On behalf of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, it is my great pleasure to invite you to the eighth annual Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), which will be hosted by the Government of Indonesia. The meeting will be held in Bali, Indonesia from 22 to 25 October 2013.
Each year, the IGF intends to be as open and inclusive as possible. The annual meeting is open to all entities accredited by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), as well as other institutions and individuals with proven expertise and experience in all matters related to the Internet governance. Those who are unable to physically be present in Bali are encouraged to join us through remote participation.
The overall theme of the IGF 2013, the result of an all-encompassing consultation process amongst IGF stakeholders since the 2012 meeting, will be ‘Building Bridges - Enhancing Multi-Stakeholder Cooperation for Growth and Sustainable Development.’
This year, the IGF thematic focus will continue to evolve and move forward to meet the expectations of the growing Internet community. While maintaining the traditional IGF thematic discussions, it will introduce new formats and refocus the traditional issues of previous years, thus keeping the IGF responsive to evolving needs. The sub-themes for the eighth IGF are as follows:
- Access and Diversity - Internet as an engine for growth and sustainable development
- Openness - Human rights, freedom of expression and free flow of information on the Internet
- Security - Legal and other frameworks: spam, hacking and cyber-crime
- Enhanced cooperation
- Principles of multi-stakeholder cooperation
- Internet governance principles
In Bali, the IGF will strive to build upon the discussions of other major international gatherings of the past year that have dealt with Internet governance related issues, using its unique multi-stakeholder platform to push these dialogues forward. The programme will also include capacity building opportunities for policy-makers and will take stock and integrate the deliberations of the highly successful national and regional IGF initiatives that took place in all regions.
I would also like to strongly encourage all stakeholders -- representing Governments, private sector, civil society and the technical community -- who have not participated in past IGFs to join us in Bali to bring new voices and ideas to our annual discussions.
Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere gratitude to the Government of Indonesia for hosting the eighth annual meeting of the IGF.
The IGF looks forward to seeing and hearing from all of you in October, either in person or remotely.
Wu Hongbo
Under-Secretary-General
Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA)