Internet Governance Forum 2 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 
 15 November 2007 Closing ceremony

Note: The following is the output of the real-time captioning taken during the
 The 2nd Meeting of the IGF.  Although it is largely accurate, in some cases it 
 may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. 
 It is posted as an aid to understanding the proceedings at the session, but should 
 not be treated as an authoritative record.
 
 
 (Gavel.)

 >>NITIN DESAI:   Thank you very much. We now come to the end of our event, the
 second IGF. On behalf of the United Nations, it's my very pleasant duty to
 thank the many people who have made this event possible. First and foremost, of
 course, I must thank the government and people of Brazil and the many people
 here who have been involved. The people on the organizing committee, Mr.
 Gadelha who is sitting here next to me, Mr. Glaser who has been going around
 organizing all of this, the huge effort which was put in by them into the
 fantastic organization of this meeting. I can tell you it's excellent for the
 simple reason that I am usually at the receiving end of complaints.  In the
 past four days I haven't received a single complaint, so you must have done
 something very, very well. So thank you very much. [ Applause ]

 >>NITIN DESAI:   The commitment of Brazil was not just in terms of the
 organizational effort.  It was also in terms of the political effort. I would
 like to thank my co-chair, Mr. Hadil da Rocha Vianna, to Everton who is special
 advisor who helped us a great deal, and the many other people who have
 contributed to the substantive discussions we have had on this. I really do
 wish, on behalf of the U.N., to thank them. A meeting like the IGF of course
 requires a certain amount of organization, and I would like to take this
 opportunity of thanking the members of the advisory group.  Not just for the
 advice that they have given to the secretary-general for the organization of
 the meeting, but the support they have provided to the Secretariat. In many
 different ways, both before the meeting and during the meeting, in actually
 running this whole process. You have no idea how highly qualified, what highly
 qualified conference officers you have had for this meeting.  But they all were
 willing to do the most basic of tasks in order to make this meeting.  So I
 thank them for this. There are, of course, the many others who have been
 involved besides the members of the advisory group in making this meeting run. 
 The volunteers who are here, the staff who are deployed by the Brazilian host. 
 I was very impressed by the efficiency with which the whole system here, the
 public address system, et cetera, has been run, and I thank them for this. From
 within the U.N., now I Chang on my own behalf the -- first I would like to
 thank Markus Kummer.  Markus has been the great support of this whole IGF
 process, and quite frankly I wonder sometimes whether we will ever have been
 able to have staged this without Markus's neutrality, his objectivity, his
 commitment, his education, his hard work and his knowledge of the issues.  So
 I'm sure all of you join me in thanking Markus Kummer. [ Applause ]

 >>NITIN DESAI:   And through Markus I would also like to thank the team that
 works with him.  Chengetai, Avri and all of the other. We have had the steady
 support of Daniel and Omar.  Where are they?  They have disappeared somewhere. 
 They are somewhere there.  And of course the whole security staff, the
 interpreters.  And I would like to take this opportunity of thanking them.
 Basically the forum like -- of course I must thank the participants.  Without
 you, we wouldn't have an IGF.  We would just have a podium.  So thank you very
 much for being here. And I am really impressed by the fact that so many of the
 people who came to Athens also came to Rio.  And I have no doubt that most of
 you will also be in Delhi.  And like a good businessman, I like the idea of
 repeat customers. Slow down.  Okay. I like the idea of repeat customers.  So it
 is good to have you people coming back, and that's always a good sign for any
 new shop that you open. I would have said much more about the progress of the
 IGF, the way we are moving.  But I think we had a very good discussion,
 particularly today, in the taking stock session and in the emerging issues
 session. And it will perhaps not be necessary for me to try and repeat this.
 One message that I do get from all of this is that in some ways, our first
 phase of the IGF was focused on making people a little more comfortable with
 each other.  And that, I think, we are succeeding.  And partly the reason we
 are succeeding is there is a certain adjustment of cultures which has taken
 place.  Governments have been a little more willing to accept methods of
 discussion which are not quite what they are used to in diplomatic processes. I
 believe NGOs have also learned the habits of tact, if I may say that.  So they
 realize that this is a different type of forum. And so has industry and the
 Internet community and the very fact that they welcome the types of debates and
 discussions we have had, even though often these debates have been critical of
 their activities, shows that we are developing a style of conversation which
 does lead to what I would describe as a dialogue of good faith, where people
 listen to each other and don't just talk at each other. I hope we can maintain
 this. But we are still basically a group of people who are involved on the
 supply side of the Internet. The conversation needs to be expanded and so that
 it engages more the people who are the users of the Internet. And this,
 perhaps, is a challenge that we face for the future Internet. We need to look
 at our agenda to see how we structure it, how we talk about it.  And what we
 can do in order to engage more fully in a dialogue with people who are not
 here, the people who are involved more on the user side of the Internet. But
 there are other conversations which are still missing, which we need to work
 at. I'm very hopeful of the future of this forum because all of you have
 invested a huge amount of political capital, your time, your effort in this
 whole process.  And I'm pretty confident that after having invested so much of
 your time and effort into this process over the past two years, you are not
 going to abandon it. And that is the best test of a process, that it really
 becomes something which is owned by the people who are participating in it. And
 I have the feeling that this process is now fully owned by you, the
 participants.  And that you will not allow us to distort it or modify it or
 change it in a manner which doesn't fit in with your expectations and needs. I
 would not say there is complete unanimity on everything -- on how we do things.
  There have been very, very valuable suggestions which have come on how we can
 modify the processes, what the constitution of the advisory group, the role of
 the advisory group.  And I'm sure the United Nations will take these views very
 seriously in the next phase of the work of the IGF. These are a few remarks
 that I wanted to make. We are short of time, so I thought I would just leave it
 at this and end once again with the thank you to all of you for making this
 forum a success. I now turn to the next part of our process, which is to, if
 you like, a certain overall stock-taking for the -- of the second IGF.  And for
 that we have a report on the second meeting of the Internet Governance Forum in
 the form of chairman's summary. Let me here stress one thing, that the record
 of the sessions is the verbatim record. If anybody has a problem with the
 summary, make your own summary.  You have the verbatim record.  You are free to
 make your own summary.  That is the authentic record of the session. The
 summary is for lazy people like me who are not ready to read through the
 transcripts and who want something a little more compact.  And so I would urge
 you to look at it in this spirit.  It is not a document for debate or
 discussion, but I would invite Markus Kummer to present this to us before I
 turn to Mr. Augusto César Gadelha Vieira, who will give the closing remarks on
 behalf of the of the Chair of Brazil.

 >>MARKUS KUMMER:   Thank you, Nitin.  You will recall that in Athens we had the
 hope to have a paperless conference.  But it turned out that people still like
 some paper to take home.  So we made the effort to produce a chairman's
 summary, which we can distribute and which we will distribute after Mr. Gadelha
 has read out his concluding remarks.  I will not read out the chairman's
 summary or he will not read out the chairman's summary, because it's a little
 bit too long and we don't have the time. It reflects the discussions we had
 over the past few days.  It starts with an overview framing the meeting, has a
 brief description of the opening ceremony and the opening sessions, and then it
 has a short synthesis of each of the main sessions. As the chairman said, you
 may not find what you said, but it is impossible to capture everything, and the
 verbatim record stays on our Web site. You will see that we have not been able,
 of course, to finish the chapter on emerging issues.  There are square brackets
 to be concluded, and we will conclude that. And we also have a short, generic
 passage on all the events that have taken place, all in all, 84 events outside
 the main session, which is a considerable amount. We also had the final
 statistics. We had over 2,100 registered participants.  However, not all of
 them turned up, and we issued, I think, 1,363 badges of participants from 109
 countries. Also, we had over 100 members of the press who attended the event.
 You will be able to take it home and you will see the document on our Web site
 as soon as the meeting is over.  There are still some typos, it still needs
 some editing.  It's not a perfect product.  But will you have something to take
 home.  And with this, I hand back to you.

 >>NITIN DESAI:   Thank you, Markus. May I turn to Mr. Gadelha Vieira.

 >>AUGUSTO GADELHA VIEIRA:   Thank you, Mr. Desai, Mr. Kummer.  It's agreed with
 satisfaction that we have arrived at the end of this meeting with a sense of
 obligation being realized.  We have tried to offer the best to all of you and
 to have all the infrastructure necessary to have a wonderful meeting here in
 Rio.  This is a beautiful and wonderful city.  And, believe me, it's a very
 sunny city. [ Laughter ]

 >>AUGUSTO GADELHA VIEIRA:   But we had an agreement with the weather
 authorities that they should close the beach while we are here so that people
 could dedicate themselves to this event. [ Applause ]

 >>AUGUSTO GADELHA VIEIRA:   Well, please allow me to present -- actually, I am
 here in the capacity of coordinator of the Brazilian Internet Steering
 Committee, but also the National Secretary for Information Technology Policies
 of Brazil.  And so I'm representing here the chairman of this event, the
 Minister Sérgio Rezende, which, for many reasons, he couldn't attend this
 closing session. So please allow me to present on behalf of this chairman of
 the second Internet Governance Forum, Minister Sérgio Rezende, some closing
 remarks related to the work we have accomplished this week. The Brazilian
 people and government were proud to host the second meeting of the Internet
 Governance Forum in Rio de Janeiro in the past four days.  We are honored to
 receive over 2,000 registrations, including representatives from governments,
 civil society, the private sector, international organizations, research
 institutes, and Internet users. The second IGF took place in an atmosphere of
 friendship and cooperation, in accordance with its mandate as contained in the
 Tunis Agenda for Information Society. The second IGF provided a space for
 multistakeholder debate on cross-cutting themes. It facilitated the dialogue
 between organizations in charge of complementary aspects of Internet
 governance. It identified emerging issues and brought them to the attention of
 the public. The intense debate and participation in main sessions, workshops,
 open and best-practice forums, dynamic coalitions, and other meetings confirmed
 the role of the IGF in shaping the governance of the Internet, with a view to
 contribute to the building of a people-centered, development-oriented, and
 inclusive information society. The second meeting of the IGF also confirmed
 that the format of this forum is at the forefront of multilateral policy-making
 and may set precedents for a renewed, upgraded style of multilateral
 conferences in an open, inclusive, and representative environment, with the
 participation of all stakeholders. It's important to build upon the experience
 achieved so far, with a view of exploring possible avenues for strengthening
 the existing Internet governance mechanisms, adding to their legitimacy to the
 international community in adequacy to the guiding principles of the World
 Summit on the Information Society. The second IGF meeting advanced on the path
 towards the full implementation of the mandate in terms of participation,
 scope, thematic agenda, organization of work, and possible results.  It
 contributed to the incremental process that aims at accomplishing the
 fulfillment of the forum's mandate by 2010, at the end of the five-year period
 initially established by the Tunis Agenda. In terms of substance, besides the
 important themes of access, diversity, openness, and security, the Rio meeting
 contributed to broaden the debate on Internet governance by devoting a main
 session to the discussion on critical Internet resources and the improvement of
 the global mechanisms in charge of their management. In terms of organization
 of work, another improvement achieved in Rio was the sharing among different
 stakeholders of the chairmanship of main sessions.  One representative from
 civil society chaired the main session on openness.  And another from the
 private sector chaired the main session on security. It's also worth noting the
 interest of Brazilian high government officials as shown by the participation
 of four Brazilian ministers and a number of other authorities at the IGF
 events. On respect of critical Internet resources, let me note that the main
 session of critical Internet resources considered the conformity of existing
 arrangements for the management of Internet physical and logical infrastructure
 vis-à-vis the principles adopted by the World Summit on the Information
 Society. ICANN's multistakeholder decision-making process is an interesting
 experiment in terms of broadening the participation in decision-making
 processes.  There are, of course, improvements to be made, as, for example, on
 the relationship between the Governmental Advisory Committee and the ICANN
 board. Governments should be allowed on equal footing to play their varying
 role and global public policy-making.  In this respect, ICANN's ongoing reforms
 and their perspectives for the recommendations of ICANN as an international
 entity in its independence from any government should be followed with
 interest. On respect with diversity, the Internet offers unprecedented
 perspectives for the expression of cultural contents from all corners of the
 world, as well as for the creation, dissemination, recommendation, and
 diffusion of content. The conversion of this potential into reality requires
 that the Internet be managed for the benefit of mankind as a whole.  Each
 individual should have the possibility to take part in the Internet in his own
 language, in forms that are in harmony with his or her values and cultural
 identity. The Internet should expand in a way that reflects in its content and
 addressing system the existing culture and linguistic diversity, along with the
 regional and local differences which characterize civilization. The particular
 needs of disabled people should be addressed through the creation and
 dissemination of specific referrals at affordable price, as well as by the
 adoption of accessibility standards by the industry. In respect to access,
 international connection costs are a burden for developing countries. In this
 respect, a fair environment for business competition on a global scale would
 contribute to an overall improvement in access conditions. Government should
 stimulate the establishment and the maintenance of such an environment whenever
 possible and take actions to correct market imperfections. If necessary,
 international financing arrangements should be developed to support investment
 in areas in which it's not commercially viable. Regional cooperation and
 Internet exchange points are particularly valuable resources to help reduce the
 demand on intercontinental backbones, thus reducing access costs. Regarding
 openness, freedom of expression is a fundamental human right that should be
 ensured and requires the free flow of information and content from diversified
 sources. More than any other means of communication, the Internet is capable of
 -- to embrace the cultural diversity and pluralism that characterize democracy.
 The conversion of this potential into reality requires the preservation of the
 open architecture features of the Internet. The new realities, possibilities,
 and challenges brought by the Internet should be considered in the debates on
 intellectual property, with particular attention to aspects such as privacy and
 right of information, to information and access to knowledge. Different
 intellectual property regimes and software licensing models translate into
 distinct economic perspectives in innovation and insertion in the digital
 economy, particularly in developing countries. As regarding security, apart
 from the stability of the Internet, data integrity and content reliability,
 user protection and the fight against cyber crime should be given utmost
 priority in the building of a people-centered Information Society. In this
 regard, the right to privacy and the due process of law should always be taken
 into account. Given the borderless nature of the Internet and cyber crime,
 international cooperation in technical legal fields are fundamental tools in
 cyber crimes, countering and prevention. In this sense, the possibilities of
 legal harmonization on cyber security should be evaluated in light of specific
 national priorities, and the distinct realities of the developed and developing
 world. Governments have a fundamental role in making of cyber space a secure
 environment for human interaction and should count on the help of civil society
 and the private sector for this purpose. There are certainly lessons to be
 learned and improvements to be made for the next IGF meetings. Among those
 improvements, I would like to stress the need for reviewing the IGF preparation
 process in order to allow for a broader, more balanced and more representative
 participation from all stakeholders, as well as from all regions of the world.
 It's important to bring into this process as much diversity of opinions as
 possible, taking into account gender balance. The criteria, nomination,
 rotation, proceedings, and the role of the advisory group or other structures
 to be used as a supporting structure to prepare and conduct the meeting could
 be improved. I'd like to express to you in the name of the people and the
 government of Brazil and of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee, our
 wholeheartedly gratitude for your attendance and active participation at the
 second IGF in Rio de Janeiro. A special thanks goes to Mr. Nitin Desai and to
 Mr. Markus Kummer and staff who did not measure efforts to endure an excellent
 preparation of this meeting.  I would also like to thank the presence of Mr.
 Sha Zukang, Undersecretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs of the
 United Nations for his attendance and personal contribution to the IGF. Last
 but not least, I would like to stress a recognition of the financial and
 logistical support the Brazil Internet Steering Committee has provided, which
 was crucial to the success of this event. Thank you very much to all of you [
 Applause ]

 >>NITIN DESAI:   In keeping with the multistakeholder character of this
 meeting, we felt it would be valuable if the closing session should also
 contain -- have reflections from others, all stakeholders.  So let me first
 turn to Delphine Nana Mekounte, who is the president of the African Civil
 Society on the Information Society, ACSIS.

 >>DELPHINE NANA MEKOUNTE:  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Ladies and
 gentlemen, it is a real pleasure for me to address this assembly on behalf of
 civil society. First and foremost, I should like to thank the organizers of
 this forum for the opportunity afforded to us.  I would also like to, at the
 same time, I should also like to thank them for organizing this event. I thank
 the people and government of Brazil for their warm welcome extended to us
 during our stay here in Rio. My thanks also go to all of the partners who have
 supported the participation of civil society in these discussions, and in
 particular, the international organization of French-speaking countries. All of
 our friends worldwide have shown solidarity in advocacy and lobbying to ensure
 the participation of developing countries civil society in the IGF, as was also
 done for the deliberations of the WSIS.  I would like to thank in particular
 the Congo, thank you very much to your colleagues for that support. All
 governments in particular and the governments of developing countries
 specifically that included representatives of civil society in their country
 delegations also receive our thanks for doing so. That inclusion helps to
 strengthen the multistakeholderism which is one of the principles adopted in
 Geneva in 2003. Civil society welcomed its participation in this second
 Internet Governance Forum which is now coming to its end here in Rio, Brazil.
 We welcome the convening of the forum, and we intend to continue to participate
 in the future editions that will take place in New Delhi in 2008 and Egypt in
 2009. Further, through Internet governance -- sorry, in Internet governance the
 civil societies were worried about the rising cyber crime, about the needs to
 ensure freedom of expression, the digital divide between the countries of the
 north and the south, critical internet resources and access. Access is a very
 important issue for developing countries, as is, indeed, is respect for
 linguistic diversity. Of course, civil society welcomed the commitment by all
 to the gradual establishment of the new Information Society, but that new
 Information Society requires new governance in order to make Internet
 accessible to all. To speak of Africa, African countries cannot be left behind
 in this revolution.  It must be a pluralist, transparent, democratic
 revolution. That is why ACSIS, in accordance with the initiatives we have taken
 involving all stakeholders, has proposed an agenda for African priorities in
 Internet governance. This study will be submitted to the next forum in New
 Delhi in 2008. In light of the forgoing we would recommend once again to the
 United Nations in general and the Secretariat in particular to pay special
 attention to strengthening arrangements for granting fellowships to people from
 civil society and developing countries, and to the granting visas of developing
 countries' nationals in order to facilitate even more the physical
 participation -- let me repeat that, the physical participation of
 representatives from civil societies and developing countries in the various
 IGFs. We need to strengthen linguistic diversity.  In this connection, the
 working documents need to be translated into the United Nations languages
 without any exception.  And also, the audio system has to be interpreted
 starting with the Web site of the IGF itself. We need to strengthen the
 multistakeholder interaction between governments, the private sector and the
 civil society. We need to make the committees of the IGF more efficient and
 more effective. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Chair, that is the essence of the
 message from civil society. Thank you very much for your kind attention [
 Applause ]

 >>NITIN DESAI:   We will now go to Mr. Peter Eduardo Siemsen of the
 international Chamber of Commerce.

 >>PETER EDUARDO SIEMSEN:   Thank you. Good afternoon authorities, ladies and
 gentlemen.  My name is Peter Eduardo Siemsen. I am very pleased to be here
 today speaking on behalf of the members of the international Chamber of
 Commerce and its BASIS initiative, business action to support the Information
 Society. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share our impressions of
 this year's IGF as we look forward to next year in India. The BASIS members who
 are here in Brazil are representative of a large business community.  The
 international Chamber of Commerce is the world business organization with
 hundreds of thousands of member companies and associations in over 130
 countries from all sectors. BASIS represents companies and associations which
 include members beyond the ICC, many of whom are here in Brazil this week.
 BASIS develops business priorities and positions drawing on the expertise of
 its members, and engages with other stakeholders. It is important to note that
 there are many members who are unable to be in Rio, and we will be taking the
 message from this IGF back to them. Business has a fundamental role in the
 continuing development of the Internet.  Nurturing this role at the national,
 regional and international levels is essential to our common objectives of
 bringing the benefits of the Internet and the Information Society to a global
 audience. We are pleased to see an increase in business participation at this
 year's IGF, which reflects our commitment to multistakeholder dialogue. It is
 wonderful for business to take part in this process.  And being from Brazil, I
 am proud of my country hosting this event. It is exciting to see the world
 coming to Brazil for these vital discussions. This has been a great experience
 for me personally.  Having been involved with the ICC for many years, this is
 my first opportunity to attend the Internet Governance Forum and be a part of
 the discussions. As ICC's secretary-general Guy Sebban highlighted in his
 opening remarks, ICC and BASIS members support the IGF because it provides a
 unique opportunity to exchange views and best practices on a wide variety of
 important policy and practical issues. We believe such dialogue is essential to
 bringing the economic and social benefits of the Internet to more people. The
 strength of this new model of international cooperation is convening all
 stakeholders on an equal footing. So, what has been achieved this week?  This
 event has contributed to the fulfillment of the IGF mandate arrived at in
 Tunis. We have worked together to share experiences regarding important
 Internet governance-related issues that can only be effectively addressed by
 cooperative efforts of all actors. We have seen a rising tide of consciousness
 with regard to security through collaborations, and preventing abuse of the
 Internet. We particularly welcome the discussions on child protection and look
 forward to constructive doll log with other interested parties in the near
 future. We have underscored the vital importance of establishing an enabling
 environment which promotes investment, fosters entrepreneurship, and stimulates
 innovation. Key factors of this environment are:  Strengthened cooperation on
 developing Internet infrastructure; expanded Internet access; pro-competitive
 policy frameworks; liberalization, and protection of intellectual property
 rights. We have highlighted that as the Internet and Internet applications
 continue to evolve to an accelerating pace, we must ensure that policy
 approaches do not block innovation or restrict user choice. We have also heard
 through the discussions this week how much important all of us place on
 innovative applications and service that are allowing people to share more
 information and promote cultural diversity. It is, however, important to
 remember that to maximize the opportunities that these new applications and
 services provide, they must be supported by access and skills resulting from
 training and education.  Without literacy and computer skills beginning in
 schools and continuing throughout a person's career, people cannot maximize
 their use of the Internet. We have seen the positive effect that public
 Internet access has had here in Brazil through access initiatives in small
 towns. This week we have seen a mature and graduated discussion from those in
 Athens a year ago. The diversification of events has resulted in enhanced
 cooperation between the different stakeholders with a common understanding of
 the priorities going forward. ICC/BASIS plans to contribute our reflections on
 the important discussions that taken place in Rio for the record, and we
 understand other stakeholders plan to do the same. Business believes that IGF
 this week has been beneficial in a tangible way that will have long lasting
 benefits for all. As we leave Rio, we all need to reflect on our experience and
 look at how we can build on these to progress to the next level of
 understanding in India in 2008. Thank you [ Applause ]

 >>NITIN DESAI:   I turn to our last speaker, Matthew Shears of the intellectual
 property intellectual property in the Internet society.

 >>MATTHEW SHEARS:   Thank you, Chair.  Ladies and gentlemen, a challenge being
 last in the day.  It's a great honor to be here as a speaker at the closing
 ceremony.  My name is Matthew sheers.  I'm with the Internet Society.  And I've
 lead the Internet Society's engagement with the IGF since the forum's
 inception, and I'm also a member of the advisory group. I'd like to extend the
 thanks of the Internet community to the Brazilian hosts and the United Nations,
 and commend the excellent work of the Internet Governance Forum secretariat.
 I'd like to make some brief comments, first on Rio, then on Delhi, but I'd
 preface that with a couple of words about our community. The Internet community
 has supported, contributed to, and participated in the WSIS, the IGF, since
 their beginnings.  Yet our commitment to sharing the Internet and the benefits
 of this technology with the whole world, regardless of race, color, politics,
 nationality, or any other differentiation among human beings or nations,
 predates the WSIS.  At the Internet Society, we have been working to expand the
 reach of the Internet since 1992. The Internet community's goals and actions
 are consistent with the output documents of the WSIS and the principles and the
 purposes embodied in them.  This community's engagement with all stakeholders
 in Rio is yet another clear indication of our commitment to
 multistakeholderism.  We have organized workshops across stakeholders and
 sponsored speakers from around the globe.  We have had productive discussions
 with governments, international organizations, civil society, and the private
 sector, all with the aim of pursuing our common objective of increasing the
 availability of and access to the Internet. We have all had a very productive
 four-plus days.  The diversity of the sessions, the workshops, open forums,
 best practices forums, and, of course, the main panels has been truly
 rewarding.  In fact, I would imagine that you've all suffered from the same
 challenge I have, which is where to choose and where to go. Fortunately, I
 found there were some strategically placed snacks along the hallways that gave
 us the energy to go to the many sessions without falling over from exhaustion.
 We have seen in Rio the continuation of this unique multistakeholder model in
 action.  We have seen yet again the value of frank discussion on a range of
 important issues to the future of the Internet.  Rio has reinforced the
 importance of a dynamic and collaborative experience-sharing environment.  The
 workshops are a true embodiment of this. We have had a robust discussion across
 the range of issues encompassed in the new theme area of critical Internet
 resources.  The main panel highlighted the issues, but the workshops dug into
 them and gave all stakeholders an opportunity to discuss the issues in greater
 depth. The Internet community welcomes this dialogue and hopes that it will
 encourage further engagement by all stakeholders in the open policy development
 processes of the Internet organizations. So now we are on to Delhi, with the
 cumulative experience of IGF Athens and IGF Rio.  I'd like to make one or two
 observations. Part of the IGF's purpose is to engage broadly across
 stakeholders and across regions.  The ability to reach beyond the physical
 confines of an IGF is an expectation.  Remote participation is therefore an
 essential tool.  Yet, there was but one, one question for the access panelists
 through the remote channels at this IGF.  This is not a criticism of the IGF
 Rio infrastructure, but this should cause us to think about how we make this
 event ever more relevant to those who do not have the wherewithal to attend in
 person.  We must shape the IGF to encourage greater and more diverse
 participation.  If we fail in this respect, the IGF will have failed. The IGF
 can undoubtedly evolve further, and I think we can all agree on this.  However,
 there is, in true multistakeholder fashion, a diversity of views as to how it
 should evolve. We are of the firm belief that the IGF can evolve so it brings
 greater value to participants without becoming burdened by further processes
 and structure.  Undoubtedly, there are some important issues that need to be
 addressed before Delhi.  But they should not undermine this grand experiment.
 Defining success is always difficult for these types of events.  It should not
 be measured by whether or not we can tick the boxes in the mandate, but,
 rather, by understanding how the main sessions, the workshops, and the best
 practices forums resonate with the participants and bring about change. Let me
 give you a very concrete example. Yesterday, after the workshop on the root
 server system and after the best practices forum on Internet exchange points,
 some government representatives approached the speakers, asking how they could
 go about installing root server instances and Internet exchange points in their
 countries.  That, I would say, is success. And if those expressions of interest
 result in concrete actions back home, then the IGF will have had the type of
 impact we have been hoping for.  This is what we should be seeking to build on
 for Delhi. Finally, I'd like to quote the Secretary-General of the United
 Nations, who said in his in his opening statement read by the
 undersecretary-General, quote, "This forum is modest in its means, but not in
 its aspirations.  It may have no power to make decisions, but it can inform and
 inspire those who are in a position to make them." Ladies and gentlemen, we
 must keep these words in mind as we take the IGF forward.  Let us build on Rio
 and work together to create an IGF in Delhi that will inform and inspire all
 participants. Thank you. [ Applause ]

 >>NITIN DESAI:   Thank you.  Thank you very much, Matthew. Let me say that we
 now come to the end.  For those of you who have not had enough, you can sit
 down and read the full transcript of the proceedings. And I particularly want
 to thank the two scribes.  I don't know how they do it.  But they manage to get
 everything down on paper, and it does help us enormously, because it liberates
 us from the process of having to negotiate the summary.  There's no need.  I
 really do want to thank them for this exercise. [ Applause ]

 >>NITIN DESAI:   There was a certain -- I'm glad Matthew spoke last.  But, you
 know, the Internet community has always been a little worried that this whole
 IGF -- started being worried that the IGF was about governments wanting to take
 over the Internet or something like that. And I wanted to share with you just
 as we get to the end, the possibility that the reverse could happen.  Sometime
 back, there was a competition of headlines 20 years from now. And the
 prize-winning headline was, "Government computer resigns."  And that's more
 likely to be the truth than what you people are worried about. With this, the
 second IGF, the second townhall meeting of the Internet community, comes to an
 end. (Gavel.) [ Applause ]