector and civil
society, including academic and technical communities, with the opportunity
to work together towards a sustainable, robust, secure and stable Internet,
as envisioned by the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society.
- In that spirit,
I hope you will all be able to join us in Rio this November
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