Note: The following is the output of the real-time captioning taken during Fourth Meeting of the IGF, in Sharm El sheikh. 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. OPENING SESSION Sunday, 15 November 2009 INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt >>NERMINE EL SAADANY: Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen. Would you please be seated. We would like to start. >>NERMINE EL SAADANY: Ladies and gentlemen, would you kindly be seated, please. We need to start the session. >>MARKUS KUMMER: Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. We are ready to resume the session. >> Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, let us resume our opening ceremony. Please join me to welcome His Excellency, federal counsellor Moritz Leuenberger, head of the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication from Switzerland. [ Applause ] >>H.E. FED. COUN. MORITZ LEUENBERGER: Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, thank you to give Switzerland the possibility to speak in the name of the Council of Europe, whose presidency is changing just this week from Slovenia to Switzerland. And in the spirit of this forum, Slovenia and Switzerland will share our speaking time. A few days ago, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. And 20 years ago, the people cheered in the east and the west. Frontiers were removed, frontiers between people, countries, between east and west. New networks and relationships were established around the world. Globalization took its course. Also 20 years ago, the World Wide Web was invented at Cern, in Geneva. Mr. Berners-Lee just told us how he did it. The Internet brought an even greater boost to globalization. The fall of the wall, globalization, the World Wide Web, the future seemed to be an ocean of possibility. Freedom seemed to no know bounds. This was our hope, that the Internet will lead to worldwide democratization because it allows everyone to have access to all information. Because it gives everyone a voice. But boundless freedom is contradiction in itself. Our freedom has to end when it limits that of others. That happens when freedom is mistaken for the right to do just what we want without any restraint. At times, with dramatic consequences as the financial crisis has shown. Therefore, freedom goes hand in hand with responsibility. We heard about examples, good examples from the head of Yahoo!, but there are also people who misuse the Internet for criminal purposes, such as terrorism, pedophilia or hacking attacks on states, businesses, or individuals. This minority is a danger for the freedom of others. Freedom, therefore, also needs our protection. It is from these principles that the Council of Europe's Internet governance policy derives. The Council of Europe is keen to ensure that the Internet remains a place of freedom, government by self-responsibility. Freedom should only be restricted to where this is necessary to protect the freedom of others. And that is why the Council of Europe has drafted nonbinding recommendations and, on the other hand, also binding conventions. The Council of Europe strongly supports the multistakeholder approach of the IGF. The future of the Internet has to be shaped jointly by actors from the fields of politics, industry, and civil society. People can only be involved in shaping something if they have access to it. The Internet must not be misused as an instrument in the struggle for power, neither by economic forces nor by political regimes. And this also means creating platforms that enable all stakeholders to freely exchange their views and experience without any pressure to negotiate. IGF is such a platform which was initiated by the Council of Europe in Switzerland together with other European partners. We will keep on working on our hope. Our goal is global democracy. But the Internet itself is not going to do the job for us. Any new technology can be used either in favor or against humanity. And the point is how we use the technology. Let us use it in the spirit of IGF, the spirit of our forum. [ Applause ] >>DR. HODA BARAKA: On behalf of the Council of Europe also, let us welcome His Excellency Mr. Jozsef Györöks, State Secretary Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology of Slovenia. And the speaker that will follow is His Excellency Mr. Pedro Sebastiao Teta, Vice Minister of Angola. >>DR. JOZSEF GYÖRÖKS: Thank you, Madam Chair, Ministers, ladies and gentlemen, pioneers of Internet and the World Wide Web, Madam Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen. This is a very short intervention on behalf of the Slovenian chairmanship, fading out chairmanship, of the committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The Internet is a space of enormous opportunity and freedom. That said, it must be also place of responsibility. The Council of Europe fully supports the IGF process, and particularly as a space which promotes transparency and participation, and as one means of promoting our core values. We believe in, first, a multistakeholder approach to dialogue and the development of Internet policy, through the sharing of experience and expertise. Second, a rights-based approach to the Internet. A space which is people-centered, open, and accessible. And, three, an Internet with a public service mission at its core. The 47 governments of the Council of Europe agree on the public service value of the Internet, in particular noting people significantly reliant on the Internet as an essential tool for their everyday activities and that there is a resulting legitimate expectation that Internet services be accessible and affordable, secure, reliable, ongoing. And Internet constitutes a pervasive social and public space which should have an ethical dimension, which should foster justice, dignity and respect for the human being, and which should be based on respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, democracy, and rule of law. Our collective responses can be found in conventions on cybercrime, data protection, protection of children against exploitation and abuse, prevention of terrorism. A new convention on counterfeiting of medical products will also be opened for signature very soon. The Council of Europe's human rights guidelines for European Internet service providers and for European online game providers are notable examples of responses which have been worked out with the private sector. In thinking forward, we must embrace technology in order to enhance rights and freedoms online. We cannot afford to hide behind technology when things go wrong. We must find creative technical solutions which are human rights approved so that expressions and democracy can flourish whatever form the expression or information takes. Thank you for your attention. [ Applause ] >>DR. HODA BARAKA: Now let us welcome His Excellency Mr. Pedro Sebastiao Teta, Vice Minister Information and Communication Technology from Angola. And next speaker will be Ms. Lisa Horner from U.K. He is not here. Okay. So we will move to Ms. Lisa Horner, representing civil society. >>MS. LISA HORNER: Thank you. Firstly, I would like to thank the IGF Secretariat and our Egyptian hosts for this opportunity to participate in the opening of the IGF, and the Internet governance civil society caucus for nominating me to speak. The IGF has developed over the past three years into an extremely important and valuable space for multistakeholder collaboration. It is leading the field at the international level in terms of best practice for allowing participation from a wide range of stakeholder and interest groups. Multistakeholder participation is arguably more important in the Internet governance sphere than in other policy areas. As the Internet has emerged as central to the everyday lives and activities of so many people across the world. It is a key tool and platform for business and commerce, and increasingly used to increase the effectiveness of government services and communication, for example. It has also emerged as being crucial for realizing what we might term as the public interest. Communication is at the very root of what it means to be human. Human beings are sociable animals and the ability to express ourselves is valued by people across the world. That's why freedom of expression has been enshrined as a human right in the universal declaration. Expression is a foundation right, essential for the realization of other fundamental social goods such as development, association and peace. The Internet has unleashed a communications revolution which is extremely exciting. It's helping us to more fully recognize our humanity. So the Internet is important for a wide range of different stakeholders, used for so many different activities and valued for so many different reasons. The key challenge for Internet governance is to mediate between these different users and uses, ensuring that everyone's needs and interests are met whilst at the same time protecting and expanding our fundamental human rights. We need to make sure that the characteristics and tools that we value the Internet for are preserved and expanded. And as we heard from our keynote speakers today, the Internet has evolved to what it is today because it has been an open, innovative space that supports human creativity and meets human needs. Through Internet governance, we need to ensure that the Internet continues to evolve, from leaders to citizens, from business to consumers, including -- and most importantly -- from the poorest sections of society, from people from all walks of life, and from all countries across the world. We need to support and expand the Internet as a tool for empowerment and human development. The public interest, as I mentioned, of the Internet must not be eroded. Multistakeholder collaboration based on shared values and guided by common principles is the only way that we can make sure that this happens. The Internet Governance Forum is coming to the end of its five-year mandate on-sincerely hope that it continues into the future so that we can build on the practices of multistakeholder dialogue and collaboration that it has helped to establish. However, there is, of course, room for improvement. In order to be effective, we need to make better effort to ensure that all relevant stakeholders are at the table, including, to name just two examples, some of the major businesses that are notably absent, and Internet users themselves, particularly from poorer countries of the world. We also need to make multistakeholder collaboration more meaningful, so during this IGF in Sharm El Sheikh, the onus is on all of us to make the most of this multistakeholder space that we have built together. To engage with our peers and colleagues in different stakeholder groups, to develop common approaches and solutions to pressing issues that have emerged in the Internet age. The IGF's dynamic coalitions are one space within the forum where constructive engagement could yield really positive results. But the conditions -- but the coalitions need better participation from all of us. I would like to urge everyone to engage productively in these spaces, especially in the freedom of expression online and the Internet rights and principles coalitions that are working to preserve the public interest dimensions of the Internet and to protect human rights. The Internet governance terrain is highly complicated, made up of a diverse and dispersed range of actors, institutions, and processes. This makes the existence of a common participative and collaborative space in the form of the IGF all the more important for coordinating our efforts and learning from each other. So I hope that all participants at this year's forum are able to make the most of the opportunities that we have for constructive multistakeholder engagements, so that we can foster the development of an Internet that meets our needs, and that supports and fully realizes our common humanity. Thank you. [Applause] >>DR. HODA BARAKA: Now, join me to welcome Her Excellency Ms. Åsa Torstensson minister of enterprise, energy and communications, representing the EU presidency. >>H.E. MS. ÅSA TORTENSSON: Ladies and gentlemen, first of all, let me take this opportunity to thank Egypt and the IGF Secretariat for organizing this year's Internet governance forum. I'm very pleased to be here in Sharm El Sheikh to represent the Swedish presidency of the European Union and I'm really looking forward to hearing the many interesting points of views from participants from around the world. The Internet has, and will even more, influence our economies and societies. It radically shrinks the distance between people, businesses, scientific community and governments all around the globe. This revolution has given us fantastic new opportunities. It has also brought us new issues and questions concerning, for instance, human rights and freedom of expression, privacy, and intellectual property and network security. These issues need to be addressed jointly by policymakers, industry, the civil society, and individuals. The Internet is a global facility and in addition to this meeting, the IGF has successfully met in the African, Asian, South American, and European regions. This demonstrates that stakeholders around the globe have embraced the Internet as an essential element of user-oriented, inclusive, and nondiscriminatory Information Society. One example of an important outcome of the global dialogue is the introduction of international domain names. The four meetings of IGF also prove that all the stakeholders, governments, the private sector and the civil society alike support and defend the underlying values of the IGF and of the World Summit of the Information Society. In particular, the right of freedom of opinion and expression. These questions are also global concerns is and must be addressed in a global forum. And since the Internet is upheld and developed by a wide range of actors scattered around the world, there is, and will continue to be, a need for a forum that can involve all types of stakeholders in the discussions and exchanges of views. This is why the Internet Governance Forum is so unique and important. The three IGF meetings held so far have demonstrated the value of this global multistakeholder platform in terms of wide-ranging themes of their discussions and the level of -- also of the participation. The IGF has also demonstrated this progressive development from meeting to meeting. The E.U. therefore, firmly believes that the IGF should continue beyond its first five-year period, which expires at the end of the next year. The Internet's growth over the last ten years has been remarkably fast and it continues to evolve. It is, therefore, necessary to retain a forum that does not seek to make binding decisions which could require long periods of consultation and negotiations to reach any conclusions. The Tunis Summit decided that the IGF should be a forum for free and frank discussions on all topics related to Internet governance. It is exactly this lack of negotiated binding outcomes that makes the IGF such an indispensable and flexible tool for policymakers around the globe. The Internet cannot be controlled or governed by any one actor. This is the part of its success. The European Union wants the Internet to be a global network that is open, resilient, and accessible to all. Respect for human rights and the rule of law are of fundamental importance. Citizens should be able to communicate freely and securely with everyone, regardless of national borders. We want the Internet to be an open forum, where content produced by the users then creates greater global media diversity. It is important to always keep the interest of the Internet users in focus, when considering Internet policy issues. It is the user who is more than ever shaping the development of Internet and in the process turning it into a mirror of our society. As long as users respect the right of freedom of others, we must ensure that they all have the same right and ability to contribute to the evolution of the Internet for the benefit of the global community. Since freedom of expression extends further to the Internet and the restriction or limitation to this freedom of expression must be in accordance with international human rights law. The Internet has developed into a global public resource which is of critical importance to our economies and societies. Therefore, questions of this resource is to be managed and safeguarded have become ever more important. The European Union believes that the private sector should continue to be responsible for the current day-to-day coordination of the Internet's global system of unique identifiers. ICANN has proven effective in ensuring that the domain name system has kept pace with the rapid growth of the Internet over the last ten years. That is quite an achievement for one organization, and we should all contribute to ICANN's further development. This is why we, in Europe last month, welcomed the affirmation of commitments agreement as an opportunity to transform the oversight of ICANN to the entire global community, including potentially all governments. This can be done through a framework of reviews and recommendations in which all stakeholders can participate. However, this requires that there is transparency and accountability within the governance structure. The openness of the Internet has been the key to its rapid success and development. This open and horizontal structure of the Internet with no line of dominance has also proven to be a great force for democracy and freedom of expression. Furthermore, the Internet markedly stimulates innovation and the development of new services and businesses around the world. All the more reason for the Internet to remain as open and accessible as possible. As I said before, the Internet Governance Forum is a vital forum for discussing Internet governance and the future development of the Internet. It goes without saying that the European Union strongly supports the continuation of the IGF far beyond 2010. So ladies and gentlemen, I thank you very much for your attention. [Applause] >>DR. HODA BARAKA: I have the pleasure now to introduce Her Excellency, Ms. Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for ICT and media. [Applause] >>H.E. MS. VIVIANE REDING: Excellencies, colleague ministers, honorable parliamentarians, honored guests, and dear members of the Internet community: Now, I am delighted to have the opportunity to attend this meeting of the Internet Governance Forum once again. Since my participation in the first forum in Athens 2006, IGF has continued to show its value, and the consistently high number of participants demonstrates that there is a real need for such a forum, and this is also a mark of success. It is a unique forum, where we can engage in open, nonbinding, multistakeholder dialogue in order to examine or try to address the many issues which arise from our strong reliance on the Internet in our homes, schools, businesses, universities, research labs, and government administrations. I am aware, nevertheless, that some would criticize precisely the recipe for success, but I will ask them: How else can we build together a global response to the global challenges raised by the Internet? Where else can any Internet player from anywhere in the world come and express his views on these global responses? Where else could we have such an open, such enriching debate? Now, the unity of the Internet has brought very many positive effects. And we have to strive to maintain this. And that is why, for example, the introduction of an international domain name is a very big step forward to a truly global and, in the same time, local Internet, and it is a key part of our talks today and tomorrow. Around the world, the work on the IDN top level domains is now well advanced, and the final step towards their introduction should be taken in the coming months. Now, this is especially important for the European Union, with our many languages. Non-Latin characters are essential for languages like Bulgarian, which uses Cyrillic, and Greek, an alphabet which exists since the 9th century, before Jesus Christ. We want to work towards providing shortly international internalized domain names on our top level domain name dot EU, but this, ladies and gentlemen, is not only a European topic. The Internet users of today and of tomorrow will come mainly from countries where languages are not based on the Latin script. Users from Egypt, dear colleague minister, users from China, Russia, and many others naturally will want to use their own scripts. And the Internet as much about the local and the personal as it is about the global, after all. And that has helped in the promotion of freedom of expression and of access to information and we need to work very hard in order to ensure that this remains the case, and that the cultural diversity remains high on the agenda. The IGF succeeds because it deals exactly with those questions. Indeed, it provides us with the possibility to address Internet governance challenges, because the Internet keeps to grow and to affect key areas of our life, not just technical ones, and that is why this forum is very essential to address exactly those issues. Now, take as an example the safer Internet for children. We all know that our digitally native children are way ahead of us in the way they use the Internet, but we also know that their protection online is a matter of governance that has to be addressed. The European Commission is working since 1999 to make the Internet a safer place for children. Our safer Internet program supports awareness-raising activities toward children, parents, teachers, and it is run by local bodies across Europe, under the umbrella of the Insafe network. The safer Internet day, on the 11th of February every year, is now shared by more than 60 nations worldwide. And much of this has been agreed upon during the discussions between stakeholders in the IGF. And that shows that this IGF is a wonderful tool for networking and for the civil society. I want to underline that IGF also succeeds because the participation of governments and public administrations. Each of us needs to play its role in the governance of Internet. While a bottom-up private sector-led approach is certainly best suited to the day-to-day management of the Internet domain names, governments can and must play a role in the public policy Internet issues, where the general public interest must be protected. I am thinking also about these billions of Internet users who are not with us today, who do not participate in government meetings such as this. Now, they expect their government to protect and promote their interests. I just mentioned child protection online. Well, the parents of these children expect governments to make sure their children are safe online. And look at e-commerce, online shoppers expect their governments to combat fraud and to protect the consumer rights online. But in addition to help the citizens online, we should not overlook the key role governments have to play in keeping the Internet free and open. We all know that the rapid growth of the Internet has taken place because of the openness, and because, as we have heard before, by Tim, because of the universality. If users want to keep an open and neutral Internet, they must actively encourage their governments to protect it, and governments must respond as positively as the European Union has done this month with the first-ever legislation protecting the access rights of Internet users. I also recognize in this context the very important step that was made by the United States with the reform of the ICANN announced end of September. The new arrangements for ICANN regarding accountability and a more multinational approach look very promising. Now we have to work together to make sure that they are effectively implemented, and in real time of the Internet community. An open Internet is also an inclusive Internet. You know that there are billions of people without Internet access, and we must not forget them. We must act now to make sure that the global community can participate fully and equally in this important process. The IGF, which is -- with its emphasis on the local as well as on the global, with its depth and its range of issues, with its diverse audiences, is and will continue to contribute to this objective. And exactly that is why we need IGF, why we must encourage it. And I have no doubt about the continued success not just for the next meeting in Vilnius, but beyond. But before that next meeting, there will be discussion on whether the IGF should continue to meet beyond 2010. For me, for the European Union, the answer is very easy. IGF must continue. And I invite all of you to support. [Applause] >>H.E. MS. VIVIANE REDING: Well, I have understood that you have taken up this invitation, so all together, let's work for an IGF which continues and which continues to be the platform for stakeholders which continues to be the platform for Internet users, and where we can keep our Internet open, free, accessible. Thank you. [Applause] >>DR. HODA BARAKA: We'll call now on His Excellency, Mr. Pedro Sebastiao Teta from Angola, Vice Minister, Information and Communications Technology. >>H.E. MR. PEDRO SEBASTIAO TETA: Madam chair, Your Excellencies, minister of communications of Egypt, Your Excellency, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Secretary-General of the ITU, ladies and gentlemen: It is with a great deal of satisfaction that I participate in the 4th iteration of the Internet Governance Forum, and I would like to express my gratitude to the organizers and to the host countries. Thank you for organizing this forum, and especially to the Minister of Communications and Information Technology of Egypt. Internet and information technology is something that is being implemented and increasingly developed in Africa. And that is why it is my honor to be here with you and I'm also proud of the fact that Angola is part of the forum which is open to all communities, all countries, to all stakeholders, civil society, business, and this is the kind of forum that, for us in Africa, is very important for our development. Indeed, this forum, the IGF, is acknowledged as a promoter of progress and access to Internet in Africa. And we in South Africa just finalized ourselves a forum of ministers communication and information technologies. It just wrapped up on the 10th of November last, and at that forum we discussed the organization in January of the summit of heads of states and governments which is to take place in Addis Ababa, and at that meeting, the issues of information communication technologies will be discussed openly. So we can consider that our forum here, the IGF, which provides for open discussion at the regional and continental level, and also allows for the participation of the civil society and business. So it allows for an open discussion. And as you know, the major challenge in Africa is open access to structure, human resources, our Internet development, and cybercrime. Africa, as you also probably well know, has to deal with bandwidth and to that, you have to add power problems, power surges, problems which other continents probably do not know. And that is why we pay a great deal of attention to the IGF and we continue its continuation using perhaps new models which we are going to discuss . Perhaps this meeting can be convened under different models but the fact that it's going to continue is something that we support, and we also welcome the fact that we are discussing various ideas of Internet governance at the forum. And I would like to welcome the active participation, which is promoted by this forum, on behalf of member states, business, civil society, the youth, women, et cetera. And I'm convinced of its success and its contribution to the development of the Internet in Africa, and I support the idea under which when we decide something together, we arrive at better decisions and we also make the Internet more democratic, which is surely the wish of us all. I, therefore, wish the best of success to the IGF now and in the future. And I would like to ask you, all of you, who support the IGF recognize its importance to continue working in this area which is beneficial for the development of the Internet and in all of our countries. Thank you very much for your attention. [Applause] >>DR. HODA BARAKA: Now, join me to welcome His Excellency, Mr. Augusto Gadelha, Vice Minister of science and technology from Brazil. >>H.E. MR. AUGUSTO GADELHA: Good afternoon to all. First, I would like to congratulate the organizing committee of this meeting, which has already been shown to be a starting success, for the continuation of the IGF, the 4th IGF that has been adjourned. I would like to congratulate Under Secretary of the United Nations, Mr. Zukang, Mr. Nitin Desai, and Markus Kummer, and the Egyptian government and the local committee for this IGF. Actually, I'm here because we had the privilege to be the second organizer of the IGF, of the second IGF in the world, and it happened in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. And what we have witnessed through this 4th -- the three first IGFs is that it has matured and it has grown in the discussions of issues which are very important to the Internet. I think starting with the Tunis Agenda, where Information Society was soon to be -- it was looked at that this should be an inclusive, human-centered, and development-oriented environment. And so with these principles, the IGF started to discuss the issues which are important to get to this point, and I would say that in the first IGF in Athens, I think the ideas were still in (inaudible) and many discussions were done, and in the second IGF in Rio, the issues became a little bit more mature and we could make discussions with more objectiveness, which made the third, and I'm sure the fourth will be a very great success. At that time, the points of critical Internet resources was, one -- considered one of the most important issues, together with security, diversity, where equal participation to all is required. And at that time, multilingualism was a very hot issue, and it became, actually, implemented now as we see. And today we see that issue to be already considered as well success development of all discussions inside the Internet community. Openness was the other issue that was very much appraised in this -- in the discussion in Rio, and there came the questions of civil liberties and the problems of access, which it is needed for closing the digital divide. That also was very deeply discussed in Rio de Janeiro. I think that was a very important step for the meeting in Hyderabad in India, and then to this fourth meeting of IGF. I think IGF has actually contributed very much to the global awareness of important issues to the -- to be addressed in the community of Internet, of the use of the governance of Internet, and as it has been mentioned here, for example, the child safety, something which is an issue which has come up very strongly in Hyderabad, and I would say that in Brazil, we have much more -- we are very much involved with the -- with the question of child protection in the Internet. And so this is -- these are new issues. These will actually important issues which is being now discussed in the framework of the IGF. So we believe IGF has to continue. We believe IGF has been successful these three first ones and it shows themselves to be a space of important discussions on important issues of -- for Internet. And when it comes so to the possibility of renewal of the mandate -- of its mandate by the United Nations, are one must bear in mind that the IGF is neither self-contained process nor a decision-making body. Its efficiencies cannot be measured on the quality of its outcomes alone. The IGF is, rather, a facilitating process for the implementation of all of the WSIS action lines regarding Internet governance. In this context, the decision of the continuation of the IGF should be made in view of the contribution it can offer to the success of the WSIS implementation process in the future. There seem to be more than enough reasons for the continuation of the IGF if the present situation is taken into account. Despite all progress that has been achieved since Tunis,ment precise diagnosis that led to the creation of the Internet Governance Forum remains essentially valid. In other words, there is still room for the IGF. Looking on the bright side, the three first IGF meetings proved able to promote global awareness in pertinent debate on Internet-related public-policy issues through an incremental implementation of its mandate. Thank you very much for the opportunity to talk at this meeting. >>DR. HODA BARAKA: Thank you very much, Your Excellency, Mr. Augusto. And now we are moving to Ambassador Philip Verveer, United States Coordinator, International Communications and Information Policy, United States Department of State. Please welcome Ambassador Philip Verveer. [ Applause ] >>AMB. PHILIP VERVEER: Mr. Under-Secretary, Mr. Secretary-General, Mr. Desai and excellencies. I want to begin by -- as many others have, by thanking our hosts. This is obviously a major undertaking, and we're indebted to Dr. Kamel and to members of the ministry for the arrangements they have made, including bringing us to this very beautiful setting. I want to offer thanks as well to Markus Kummer for his leadership, and to serve as an exemplar, I am going to follow his instructions, which were to keep this very brief. The Internet is the largest and most successful cooperative arrangement in history. It achieved instrumental scale with unprecedented speed. And it is constantly growing and evolving. Now, those statements I think reflect the framework in which we ought to be working out the implications and consequences as we think about how we're going to style institutional arrangements and relationships in the days and years ahead. While the Internet, in that sense, is exceptional, it's also emblematic of an important contemporary development, the growing importance of multi-national, nongovernmental organizations. The Internet is the most important of these organizations because it is the foundation of so much that is important today, and of course so much more in the future. As its importance has grown, so, too, has its vulnerability. Both to attack and to perversion. Violent extremists, traffickers in human beings, other criminals have found ways to use the Internet. And this is something where despite the fact that the good vastly outweighs the bad, it is something we need to keep in mind as we discuss all of the aspects of the Internet. Given its origins and its history as a cooperative venture, the stakeholders of every description, and with its enormous dynamism, the creation of an institutional framework for the constructive and open exchange of ideas obviously has proven extremely useful. That the Internet Governance Forum has fulfilled its mandate and has fulfilled it in extremis is evidenced by this large gathering of hyper-accomplished individuals in this room. In light of its undoubted success, the United States is enthusiastically joining with our friends in European Union and Brazil in indicating our view that the IGF ought to be extended well into the future. My colleagues in the U.S. government and I look forward to exploring the opportunities and challenges posed by the Internet over the next several days, and my thanks again to our host for making this possible. Thank you. [ Applause ] >>DR. HODA BARAKA: Thank you, Ambassador Verveer. Now calling on Her Excellency, Ms. Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, Secretary of State for Prospective and Development of the Digital Economy from France. [ Applause ] >>DR. HODA BARAKA: Welcome, Her Excellence. >>H.E. MS. NATHALIE KOSCIUSKO-MORIZET: under-Secretary-General, president Desai, executive director of the forum, minister of communications and information technology, madam minister, ladies and gentlemen, first of all I would like to echo the preceding speakers and also thank the government of Egypt for hosting us and doing so very efficiently. This forum is a unique forum and a very special one. And also a precursor of new ways of governance. And the impact of Internet is something that concerns us all. We are all stakeholders. The global week on Information Society has helped us here, and this was already mentioned at the summit in Johannesburg. And I was present in various capacities there. And this is not something that can be governed by one single market or one single government. Two years ago I organized in France a forum, a multistakeholder forum, and this is exactly we are doing that, and we add to the complexity also the need to understand each other from one continent to another, from culture to another, which sometimes a most difficult thing. We decided together this year to, for the first time, be talking about the governance of social networks within the forum. And also in the protection of personal data. Leaking personal data, which is stored on the Internet is something that is a major challenge for this country. But what would we consider to be personal data? Personal information. On this we do not have a consensus. And if we have to have a common definition, it would probably be considered to be too restrictive by those who, in France or in Europe, think very broadly when we're talking about personal data. On the other hand, if we have a universal idea, it is the idea which can be described by the following photo or a word, is something that can be forgotten over time. And we have the right to move on to other things. We have the right to change what we said at one point, making sure that this is not held against you later on. This notion is being brought into question by the infallible memory of the Internet. So the right to forget, to make sure that personal data, something that we wanted to share at one point but later on wanted to take back, remains personal. This is not a theoretical question. In the United States, 35% of recruiters say that they eliminated candidates because of the words or photos which were placed on the Internet and judged inappropriate. 78% of young people in France who are most likely to express their intimate convictions on the Internet are of the view that protection of that is not enough. And the force of this forum is to bring your attention to important subjects such as fighting child exploitation or providing for reliable infrastructure. So I'm underscoring this right to forget as an example of what IGF's contribution could possibly be, because it brings together all of the actors, which is not a direct negotiating platform. It enables us to develop a mentality in order to sometimes come up with something that can be translated into reality and provide guarantees for data and users. And that is why I invite all of those who want to do so amongst us to create a group on the follow-up of this issue within the IGF. Additionally, I suggest that in June 2010, we, in France, hold a multi-actor meeting on this topic in order to give further thought to this right to forget information or word in Europe. You know, in France, in my country and in Europe, supports the continuation of IGF and its capacity, therefore, to come up with specific proposals on this topic and others which will come up here in Sharm El Sheikh. It is up to us now to start building and coming up with new proposals. Thank you very much. [ Applause ] >>DR. HODA BARAKA: Thank you very much, Your Excellency, Ms. Nathalie. And now we are moving to Ms. Lynn St. Amour, president and CEO, Internet Society from the ISOC. >>MS. LYNN ST. AMOUR: Mr. Chairman, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to be part of the opening of the fourth Internet Governance Forum. I would like to thank the government of Egypt for being such a gracious host, and the IGF Secretariat and the Multistakeholder Advisory Group for their efforts in once again organizing an interesting and challenging program. It is especially gratifying to be here in Egypt. The IGF was, of course, conceived in North Africa as an outcome of the Tunis meeting of the World Summit on the Information Society in 2005. So after successful meetings in Europe, the Americas, and Asia, this first IGF meeting on the African continent is an important moment. Egypt is a particularly apt venue for the IGF. For thousands of years at one of the world's most significant cultural crossroads, Egypt has been one of the great meeting places. It has always been a rich melting pot of language, culture, trade, science and learning. You could, in fact, use the same words to describe the Internet. Similarly, the IGF has emerged as an important meeting place for those interested in the value, the potential, and the future of the Internet. It is a forum we can come together to forge relationships, explore ideas, and share our inspirations when we return home and resume our work. That is why we strongly support continuing the IGF. As some of you may know, this year's Nobel Prize in economics went to Eleanor Ostrom for her work on common pool resources. Her work showed better outcomes are achieved for a common pool when several factors exist, including the presence of a community with a strong social network and shared norms, and community-based rules and procedures. An element of her work particularly relevant to the IGF's role was to demonstrate how important it is for stakeholders in a common pool to know and interact with each other. The IGF is an important opportunity to expand these social networks and strengthen norms. The IGF further benefits from the diversity of its stakeholders. A common set of values and principles has always characterized the development and operation of the global Internet. Open standards, freely accessible inclusive processes, and transparent governance. These are central to the Internet's management and ongoing evolution. The Internet works precisely because all organizations work together collaboratively, respecting individual roles and in the public interest. We call this the Internet model of development, and we calm the diverse environment of stakeholder the Internet ecosystem. As has already been said many times today, the only true Internet is both open and global. Therefore, Internet governance, by definition, must be open and inclusive. For those of us who believe the Internet has the potential to improve lives everywhere, we are obliged to ensure that these fundamental principles endure. While the principles endure, the Internet itself has always evolved. Pioneers working on the various projects that became the Internet achieved the remarkable feat of developing something that rather than prescribing a future, creates a platform which opens the door to the future, to the evolution and proliferation of services, applications, and devices which have not yet been conceived. The exciting new applications and services being deployed today and the unimaginable developments of tomorrow arise specifically from the Internet's intrinsic design principles and its open model. Although conceived four decades ago, that model continues to foster a vibrant environment of innovation and creativity. What better proof could we want of its importance? And, when it comes to realizing the future of the Internet, we have only just scratched the surface. In a world of 7 billion people, only 1.7 billion are connected to the Internet. The next frontier of Internet growth and, indeed, the keys to the future Internet, lies substantially in emerging markets. Only by preserving the open nature of the Internet will the next billions emerge, not simply as Internet consumers but as fundamental Internet contributors. Their creativity and ingenuity will propel the development of new applications, new technology and new businesses never before seen. In the best tradition of the Internet model, the IGF provides a forum for new voices to participate in an Internet dialogue, to talk openly about challenges and to discuss how to address them. It is the Internet Society's hope that those governments and institutions that have not yet embraced the open and inclusive model will experience its value and the benefits this model can bring not only for the stakeholders but for mankind. As we have said many times, the Internet is fundamentally based on openness. Users develop and choose the services they need, create their own content in the language they want, and have been able to for over 20 years, and share it with others. It empowers citizens and enhances social and economic development. The Internet is also open to businesses, an extraordinary platform for entrepreneurship, opening up new territories, expanding marketplaces, and creating new business models. It puts the power of innovation in the hands of all businesses, large and small. I would hope this is well-known and should not need to be said. It is also open to governments. And we are always looking to expand participation from that quarter in all of our activities. As I said earlier, the IGF has emerged as an important part of the Internet ecosystem. We come together to exchange ideas, share experiences and to learn. Because the IGF does not seek to duplicate the roles of other stakeholders nor make and impose decisions, our engagements here are free, open and inclusive. We support the IGF's continuation, and we want it to remain as flexible and inclusive as the Internet itself is. Just as Internet pioneers 40 years ago established a platform that led all of us to today's Internet, the IGF today provides a forum that inspires our work together and brings new understanding to the local, regional, and global levels. Thank you. [ Applause ] >>DR. HODA BARAKA: Thank you very much. And now we are moving to Mr. Abdul Waheed Khan, Assistant Director General for Communication and Information from the UNESCO. Please welcome Mr. Khan. >>MR. ABDUL WAHEED KHAN: Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. Let me begin first by thanking the government of Egypt and the Secretariat of IGF for giving UNESCO the opportunity to be associated with the fourth IGF. Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great pleasure that I bring UNESCO's warm wishes for the success of this forum. As the Internet is growing with astonishing speed, giving people the possibility to fulfill their aspirations to share, communicate, learn, and transmit information and knowledge, UNESCO has consistently underscored that Internet governance mechanisms should be based on the principles of openness, encompassing freedom of expression, diversity, and interoperability, a view that has been expressed by many speakers who spoke before me. And throughout the process, UNESCO has stressed that multistakeholder approach of debates is the most effective modality to work cooperatively to address global Internet policy issues. While the importance of infrastructure is undeniable, we need to increasingly address the social, political, cultural, ethical and governance dimensions of the Internet. This underpins UNESCO's concept of knowledge societies with its four principles: equal access to quality education for all, universal access to information, cultural and linguistic diversity, and freedom of expression. It is very gratifying for me to hear so many speakers not only underscore these fundamental principles but also talk about -- increasingly talk about knowledge societies. IGF, indeed, offers an opportunity to address an enlarged policy agenda, embracing these principles and creating conditions for Internet to provide opportunities for all. Internet governance must be part and parcel of the global governance that is founded on universal ethics, which UNESCO's new Director General, Madam Irina Bokova, has heralded in her investiture speech at UNESCO headquarters on 23rd of October. For UNESCO, there are two essential conditions for turning this opportunity into reality. Firstly, the Internet must be linguistically diverse so that all language groups can harness its unique potential. And secondly, the Internet must be a space where anybody can express freely and where anybody can access information freely. The lack of linguistic diversity on the Internet in terms of available content and technical design continues to be a major barrier to access. As this key challenge of Internet governance is at the heart of UNESCO's mission, the organization will continue to contribute to promoting the potential of Internet as a truly universally accessible space. We welcome ICANN's fast-track plan for the introduction of country code international domain names, and I am pleased to announce that UNESCO will shortly sign a partnership agreement with ICANN and other many stakeholders to contribute to the full development of multilingual domain names. The empowering role of the Internet in engaging with participation and fostering free expression in an open public debate is still too frequently cut across the world. But today in the age of instant global communication and social networks, these attempts are rapidly identified and, often, immediately circumvented by the community. The IGF offers a unique platform to highlight the need for an open, unrestricted flow of ideas on the Internet. Ladies and gentlemen, recently UNESCO's general conference has made a plea for UNESCO to strengthen its involvement in the international debate on Internet governance. Please be assured that we will do our bit here in Sharm El Sheikh and in future for an inclusive multistakeholder debate for making the Internet an open and diverse space for all. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your attention. [ Applause ] >>DR. HODA BARAKA: Thank you, Mr. Khan. Our next speaker is Mr. Subramanian Ramadorai, Vice-Chairman of Tata Consultancy Services, TATA chairman, ICC/BASIS, India. Welcome, Mr. Ramadorai. >>MR. SUBRAMANIAN RAMADORAI: Thank you. Excellencies, distinguished parties, ladies and gentlemen. It is a pleasure to be here with all of you at the fourth Internet Governance Forum in Egypt. I would like to thank His Excellency Dr. Ahmed Nazif for hosting this unique forum in Egypt. I would also like to thank Minister Tarek Kamel and all of our Egyptian hosts, the IGF Secretariat and Multistakeholder Advisory Group for all they have done to ensure this will be yet another successful IGF. As the vice-chairman of Tata Consultancy Services, Asia's largest I.T. services company, and the chair of ICC's BASIS initiative or business action to support the Information Society, I bring to you a perspective of a technocrat as well as a spokesperson for global business. I come from a land that is home to one-fourth of the world's population. Allow me to share the story of Gopal, a poor farmer in the interiors of an Indian village. Each year, Gopal prayed to the rain gods, not surprising because his daily income depended on the crop he produced. The previous year, several farmers had committed suicide when crops failed. He worried that he, too, would be driven to this bitter end. But this year seemed different. Everybody in the village was talking about the magic kiosk that was providing advice on weather, tips to increase productivity of farmland, better seeds and fertilizers, and even where to get the best prices for produce. His hopes rose. He imagined his children being fed and schooled and his wife buying the new clothes she dreamt of. For many like Gopal, new technologies can make the difference between life and death. The Internet took 40 years to reach Gopal and today envelops 1.7 billion people across the globe. Given that the theme for this year is "creating opportunities for all," I would urge us to consider that 70% of humanity still remains unconnected. While 79.4% of Australians and 74 -- 70% of Americans have Internet access, only 15% of Asians and only 4% of Africans have access to the Internet. These differences between developed and developing countries mean that their needs from the Internet -- that their needs for the Internet vary greatly. In less developed countries, connectivity has a direct correlation with positive social and economic changes. By bringing it into rural clinics, schools and mobile devices, it impacts basic needs like education, health care, and agriculture. On the other hand, consumers in heavily penetrated markets are already addicted to broadband, and are looking for new applications and content, primarily entertainment such as Internet video content and games, Internet protocol television, and home networking which will bring devices and services into one integrated system within the home. The have's and the have-nots have different needs, but both offer great potential to business. In fact, my own company, Tata Consultancy Services, has experienced an equal if not more innovation is happening at the bottom of the pyramid. Against the backdrop of the IGF, I was very interested in the concerns and recommendations of chief information officers and technology experts across major global enterprises in India. So we did a survey, and I would like to share with you some key findings. The survey found key concerns to be: Low level of awareness of Internet security; low penetration and affordability in developing countries; bandwidth issues faced by service providers due to spectrum allocation delays. Some academics expressed concern about the outdated material on the net. The recommendations include offering of discounted services by the government to Internet subscribers based on income levels, investments in rural infrastructure development to drive wireless access technology, bundling of services versus stand-alone or single services, fewer entry regulations for new service providers that would lead to competition, and innovative pricing strategies and greater uses of cloud computing services. Finally, making broadband and GPRS as standard offerings with fixed download charges would encourage mobile platform services. They also recommend research grants to universities by governments to create inexpensive access technologies. In terms of policy recommendations, their suggestions are providing tax incentives to telecom service providers, to ensure wider coverage, innovative pricing and servicing options. They recommend discussions on net neutrality and guiding principles to manage the intersection between offline IP regs and Internet governance. Public towards IP telephony for local and national calls and clarity around data confidentiality. I would like to stress that developments in networking and mobile technologies and applications must be underpinned by investments in infrastructure and increased technical literacy. There must also be supported by information policy frameworks at national level that promise innovation -- that promote innovation. Regulatory framework should avoid hampering a company's ability to compete which, in turn, slows innovation. India we are seeing that when policies and regulation support the ability of companies to compete, innovation and entrepreneurship thrive. Perhaps some of these recommendations could be considered by all of you as you deliberate over the next few days. In fact, it is forums such as these, such as the IGF, that enable the voice of all stakeholders across the world to be heard. The IGF is critical because it is that special place where we all come together to share, learn, and listen. Governments, businesses, civil society, technical experts, academics, international and intergovernmental organizations and individual users, we all have roles to play in this development. The IGF has catalyzed increased communication between different stakeholders in India. The same is true of many other regions and countries. One of the reasons business supports the IGF is because it is a unique opportunity for exchange, building relationships, and understanding each other better. That is why business is here to participate in this IGF, and to support its continuity. The Internet is young and offers exciting new possibilities for the future. As we do so, let us keep in mind the 4A's that will play a key role: access, affordability, and appropriateness of applications as we engage over the next few days. Let us remember the millions of Gopals of the world waiting hopefully on the sidelines to whom we all have a responsibility. Thank you so much. [Applause] >>DR. HODA BARAKA: Thank you Mr. Ramadorai. And now we're moving to our next speaker, Mr. Rod Beckstrom, president and CEO of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, ICANN. Thank you. >>MR. ROD BECKSTROM: Thank you, madam chair, secretary of the IGF, advisor to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Thank you, Excellencies. Shukran, Egypt, for your warm welcome to all of us here. Thank you, colleagues, and thank you, Secretary-General Touré, for your very kind remarks. We also appreciate our key relationships with the United Nations Under Secretary Sha. We value our relationship with you very much. And of course with the World Intellectual Property Organization. We shall also shortly be signing an agreement with dot post with our new partner, the Universal Postal Union, the UPU, and we welcome future enhanced relationships with more members of the United Nations and the IGO families. This contributes to the health and diversity of our collective cross-sector, multistakeholder ecosystem, but I would especially like to thank you, the IGF community, for what you have done. You have delivered some very clear messages to the members of this community over the last three years. You've been heard. As I will now report to you. First, you urged consistently for ICANN to become more global. On October 1st, we signed an affirmation of commitments with the United States Department of Commerce. This affirmation makes us more accountable and transparent to the world. Reviews that were previously conducted and reported to one government alone will now be developed by stakeholders and reported to the world. Because of you, these things changed. We also thank you for advocating international domain names. Last month, after years of work by many parties, we were able to commit to formally launch top level international domain names for country codes, with a formal application process starting tomorrow, November 16th. As minister Kamel said, the Internet now speaks Arabic. Marshalla. Your voice has been heard and it is reflected in these important developments. While there are advances, we also know that we have further to go. Many of you have noted that there are only generic top level domains in Latin characters such as dot com, dot net or dot org. They're not yet available in international domain names. And many parties around the world have suggested that this is an issue of equity and it should be addressed with the opening of gTLDs under the IDN scheme in the future. So again, there has been progress but we have much more work to do. But you've had an impact in shaping this ecosystem. Now, within this ecosystem, how exactly does ICANN fit in? Because ICANN is some things and it's not other things. ICANN has four functions. We facilitate and are involved in the process of international domain names, Internet addresses, the domain name system that links those two, and publishing standards of Internet protocols and parameters. Let's quickly address each of those four functions. Names. There are 1,812,000,000 registered domain names in the world under 269 registries. 240 of those are unique countries. And territories such as dot EG for Egypt or dot JO for Jordan. Those registries contain the domain names and assigned network addresses for all of those 182 million domain names. ICANN maintains a working relationship with 240 countries and territories around the world. Addresses, the second area. ICANN is a coordinating authority which allocates blocks of IPv4 and IPv6 addresses to five regional Internet registries around the world. These address registries are then sub-allocated to the ISPs and other parties. When ICANN started, there were only three address registries, but now Africa and Latin America have also been added. Third, the domain name system or DNS. When you type a domain name into your browser, such as IGF.org, how does that get you to their site? How does it actually link your computer there? How's that connection made? It's made through the domain name system, translating that script "IGF.org," sending a query to the domain name system. The domain name system returns the precise address of where that Web page is at this time, and that, your computer can then send a message to the other computer using that network address. This domain name system is quite a masterpiece. Some parties estimate that the domain name system today is handling up 1 trillion queries and transactions per day. Up to 1 trillion. Those hit the registry, those hit your desktop computers with the DNS caching, they hit the name servers at the ISPs. They'll hit the registries such as dot com or dot eg or dot jo and all the way down to the root system. So it's quite a marvel of engineering and it links together the most complex system mankind has ever developed, and that system is, of course, the Internet. Fourth, publishing Internet protocols and parameters. The Internet is held together by hardware and software that adhere to open standards as shared by my colleagues. These are primarily developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force. Many of these standards require the definition of parameters and protocols, such as port 80 on your PC for e-mail communications, for example. ICANN publishes these as a service to the community. The IETF is actively supported by ISOC, led by CEO Lynn St. Amour, who do an incredible job providing not only the Secretariat fed organization but valuable research, guidance and ongoing support. That kind of standards work is also supported by the important efforts of Sir Tim Berners-Lee's W3C organization we heard about earlier. So that's what ICANN does. ICANN works on facilitating those four things. We do none of them alone. We do everything together with our partners in the ecosystem, because the Internet is this masterful collaboration platform where so many partners come together. While this may sound a bit complex, for the users, it's really easy. It just works. Up to a trillion times a day. The ultimate benefit is helping people to connect to other people anytime, anywhere on this planet, and this helps us fulfill our simple mission of "one world, one Internet, and everyone connected." So I thank you and we thank you, IGF community, for having advanced these efforts, for having advanced our organization, and we hope that you'll not only live but evolve and go through very significant evolutions in the coming years. Thank you very much. [Applause] >>DR. HODA BARAKA: Thank you very much, Mr. Rod. Marshalla. Now, we're moving to our next speaker, Mr. Jean Rozwadowski, Secretary General, International Chamber of Commerce, ICC. Welcome together Mr. Jean. >>MR. JEAN ROZWADOWSKI: Excellencies, distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen, I'm very happy to say good afternoon and not good evening. On behalf of the International Chamber of Commerce and our initiative, Business Action to Support the Information Society, or BASIS, I would like to begin by thanking the government of our host country, Egypt, particularly minister Kamel, United Nations Under-Secretary-General Sha, and the chair of the multistakeholder advisory group, Mr. Nitin Desai. Thank you also to Mr. Markus Kummer, members of the multistakeholder advisory group, and the IGF Secretariat, for their tireless efforts organizing this effort. I am honored to be here today as a newcomer to the Internet Governance Forum. With a network of local representations in over 120 countries, ICC is the world business organization working on behalf of business everywhere to promote cross-border trade and investment. This year is a particularly special year for ICC as we mark our 90th anniversary of the founding in 1919. ICC was actually created by a group of enlightened business people who called themselves the merchants of peace at a critical time in world history when people realized that dialogue was better than war. Sharm El Sheikh, being known as the City of Peace, is a pro punishes location for us to be present. Thus, ICC, as the voice of global business, is very aligned with the open dialogue mode and raison d'etre of IGF. Today our membership spans Fortune 500 countries, small and medium enterprises, as well as chambers of commerce, business and trade associations. It is the diversity, vision, and leadership of our organization, and the BASIS initiative, that make us credible contributors to the IGF process. Ladies and gentlemen, the Internet is a gateway to abundant resources of knowledge and information. Harnessed appropriately, it has an important role to play in helping us address an array of challenges ranging from economic recovery to climate change. Business has long contributed to the success of the Internet as a key innovator, investor, content creator, and user. We are able to use the Internet to communicate in our daily activities because business designs, builds, operates, and maintains its part of the network of networks. Under the umbrella of BASIS, global business contributes to a more inclusive, people-centered Information Society and helps the Internet reach its full potential as the people connected to it strive to reach theirs. The evolutionary nature of the Internet continually brings us new choices and new challenges. Because the Internet is a global phenomenon, a holistic approach to Internet governance must be taken to ensure that the right decisions are made. No one group can or should address Internet governance issues alone. Many of our members are involved in regional and national initiatives, from e-banking in Kenya to pollution control measures for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in India, coherent and informed policy approaches help them to reach more people. BASIS recognizes the value of working together with all stakeholders. Governments, civil society, technical experts, and intergovernmental organizations. To build smart, sound Internet policies that allow us to play our parts effectively. This is why we strongly support the continuation of the IGF in its current format with all of us participating on an equal footing in all aspects. The implications of IGF discussions to date have been far reaching. Because we do not meet here to negotiate, community leaders can participate in frank and open discussions that have ultimately led to more informed policy and decision-making within their respective communities and organizations. There is no existing alternative to the IGF. Without it, many of us would have no occasion to exchange views and experiences. Appreciation of the needs of others would be greatly undermined. The IGF spurs cooperative efforts and reduces duplication. It also links people, topics, and other forums and processes. Over the last four years, we have seen rhetoric give way to substantive discussions. We have witnessed many of the ideas generated and best practices exchanged at the forum applied in practice at national and regional level. In turn, the involvement of local sources of knowledge and expertise in Internet governance issues has been strengthened by the emergence of IGF-related initiatives. Ladies and gentlemen, business is proud to have a strong representation at this year's gathering. We bring a wide range of experiences to the discussions. Because with we want to exchange with as many of you as possible, I encourage you to visit our booth in the IGF village. I also invite you to attend the workshop we are hosting on Tuesday in partnership with the government of Lithuania. The workshop will be looking at Internet governance and economic recovery. Uniting us so that we can work together is a hallmark of the IGF. Having converged here from the four corners of the globe, let's make this the very most -- let's make the very most of this unique opportunity. Thank you. [Applause] >>DR. HODA BARAKA: Thank you very much. And now we have reached our final speaker, Mr. Nitin Desai, special advisor to the Secretary-General on Internet governance. [Applause] >>MR. NITIN DESAI: Thank you. Thank you very much, madam chairperson. Madam chairperson and ladies and gentlemen, I think about the only thing you will welcome in my speech is there's nobody speaking after me, so just one more speech that you have to hear. I'm here more as the chairman of the multistakeholder advisory group, which has to organize this meeting, and my remarks will be more on process than on the substance, which has been addressed so ably by the many speakers who have spoken before me. And in some ways, this is -- I will also stress that at least in the case of the IGF, the process is the product. And that is something which we should keep in mind. I acknowledge with humility the many thanks that have been offered to us for the work that we have done. In some ways, I feel a little embarrassed base Markus Kummer and I are the visible face of the organizing group, in the sense that I chaired the multistakeholder advisory group, he's the executive secretary. But really the work for this meeting is done by all of the members of the multistakeholder advisory group, and it's not just the fact that they participate in the three meetings that we have through the year, planning for the agenda and the structure of this meeting. It's also the amount of unpaid work that they do as moderators, as facilitators for workshops, as people who organize, as resource persons, as people who are available for any emergency. And in many ways, when you thank us, I do take it as thanks which are due to all of the members of the multistakeholder advisory group who really are the people who organized this. There's a reason why I'm stressing this. Because the uniqueness of the IGF is not just the format of the meeting itself. Not just the fact that this meeting is a unique U.N. meeting with all stakeholders participating on equal footing. It is also rather special in the way in which this meeting is organized. It's not organized by a classical U.N. Secretariat working away in some remote office. It is organized by the stakeholders themselves who are fully engaged in this entire exercise. Not just in the workshops, which they, of course, organize almost entirely on their own, but even in the organization of the main meeting itself. And that also is part of the innovation that the IGF has brought about. Also the transparency. The fact that every meeting of the multistakeholder advisory group has an open consultation attached to it. So that everything that gets done here is known to all stakeholders in good time, and they have the full opportunity to be able to shape the agenda, the structure of the meeting. And I think this is a lesson that we are to learn from this whole exercise, that when I try and organize a meeting like this, it is something where you have to worry as much about how you organize the meeting as the meeting itself. The second thing that I wanted to really mention is something that I join all of you in thanking Egypt, our hosts here, for the wonderful arrangements that they have made here, and once again, I draw a lesson from this. We have had this first cycle of the IGF meetings and we have never had a problem in finding somebody who is willing to host it. This is U.N. meeting which has to have a host. It does not have a budget. It has to have a host and we've never had a difficulty in finding a host. And not only that, we have found five hosts keeping to the U.N. principle of moving from region to region. It means at least one country in every U.N. region which thinks that IGF is of such value that they are willing to lay out a huge financial and organizational effort in hosting it. And I will stress that this is also important. It is important for a meeting like this to pass this test of relevance in the eyes of its stakeholders all the time. And I believe in some ways the IGF so far has done this. I have no idea what the future is like. I'm not going to say anything on the future of the IGF. In some ways, for all of us in the MAG, you know, the IGF is our child, it's a 5-year-old child, all of you are examining it. In our view, it's a bit like a parent whose 5-year-old child is being examined. We are a little nervous what you are seeing, but we are going to stay quiet on this. So I will go along with everybody and thank Egypt for this. The third thing I want to stress on process is in some ways, the IGF has been shaped by the way the Internet process itself operates. The way in which the Internet standards, et cetera, do get evolved. And I would stress two or three aspects of this. First, respect for all points of view. When you have a request for proposals on standards, you have to respect all points of view which come up when you are doing something on Internet standards. Second, it must be a dialogue of good faith. You cannot dismiss something which somebody says simply because of who that person is. No ad hominem argument. You have to treat each argument on its merits. You may disagree with it, but disagree with substance, not because of who said it or where it came from. That is what dialogue of good faith is. And I could, of course, go further and say a dialogue of good faith is one which you enter into willing to be converted, not just to convert the other person. And the third principle which we have tried to implement here is the open door. Anybody, anybody who has something to contribute, is free to come in and join the meeting. Exactly as is the case when you do Internet standards. And these are very important principles which you follow in a multistakeholder environment. And the reason for this is that there is a natural way of deciding who comes if it is purely an intergovernmental meeting. There is no natural way of deciding who comes if it is a multistakeholder meeting. You have to keep the door open and say that anybody who has a concern or an issue is most welcome to walk in and join in this meeting. And this aspect I think is important. In many ways what is unique about the IGF is the way it has tried to bring in stakeholders who normally would not meet each other. Many of you meet separately in your own fora to discuss the issues that we discuss here. I'm sure businesses have their own group for that. I'm sure the Internet community of course does, so do NGOs and so do governments. What is unique about the IGF is all four groups are being brought together here. And the purpose is to build bridges so you can listen to each other's point of view. That is crucial. But what this thing does is it requires a little adjustment. Because the working culture -- not the question of geography or religion, but the professional culture of the groups who are here are different. The political -- The diplomatic culture of governments when they meet in international fora is different from the culture of nongovernmental organizations, activist organizations when they meet. And that is different from the Internet -- the science-based dialogues of the Internet community when it meets, and that again is different from the way in which businesses will talk with one another in their fora. And in many ways, when we get together all of these people here, a little adjustment of culture is required. And one of my sort of things that I take some joy in is that over these four years, this adjustment has taken place. People have learned to adjust to the differences of culture which people bring to the table here. I would really stress the importance of bridge building. And if you are building bridges, you don't start building bridges by yelling at the person on the other shore. If you want to build bridges, you must learn to talk peacefully with the person on the other shore, and it is for this reason that I stress that this is a forum about ideas, about principles. It is not a forum which is trying to judge individuals. It is not a forum meant for finger pointing. It is a forum which is meant to talk about issues and principles. And I hope that we will continue to respect that. I have stressed these issues of process because these are issues that perhaps I am a little more competent to speak about than the issues of substance which have been dealt with. I would like to end with one final thought, and that is the thought which inspired by what Tim Berners-Lee said, and I think it was wonderful of him to remind us that the crucial issue is not our ability to have standards and protocols which connect computers which we call the Internet. Not even standards and protocols which allow us to connect Web pages, which is what we call the World Wide Web. The real issue is connecting people, connecting humanity. And then this was brought out very clearly and wonderfully by Mr. Ramadorai who spoke about Gopal and the role that the Internet can play in that man's life. So over the next three days when you have your dialogues, when you have your vigorous dialogues, when you have your differences of opinion, when you start losing your temper, just ask yourself, how important is this issue from the perspective of that farmer Gopal and the millions like him who are the future users of the Internet. That's the thought that I leave you with. Thank you very much. [ Applause ] >>DR. HODA BARAKA: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Desai. We have three announcements. Just one more minute. One announcement by Mr. Kummer, and then we have another two announcements, very quickly. >>MARKUS KUMMER: Thank you, Hoda. The first announcement to the members of the media. The forum's first press conference will take place today at 1800 hours in the Sinai room. Speaking will be the Egyptian Minister of Communications and Information Technology, His Excellency Dr. Tarek Kamel, and Under-Secretary General Sha Zukang. All members of the media and interested participants are invited to attend the press conference. Thank you. >>DR. HODA BARAKA: Now, second announcement for the gala dinner. The gala dinner will be at the Ritz Carlton hotel at 8:30 p.m. Shuttle buses will move from the official hotels, will be at 8:00 p.m. Second announcement also, it's about Her Excellence, the First Lady of Egypt. She will honor the IGF and honor us here on Wednesday for a very special session. Her Excellency the First Lady is really very keen about child protection and child safety, and she will be with us starting 10:00 in the morning in the main hall. Actually, about preparing our young generations in the digital age and how to protect our young children from the risks and threats of the Internet. Thank you very much, all of you. We would like to thank all of our speakers for their speeches. And this ends the formal opening ceremony for the fourth Internet Governance Forum. Thank you all. [ Applause ]