IGF 2016 - Day 1 - Main Hall - SETTING THE SCENE: ORIENTATION OPENING CEREMONY OPENING SESSION

The following are the outputs of the real-time captioning taken during the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Jalisco, Mexico, from 5 to 9 December 2016. 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 event, but should not be treated as an authoritative record. 

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INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM 2016

ENABLING INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE GROWTH

JALISCO, MEXICO

SETTING THE SCENE: ORIENTATION

OPENING CEREMONY

OPENING SESSION

 

>> Good afternoon, everyone.  If you would please take your seats.  I'm Cheryl Miller, one of the Members of the MAG.  It's an honor to moderate such a prestigious panel of experts and I wanted to warmly welcome our Delegates here in the room and online to Setting the Scene, the title of this session.  I also want to especially welcome our newcomers and IGF youth.  I'd like to introduce today's panel.  We'll begin with the MAG Chair Ms. Lynn St. Amour.  We'll be followed by a presentation by the IFG by Mr. Chengetai Masango of the Secretariat, the IGF Secretariat.  Next we'll hear from Marilyn Cade about a session held this morning, assessing the role of Internet Governance in Sustainable Development Goals followed by Mr. Juan Fernández Gonzales to talk about Sustainable Development, Internet and inclusive growth.  Next we'll have Ms. Avri Doria, who will discuss the IGF Dynamic Coalitions.  After Avri we'll have Mr. Flavio Wagner who will discuss shaping the future of Internet Governance.  Next we'll have Ms. Jac sm Kee, who will discuss Human Rights and following her we'll have Ms. Renata Aquino Ribeiro discussing trade agreements and the Internet.  Followed by Ms. Constance Bommalaer, IGF best practice forums and policy options for connecting the next billion.

And last but not least Ms. Anja Gengo to discuss the National and Regional IGFs so Setting the Scene is a very important main session and it's actually one of my favorites because it combines new voices to the IGF, with the voices of many experts in the Internet Community.  This session is specifically designed to help all of you by providing some insight into the Internet Governance Forum and to assist delgates in deciding which sessions and which workshops you should attend.

There is so much going on at this meeting which is wonderful and hopefully this session will help you make choices as to where you should spend time after this session.  The Secretariat has done a lot of work behind making sure that it's easy and it's well organised for you to be able to find your different special interest areas.  So you can follow your special interests by this color‑coded schedule you'll receive.

The session also will look back on the perspective of the 10 year history of the Internet Governance Forum.  We'll look at how it began, how did we get where we are?  What recent improvements have been suggested?  And we'll discuss where we need to go from here.  This is a really special IGF it's our following the 10 year renewal.  I want to thank the Government of Mexico for being a gracious host.

I'd like to now invite our MAG Chair to begin the discussion, Madam Chair?

>> Thank you, Cheryl, and welcome to everybody here.  I'm going to do a very short introduction.  I know, I can see a lot of faces here that have been in many IGFs so some of this you may find repetitive but maybe you'll be reminded of one or two things as well.

So the IGF was actually established by the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society, or WSIS, and WSIS was held in two phases, and Internet Governance was a key issue at both.  WSIS 2 recognized the need for a broad based discussion of Public Policy issues relating to the Internet, and it requested the United Nations Secretary‑General to convene a new Forum for multistakeholder policy dialogue called the Internet Governance Forum.  The mandates and Terms of Reference are set out in paragraph 72 through 80 of the Tunis Agenda and these summits were extremely valuable not only for formal outputs but also because it helped to build a community, establish the common terminology, gave a broad understanding of multistakeholder processes, and their associated expectations, and also helped introduce the stakeholders to each other, with their own particular set of expectations, as well.  It really is well worth a read if you haven't read it before because it really is the underpinning of a lot of the discussions and a lot of the terminology and framework here.

So what makes it special?  Or unique?  It's unique in that it's convened by the UN Secretary‑General to be an open multistakeholder Forum, bringing all stakeholders together, as equals.  Its UN opinion date gives it convening power and a neutral space for all stakeholders.  The IGF has its Admin straytive home in UNDESA and because of the multistakeholder nature of the IGF, their contributions may not always be obvious but their support is critical.

The IGF, and this is really very important, and really central to the success, is really at its roots a multistakeholder entity, a multistakeholder activity, that relies on processes and principles which are fundamental to successful multistakeholder processes, and I'd like to say that its DNA as well as its values and principles are based on that of open, transparent, inclusive and multistakeholder processes.  Now, many of those principles had actually been processed ‑‑ had actually been established in some of the Internet organizations, in particular the Internet Engineering Task Force and IETF some 20 and 30 years ago.  However a lot of those processes were not quite so familiar in some of the other stakeholder groups.

So the multistakeholder nature of the IGF coupled with the fact that it's convened by UN Secretary‑General gives us something of a hybrid institution, and I'd also like to say that occasionally requires flexibility and understanding from all parties as we actually work to blend or merge different working modalities, different expectations and different processes.

So how's the IGF supported?  After WSIS 2, a small Secretariat was set up Geneva, currently led by Chengetai Masango.  Who will be here in a moment.  I saw him a few minutes ago but busy with another matter.  Who I have to say does a tremendous job and frankly with far too few resources.  UN Secretary‑General after WSIS 2 also appointed a group of advisers called the Multistakeholder Advisory Group or the IGF MAG.  It's made up of 55 Members.  Half of those come from Governments appointed through a process of their own choosing and one which is commonly used within the United Nations.  The other half is split equally across three other stakeholder groups, private sector which I think is pretty clear, Civil Society which is equally clear, and a fourth entity that was not common in UN processes which came to be called the technical and academic community.  I think these days it's pretty much called the technical community.

That technical community is made up of those organizations that are responsible for large parts of kind of the management or oversight of some of the Internet's core infrastructure and includes organizations such as the internet Engineering Task Force, IETF, Internet Society, ICANN, the five Regional Internet Registries, IEEE, W3C.

Approximately 1/3 of the MAG turns over each year, which allows new participation opportunities.  The UN Secretary‑General also appoints the Chair of the MAG and I was fortunate this year to have been appointed.  I usually take this opportunity to note as well that it's the first time the Chair has come not from a Government, but from another one of the stakeholder communities, and it is also the first time the Chair was a female.

So maybe just two more quick comments.  This is a good opportunity I think to remind everyone that the IGF is something called an extra‑budgetary project of the United Nations.  It means that the costs for preparing the Forum and support any of the year round activities relies on voluntary contributions, on donations and does not come from UN member fees.  Obviously that can sometimes be a fairly limiting factor on what we can achieve.

The IGF was actually established to provide a multistakeholder platform and initially it was essentially an annual Forum.  But it quickly became evident that in order to have more impact, it was necessary to continue work between meetings, and so over the years, a fairly full Program of intersessional activities began.  I'm not going to comment on those here, because we have individual speakers to talk to those activities and where they're going to be represented in the Program over the course of this week.  Thank you.  And I think at that point I turn it over to Brian, I guess.

>> I think actually we go next with my Fellow MAG colleague Marilyn Cade.  Chengetai is stuck.  He has very specific information for IGF 2016, maybe we can end with him.  So Marilyn if you could please continue, that would be wonderful.

>> M. CADE:  Thank you.  The title of the session that I helped to co‑organize this morning with Igor and Segun is addressing the role of Internet Governance in the Sustainable Development Goals.  It was held this morning in this room, and it lasted 3 hours beginning at 10:00 and ending at 1:00.  The reason we decided to undertake addressing this particular topic and also the formad we used was because we understood in the MAG that the importance of the SDGs and the relationship and Nexus to Internet Governance is extremely important to understand for our community but it is not well understood enough even in the communities that are working in Internet Governance for some time.  So we were trying to create an awareness and a knowledge‑sharing opportunity, and also to provide a consultation, an active consultation, on the views of this community on how Internet Governance can help to achieve the IGF.

 sorry, the SDGs.

I will just say very quickly we started out with over 375 people in the room, and had close to 150 in the room, even at the conclusion of the session.  We used a very active town hall where we set by stakeholder group so that microphones could go to the different stakeholders in a balanced way to take the three minute comments.  Let me summarize one of our most interesting findings, and we do have an excellent summary prepared by David Souter who is an expert in both development and Internet Governance that will be posted that basically we reinforced the understanding that we started with, and that is:  More work is needed by each of the two communities, the development community and the Internet Governance community, to work on how they together can help then to contribute to achieving the SDGs.  This idea includes the idea of thinking about how we bring the communities together more aggressively in workshops and main sessions at future IGFs and at the National and Regional IGFs.  Thank you, Chair.

>> Thank you so much, Marilyn.  It sounds like a great session and thank you for being two minutes exactly on the dot.  I think that's quite impressive.  I'd like to turn next to Chen tie to provide an overview of this year a's IGF.  Chengetai.

>> C. MASANGO:  I apologize for coming late and I have to leave a little early but yes, I'll go over it with the overview of the structure of IGF 2016.

As most of you are aware this is 4 plus 1 event.  The four days of official meeting and behave a day 0 event where in day 0 we have 24 events.  Now, the events on day 0 are not part of the official IGF Program so therefore, the discussions et cetera do not have to adhere strictly to the rules of the four day event from Tuesday onwards.  We have the high‑level Leaders Meeting which is by the Host Country and then we also have other meetings like the giganet which is an academic meeting for Internet Governance issues.

So that's on day 0.  Now, for the structure of the meeting itself, in the bag you may have received when you registered and got your badges, there's this little booklet here, which is very useful.  It outlines everything and it is color‑coded, all the sessions.

We have a total of I think over 160 events during these days, and we have 32 open Forums.  Open forums are given to organizations to often international nature to advertise or to tell participants about their Internet Governance related activities, and then we have 8 main sessions, which is one of them is this one, and they all happen in this room.

And then we have workshops.  For the workshops, we've divided them into several categories, and these categories are:  Access and diversity, critical Internet resources, gender and youth issues, cybersecurity, Human Rights, emerging issues, multistakeholder cooperation, and then Sustainable Development and the Internet economy.

As you can see in this book, if you go to Page 26, it's all color‑coded so if you want to navigate the IGF, you can go by color.  For instance, access and diversity is pink.  Yes.  And critical Internet resources is orange.  We've also got a schedule application which you can access.  It's been Tweeted and if you go on our web site you can also get the link to it and that you can register for events and also see who is participating in that event in case you want to meet people so I think that's a very useful scheduling or calendar application that we have.  And as you can see I mean the venue is really large, and we've got signs all over the place, and also we try as much as we can to make it as accessible to people with disabilities so there are elevators.  They're a little hidden but you can always ask the people in the orange shirts where the elevators are, but they are there.  When you contribute to the discussions it really depends where you are.  If you're in the smaller workshops, you just have to raise your hand and then the Moderator will note your name and then when you are called up to give your intervention it's very important to state your name clearly and also the organization and if you're speaking in your personal capacity you can say:  I am of this organization but I'm speaking on my personal capacity about whatever subjects that you want, which is relevant, of course, to the subject being ‑‑ the matter being discussed at hand.

And this is because we have the transcription and some names are not very familiar to the transcribers, so we ask you to say the names very slowly and if it's a difficult spelling, just spell it outspell for the transcribers and all this is recorded as well as everything is being webcast and after the event or if you miss the event you can go to the web site and just view the meeting, view the transcript and the transcripts are searchable.

One note is that these transcripts over the couple of days are raw transcripts.  So they may not be 100% accurate, but after the meeting, the transcribers will go through the transcripts and make them as accurate as possible.  In other meeting rooms especially in a big hall like this you may have microphones there where you can line upto make your interventions, now Cheryl is looking at her phone expectantly so I think I will stop there, but if you have any questions, please just feel free to ask any of the old‑timers.  If you see me walking around you can approach me.  We're very approachable.  Or come to our offices for any problems.  We have first aid station down.  We have a prayer room for, or a meditation room, for people who want to use that.  There is one on this venue.  We do try and cater for all sorts of different types of people, of needs, yes, thank you very much.  Of needs.

Okay, I'll keep quiet now and let somebody else speak.  Thank you.

>> Cheryl Miller: thank you for your hard work, Chengetai, thank you for your hard work.  And thank you Madam Chair for explaining the IGF mandate because that's important as well.  I'd move next to my MAG colleague Mr. Juan Fernández Gonzalez.  Juan?

>> J. Gonzalez:  Thank you, Madam Moderator.  Since we're in beautiful Mexico I'm going to speak Spanish.  I am one of the organisers of one of the two major sessions that will take place tomorrow on Wednesday, December 7.  The main session that I am co‑organiser of is called:  Sustainable Development Internet and Inclusive Growth.  As you'll have noted, one of the objectives of that main session, as is seen by its name, is that it ties into two of the essential topics of the IGF 16.  That is, Sustainable Development and inclusive growth.

Some of you may be asking yourselves why we're having this session, if we had something similar last year.  Well, the thing is that this year, we want to move forward towards concrete results related to inclusive growth, taking into account that the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development is under way, the agenda that was approved by the UN last year, and as you know, a set of goals of Sustainable Development Goals were established in that agenda so now we want to see what Internet's contribution can be to the achievement of these Sustainable Development Goals.

In order to do this, we would like to exchange experiences of all participants in this main session to so that those local and Regional experiences can be shared amongst all attendees.  We will also be focusing on developing skills, skill‑building, and training so as to meet the terms established in paragraph 72 of the Tunis Agenda in which training in developing countries is sought to contribute to Sustainable Development.

We also would like to see a better understanding amongst all actors arise in this session in terms of what each one's role is, so that they can contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals, and inclusive growth, and that is why we believe that this main session is at the core of IGF 16, which as you know has the slogan of:  Enabling Inclusive and Sustainable Growth.  Thank you very much.

>> Miller:  I'd like to turn to my other MAG colleague Ms. Avri Doria who has done tremendous work with our Dynamic Coalitions at the IGF.  Avri?

>> A. DORIA:  Thank you, Avri Doria.  So I'll be speaking about the Dynamic Coalitions.  I'm the co‑organizer of a session that will be held on Thursday at 15:00 to 16:30.  12 of the Dynamic Coalitions have published issue papers on work that they have been doing.  Most of this work is work that is relatively mature, or work that they hope will be mature within a year, work that they're talking about at this meeting.  Dynamic Coalitions are the original mechanism created at the IGF for doing ongoing work, and all of the Dynamic Coalitions meet not only at the IGF, but they meet throughout the year at different venues and online.

All of the Dynamic Coalitions have prepared questions.  These questions are on a survey that hopefully has been posted up there a URL, a survey which is possible to do on paper at the Dynamic Coalition booth, but is also possible to do online at the URL that can be found on the IGF Forum web site.

The sessions will be moderated and there will be a very strong attempt to include as many of the participants both remote and in the room as possible.  So please be ready with your own questions from having read the issue papers, from having answered the surveys, and please come with questions.  There will be one other Dynamic Coalition meeting later that day, which will look at how we better coordinate the work of the various Dynamic Coalitions.  As some of you may have noticed at this meeting, we keep running over each other, and find that various Coalitions with similar issues are meeting at the same time.  So we need to coordinate and we are going to talk about that at a second meeting on Thursday.  Thank you.

>> C Miller:  Thank you, Avri.  I'd like to turn to my MAG colleague Mr. Flavio Wagner.  He was very instrumental in last year's IGF and all the preparations in Brazil.  Flavio?

>> D. SOUTER:  Thank you, Cheryl.  Good afternoon, everybody.  The main session I'm facilitating together with other Fellow MAG Members is entitled:  Shaping the future of Internet Governance, an open dialogue between pioneers and Young Leaders.

[ Flavio Wagner ]

This has been designed to promote a conversation between different generations about the State of the art of the Internet ecosystem proposing a future agenda for this environment.  The session shall address five main policy questions which are directly related to the engagement and contribution of the younger generations, the revolution of the Internet ecosystem and how they can work together with the older generations so we'll have 10 speakers, 5 pay nears, 5 Young Leaders, representing all continents and stakeholder groups.  This main session will be held Friday with a total duration of 2 hours and will be compromised of two segments.  In the first segment of the session from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., each of the five policy questions will be addressed by one pioneer and one young leader.

The second segment of the session from 3:00 to 3:30 p.m. will host an open mic dialogue session with interventions by the audience and remote participants.  This main session connects to many other sessions in the IGF that directly deal with youth engagement.  I mentioned for instance workshop 84 Wednesday noon, dealing with the youth in Internet Governance capacity building versus policy discussion.  Workshop 126 Friday morning about safe and secure cyberspace for youth.  The workshop 225 also on Friday morning on hands on youth driven initiatives.  This main session relates to the youth Dynamic Coalition on Internet Governance which will have its meeting on Friday morning.  We expect that as an outcome of the session a permanent track of cross‑generational dialogue will be created within the IGF ecosystem and also at the National and Regional IGF initiatives.  So I'm looking forward to see you all at the main session on Friday, and expect a very lively discussion especially involving the youth, thank you.

>> C. Miller:  Thank you.  I'd like to turn to my colleague Ms. JacKee.

>> I'm broadening the conversation with Gnega Paque.  What this main session aims to do is reflect, deepen and broaden the conversation on Human Rights and Internet policy and governance at the IGF.  It's also going to be organised in three different sections.  The first Section will delve into the area of civil and political rights.  It will have a stock taking on how far we've come in addressing some of these issues including for example freedom of expression, right to privacy and freedom of Assembly and Association online, and what are some of the emerging key issues that we have to address in the near future.

The second Section will examine economic, social and cultural rights, and the extent to which it has been taken up in the Internet Governance policy discussions and the urgency of examining this especially through the lens of the Sustainable Development Goals.

So for example, the right to health, right to education, participation in cultural life, as well as economic empowerment and finally in the last Section which we really hope for it to be very open and participatory is facilitate a conversation that will make interlinkages between civil and political rights as well as no, ma'amkic, social and cultural rights in the area of Internet policy and governance discussion so given that these rights are meant to be interdependent and indivisible and inalienable what was enter connections look like and what are the key emerging issues we have to pay attention to.  For example the connection between the right to health, collection and analysis of big or open data to this end and the right to privacy and bodily integrity.  What might this look like.

So we really aim to organize a session that is very open, very participatory and hopefully can facilitate a very dynamic conversation on this.  We invite you to please come, bring to the session your questions, comments, thoughts, key issues, and please don't be worried to grab a mic and join in.  Thanks.

>> C. Miller:  Thank you, Jac.  I'd like to turn to my MAG colleague Ms. Renata Aquino Ribeiro who put together the first main trade session at an IGF.  Renata?

>> R. AQUINO RIBEIRO:  Thank you, Cheryl.  So about this session, trade policy and the Internet, the idea of the session is that the Internet Governance Forum was established as a multistakeholder Forum to address Internet‑related Public Policy issues.  But an increasing number of such issues including Domain Name dispute resolution and access to registrant data, the use of encryption standards, source code disclosure mandates and cross‑border information flows are now also being dealt with in trade fora such as the WTO and in trade agreements such as the ones known as Trans‑Pacific partnership, the TPP, and trade and services agrain, TISA, transatlantic trade‑in investment partnership, TTIP, and Regional comprehensive partnership, RCEP.  There is therefore a need to ensure these discussions on trade policy are not isolated from a broader multistakeholder discussions.  In particular, because National trade Ministries and trade negotiators do not always perceive these as being Internet Governance issues, it is crucial to enlighten the trade community about the importance of broader debate of Internet‑related Public Policy issues that are discussed in trade agreements.  This is a timely moment for a main session of the IGF to bridge the gap between Internet and trade.

The objective of the session will be to open the discussion providing the opportunity for high‑level ‑‑ high policy interaction between trade officials, experts and Internet stakeholders.  Participants will include Government officials, former trade negotiators, prominent trade experts, industry representatives, and Civil Society representatives.

Thank you.

>> C. Miller:  Thank you, Renata, I'd like to turn next to my colleague Ms. Constance Bommalaer who was instrumental in starting the IGF intersessional work around connecting the next billion and it's been quite successful and is ongoing.  Constance?

>> C. BOMMALAER:  Thank you, share.  Constance Bommalaer from the Internet Society.  On Friday morning 10:00 to 11:30, the main session.  So why are we holding this session?  The goal is to present the outputs of a year‑long process of what we call IGF intersessional activities.  And this is the IGF community's response to a call for more outputs.  The IGF has traditionally been a Forum for discussion, and there was a clear call especially coming from the CSTD Working Group on IGF improvements for the IGF to evolve and deliver some outputs.  At the same time it was made clear that we did not want the IGF to evolve into a negotiating body, so the primary purpose really is to exchange best practices.

A few words about the methodology, because this is really what makes these best practices and policy options quite unique, in line with the IGF tradition, the methodology is multistakeholder from the beginning to the end.  Every step is multistakeholder, from selecting the topics to collecting contributions, using the network of National/Regionalist and also of course editing the draft outputs currently available on the IGF's web site.  For 2016 we have four best practices, one on IPv6 adoption, another one on Internet exchange points.  A third one on gender and access, and a fourth one on best practices for cybersecurity.  And finally, a horizontal track on developing policy options for connecting and enabling the next billion.

As I said, the draft outputs which have been developed with the community are currently available on the IGF web site.  On Friday morning, they will be presented, discussed, with the IGF community towards their adoption after the IGF event.  Thank you.

>> C. Miller:  Thank you, Constance.  I'd like to next turn to Ms. Anja Gengo who has been instrumental in growing and strengthening our National and Regional IGFs, Anja?

>> A. GENGO:  Thank you, Cheryl.  I'm going to be speaking about the main session that is organised by the 79 National subregional, Regional and new IGFs or as we refer to them the NRIs.  The session is scheduled to be on Wednesday, December 7, from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. here at the main meeting room.  The session will have 41 speakers that will be representing their respective initiatives, remote Moderators.  As an introduction to the session and an overview of the landscape will be presented illustrating some of the underlying records we have so far.

The substantive major part of the session is divided into two main segments:  During the first segment, colleagues will be presenting on two substantive topics, which are access and enhancing opportunity for the unconnected and underconnected, followed by the second one, which is:  Secure, resilient and trusted Internet from the NRI's perspective.  The second segment discusses the major NRI's work challenges, reliable and sustainable funding sources for the NRI events as well as challenges in how to create more awareness about Internet Governance and why stakeholders should be actively engaging.

As the session has many speakers and we are limited by time, the NRI presenters have prioritized the topics so they will be speaking for up to 3 minutes on one of the four topics that they have decided on.

After second segment we with will be giving the opportunity to all of you, participants that are present here in the room onsite but also on line on equal footing to intervene and ask whatever you'd like to ask the colleagues that will be presenting.

Instead of a formal conclusion of the session the Rapporteurs will be summarizing the main key points into messages that will be sent out to the wider IGF community.  The overall objective of this session is to illustrate that issues that are related to Internet Governance require specific solutions as they are different across countries and across regions.

It will also bring closer to us the wonderful work of the NRIs and hopefully it will make us understanding how the NRIs are important for the global IGF.

Allow me just to use this opportunity to invite you to the NRI's coordination session that will be on Friday at 10:15 a.m. at workshop room 9.  This session will look into the future of the NRIs and the global IGF relationship, taking into account the work that has been done so far, and it will hopefully propose concrete steps forward.  And finally many of the NRIs have their own meetings, side meetings, for example the Regional IGF for Asia Pacific Region, the subregional IGF for south and Eastern Republic and I'd encourage you to look at the schedule and attend those sessions as those are the unique opportunity for you to understand what the NRIs are doing internally.  Thank you.

>> C. Miller:  Thank you, Anja.  As you can see there's a wide variety of topics that are going to be covered at this year's IGF.  I want to just ask very quickly, are there any MAG Members that are in the audience or IGF long‑timers?  Can you raise your hands?

So I want to point you all out to the newcomers and I hope I can volunteer you:  If anyone has questions that they can go to you and they can ask you questions throughout the duration of the meeting and I'd like now we only have a few minutes but I'd like to have open Q & A with the audience and also our online audience as well.  I don't know if we have any questions remotely first.  Okay.

Any questions from the audience?  We have a microphone that's being passed around.  One in the front I see.

No idea who this gentleman is.

>> I'm making a mess out of the translation system.  My name is Vint Cerf.  I'm hear partly with my errand hat on and partly with my Google hat on and partly with the hat from long days ago when the Internet was still at the beginning.

I have a question for the IGF attendees and for those that are on the panel.  We exchange an enormous amount of information during the course of our week, and during the course of the year.  It accumulates, but I don't know whether it's being curated.  I don't know whether we have a history that we have captured for this amazing enterprise we've undertaken the last 11 years, a gigantic global and multistakeholder effort.  I think Avri and I have talked about this from time to time so perhaps you could respond but I hope we find a way to capture this.  It's really valuable information, not only for its historical record but also to help us gain insight from the many years that we've spent in this enterprise.

C. Miller:  Thank you so much for that question.  Brian, would you like to try to ‑‑ .

>> Oh Brian Gutterman.  I'm with the IGF Secretariat.  You're absolutely right.  There is hours and hours, pages and pages of great content coming from annual IGF meetings.  Much of this is on the IGF web site so we invite everyone to go there to see reports from past meetings.  We archive all of the videos the transcripts.  We try and get these up as soon as we can almost immediately after the sessions take place.

We certainly do have progress to make.  We want to advance and make this content even more rich and fruitful and available, particularly to those who aren't here, and who might not know about the IGF but please do visit the IGF web site, and take a look at the content, because it is very good.  I don't know if anybody else on the panel wants to touch on that.

>> C. Miller:  I see a hand up.  Avri?

>> A. DORIA:  Thank you.  Indeed we've spoken about it and indeed there have been several pilot projects several times that started a curation and there are several observe tores that are trying to use the information.  I think at some point or other and I can't speak for some of the observatories now the pilot projects have run into a financial barrier where we've done it, the group has shown that it can be done, that they can cure ate it.  They've also shown it's a lot of work, it's a lot of work to tag the information so it's accessible and so on.  So I think the ideas are there, the pilots have been done.  I think some of them even went to NETmundial initiative for funding but none have had proper curation but you're right everything can be found on the Web but it's not curated.

>> C. Miller:  Thank you and we'll take this back to our other MAG Members as well.  It's a great point.  Next question?

>> Thank you, Cheryl.  This is more of a comment.  Hi, everybody.  I'm Salienta, NAMARU new MAG member but I'll be commenting in my personal capacity.  I'd like to congratulate the panel and this is the first time this Setting the Scene is happening in this, it's sort of a social experiment but I can see that it's working, it's very short and substantive gives us even if this were my first time, it gives me an indication of the breadth and the depth of the wide plethora of thematic issues that are going to be discussed.

The other thing I'd also like to mention is that this is the 11th IGF, but really, it's the first IGF within this next decade, as Lynn had mentioned, the MAG Chair, and we live in interesting times, and the comment ‑‑ and this comment I'd like to share with my colleagues, and that's all of you here at this IGF, because it is all of us that together make the IGF what it is.  And we live in a time where you now how traditionally you had Governments having three arms ‑‑ judiciary, executive, Legislature and then you have media as the fourth estate.  We've just seen mainstream media take syncing and that sort of thing where people are revolting through the Internet and what not but it's also a time where the Internet is, and we continue to advocate that in the past 10 years and also in the next 10 years, that it will continue to be open and free.

And so the challenge ‑‑ and this is just something I wanted to share with everyone ‑‑ is given that we're moving in terms of, as Juan mentioned, trying to get concrete outcomes, tangible outcomes, in terms of meeting the Development Goals, I think that the contributions that each and every person is going to make in the workshops and in all the thematic discussions is really going to be critical in leveraging the next phase of connecting the next billion.  So with that, thank you.

>> C. Miller:  Thank you very much.  I just want to check to see if we have any questions from our remote participants.

Okay, it looks like we don't have any but I want to thank you all who are on the line.  I know it's never easy to participate remotely and we really appreciate having you all here with us.

Any other questions?  I think we might have time for one more.

I see right in the front.

>> Thank you very much.  Allow me to introduce myself.  I'm Abdul Yusuf.  I come from Lebanon, the President Director‑General of the public operator of telecommunications.  My question goes as follows:  We are at the 11th meeting of the Internet Governance Forum.  We're here to discuss governance.  I would like to specify the good governance of the Internet, and if we add good governance to it, that would be our expectation.  I believe that this is not the only place where we consider all the problems and questions related to Internet Governance.  There are other areas in the Academia.  There are other research endeavors.  There are societies that specialize on the Internet, and there are politicians, Ministers, and politicians that aim to find solutions, and give answers to all the problems posed by the Internet, and all the problems related to terrorism, to pedophilia, and to other attempts to extract personal data.

There are many other places where we are looking for a solution, and to think collectively to solve this question.  But we need to identify the impact.  We need to identify the effective impact of our actions and effect the results.  I would like to provide my ‑‑ an attempt to answer this question.  This Forum is a Forum where there is a large amount of people.  It gathers resources, it gathers ideas, all of that, all of those resources, are mobilized, and probably to some extent we can measure the impact of our actions.

Madam Miller, could we have a specific Task Force to measure the true impact of all the work made by the IGF?  Are we making some impact?  Do we actually influence, as actors in the Internet.  Constance, I've heard you talk about a connection, that one billion people, that's a figure, one billion people.  Is that the only billion?  Or one trillion dollars is what's needed.  What are we doing?  Have we measured our efforts?  Are we making certain impact?  Is there an impact and method, an indicator to measure the impact of all of this energies that we mobilize every single year?  Thank you very much.

>> C. Miller:  Thank you so much for that.  I think a few people want to answer, and I will definitely take your comments back with respect to Task Force et cetera to the rest of the MAG as sell when I see my other colleagues as well.  Thank you.  You had a hand up?

>> In order to be more straight forward I will speak this time in English.  I think that I want just to remember the origin of the IGF.  The IGF came out from the Summit of Heads of States Heads of States 2005, and the output was to create this multistakeholder space for policy dialogue.  It was not as has been said in the panel, not to, by design, not to negotiate documents for action.

It was perceived at that time that there was a need to put all the actors in the same place and to discuss all the options for policy to face those things that you mentioned.

[ Juan Gonzalez ]

During the time there has been of course some needs and some discussions that the IGF should have more outputs, and that is why in 2013, there was created a Working Group for the improvement of the IGF, and this year, we even had that process was reinforced.  We even had a retreat to try to improve the IGF in order to have more tangible results, as you mentioned.

I can tell you that the IGF is not something that is static on time.  It's been improved, with comments like yours, I think it's very helpful for that improvement, and also the organization on the United Nations development Agency, UNDESA, that is in charge of IGF.  It's also taking that path very seriously and this retreat has elaborated a Document that is going to be out shortly, and I think we have that.  Your comments are welcome but please rest assured that the IGF should be improved for the next 10 years of mandate that last year was given by the General Assembly.  Thank you.

>> C. Miller:  Thank you.  Madam ‑‑ Avri, did you have a hand up?

>> A. DORIA:  Yes, please, Avri Doria.  I'd also like to add one thing to what was said on that.  I think there have been a lot of impacts in other organizations where things that have been said here, where interactions and conversations and networking that occurred here among the different stakeholders had a spill‑over effect.  I've seen it in the engineering organizations.  I've seen it in the research.  It might be a good thing for us to figure out how to measure that and describe it, but anecdotally, I have seen impact over the years in terms of who talks to who, who pays attention to which issues, and how we think about things.  So I think there has been greater impact than we're actually seeing measured.

>> C. Miller:  Thank you.  I see we have a question from our remote participant.  We are running short on time, so if we can be brief, but we want to make sure that we receive your question.  Thank you.  

>> Remote Moderator:  We have a participant from the Civil Society at OECD who asked the question and make the comment that it would be useful to explain to newcomers what the outcomes of this important dialogue are.  Thank you.

>> C. Miller:  Thank you.  I'd like to now turn back to our MAG Chair, Lynn.

>> L. ST. AMOUR:  Let me see if I can quickly answer a couple of the comments that have been made.  We're sorry if this feels a little squeezed.  The next session that starts in here at 4:00 is the opening speech and Opening Ceremony so we really do have a hard stop.  We are interested in how successful this was and how it can be improved, since we're trying to improve a lot of these engagements so please, this conversation doesn't stop here.

Specifically to the question that you asked:  There's also the WSIS Forum, the annual WSIS Forum which of course captures a lot of the efforts and reports on those activities, as well.  I do think it's a very common question and common expectation to say:  What is the impact of all this effort and resource?  Some of them are less tangible than others.  Some are measurable, some aren't.  I do think it would behoove the MAG to maybe think going forward about whether or not there's some fairly innovative way or maybe working with the University or some other organizations to try and understand a bit better the impact.  This community has always been great at identifying new work that would be useful, and frankly we've been great at resourcing it, as well.  So I think we can try and be creative and maybe answer some of those questions.

So again, just quickly, the MAG has been working very hard over this year, both to respond to suggestions that we hear all the time on list, and here, and as well as to respond to the suggestions for improvement for the CS the TD Working Group for improvements to the IGF and a couple of the specific calls in the WSIS+10 Document.  It is a continuous effort so please do give us any additional feedback.

There have been a number of innovations at this Forum and we don't have time to capture them now but I'm committing to putting them in the Chair's report at the end.  They focus on youth, on new formats to reinvigorate some of the discussion.  We're doing more with a lot of the intersessional work to give them specific concrete time and more focus here so I think we can, I'm sure there's many things I'm not recalling right at this point, but we will capture them in the Chair's report and again we're continually looking for ways to strengthen that.

Maybe the last comment I'll make is that this IGF is a very significant presence from Civil Society, as frankly every other IGF has.  Without Civil Society, we probably wouldn't have an IGF, a lot of other things we wouldn't have in the world as well without Civil Society.  But this year, they're just under 50%.  Very, very interesting and very encouraging, Governments and IGOs are at 20% so in fact, the ‑‑ and private sector is at 17% and the technical community at 14%.  We of course would like all those numbers to go up, in absolute numbers and frankly some of them probably even in percentage terms because the whole purpose of multistakeholder dialogue is we're talking to other stakeholders but I think that's a really good trend as well.  We don't have the final registration numbers yet but the registrations to date were possibly the highest ever.  I'm not sure about that but the online registrations coming in here were over 3,000.

So I think we're, as a community, doing a lot of things right.

Quickly on the outputs, Constance talked to that a little bit.  A lot of the juice puts are just captured in materials that are on the IGF.  A lot of the intersessional work is trying to make the work that's done hear more tangible, more accessible.  The connecting and enabling the next billion project in particular is about localizing policy options and policy activities that were identified last year so we're trying to find ways to make the output much more tangible and concrete.

And with that, I think I really need to stop.  Thank you.

>> C. MILLER:  Thank you.  Thank you so much, Lynn, and thank you to our whole panel.  I also want to thank this year's hosts of the IGF.  Really, really appreciate all the hard work that's gone behind this and the organisers of this main session, my colleagues, and all of you.  Have a great IGF.  Thank you.  We did it in time!

[ End of session ]

>> Ladies and gentlemen, can we please take our seats?  I'd also like to invite the opening session speakers to come to the front row, and take their seats where their names are displayed.

Thank you very much.

And can you also please make sure that you have translation devices?

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Opening Ceremony.

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>> C. MASANGO:  Ladies and gentlemen, we're about to start.  Can you please take your seats?  Thank you very much.very.

>> C. MASANGO:  All right, ladies and gentlemen, we're about to start.

>> Y. MARTINEZ:  Welcome to Mexico, to Jalisco, so Zapopan.  A year ago, we were in Joao Pessoa, in the process of the renewal of the mandate to this Forum and today we are here, in the 11th Forum for Internet Governance.

Mariachi is a world heritage.  It represents our love for our land, the tradition of our people and our culture.  Today, Jalisco, capital of innovation, celebrates the inauguration of this great event with Mexican music, which is by excellence a cultural reference of our country known around the globe, and Jalisco, capital of innovation is its home.

I please ask you for a round of applause for Mariachi San Francisco.

[ Applause ]

[ Mariachi music ]

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[ Applause ]

>> Y. MARTINEZ:  Did you like it?  Welcome.  I now ask our speakers for this inaugural session to please come up to the podium.  We have the Coordinator of the National digital strategy of the Office of The presidency of Mexico.

Ambassador Miguel Ruiz‑Cabañas Izquierdo from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Lenni Montiel.

[ Applause ]

Mr. Pablo Lemus, Mayor of ZapopanAristótles Sandoval.

I am pleased to welcome Mr. Lenni Montiel, Assistant Secretary‑General from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

>> L. MONTIEL:  Good afternoon.  Ms. Alejandra Lagunes, National digital strategy Coordinator, Secretary‑General for multilateral affairs and Human Rights.  Mr. Aristótles Sandoval, Governor of Jalisco, Mr. Pablo Lemus Navarro, Mayor of Zapopan.  Excellencies, distinguished participants, stakeholder participants, participating online around the world, I'm pleased to join you here this afternoon at the 11th annual meeting of the Internet Governance Forum and I'm also pleased to deliver a message on behalf of United Nations Secretary‑General Mr. Ban Ki‑moon to all of you.  I quote ‑‑ 

I send my warm greetings to Internet Governance Forum.  I thank the Government of Mexico for hosting the Forum and for its leadership in advancing the Forum's objectives.  This year's gathering is the first since its 10‑year renewal by the General Assembly, which reaffirmed the importance of the IGF multistakeholder platform for Public Policy dialogue.  Your efforts have made profound impacts as we strive together to create an equitable Human Rights based knowledge society.  I welcome the theme of this session:  Enabling Inclusive and Sustainable Growth.  Indeed, the Internet and information and communication technologies can play an important enabling role in our efforts to fulfill the great promise of the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development.  They can deliver smart solutions to address Climate Change, hunger, poverty, and other global challenges.  They are tools for providing digital and mobile health care, and wider access to education to those in rural areas.

They can also help to empower women, generate efficiencies in industrial and agricultural production, and safeguard the environment.  I urge you to keep working to ensure universal access to a more open Information Society.  Let us address the challenge we face by empowering people everywhere with these transformative technologies, so that they can help build a better future for all.

I wish you all a fruitful meeting, end of quote.  Excellencies, distinguished participants, the beautiful State of Jalisco here in Mexico is an ideal setting for our deliberations.  The Zapopan Guadalajara area has become a global technology hub and a space for entrepreneurs and young people using technology to thrive.  We applaud Mexico and its leaders for investing in young innovators.  Some are here with us today, as entrepreneurs, they can pioneer transformative technology, create jobs, and benefit whole economies.  Let us also again thank the Government for hosting us this year.  We are deeply indebted to our Mexican friends for the support they have shown.  They offer to house this year's meeting nearly three years ago.  This commitment was critical during the WSIS+10 review process.

Let me also remind you all that it will take a community‑wide effort for the IGF to continue to grow.  We ask all of you here for support and guidance on this.  We at the UN appreciate the opportunity to have served the IGF for more than 10 years now.  We remain committed to support the IGF and its open, transparent community‑driven work.  Thank you very much.

[ Applause ]

>> C. MASANGO:  Thank you very much, Assistant Secretary‑General.  Now I'd like to give the floor to Mr. Pablo Lemus Navarro, Mayor of Zapopan, to take the floor.  Thank you.

[ Applause ]

>> Good afternoon, distinguished Members of the head Table, Ambassador Ruiz Cabañas it's a pleasure to welcome you here.  Lenni Montiel, Assistant Secretary‑General of the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs, Alejandra Lagunes, Coordinator for the National digital strategy.  Clearly, Mr. Jorge Aristótles Sandoval Diaz the Governor of the State of Jalisco.

We say that building the National and international agenda from the local point of view is today's agenda.  On this basis, I would like to let you know about some specific data with respect to this great municipality of Za po pan.  We're one of the 9 municipalities of Guadalajara.  We are the first municipality ranked first statewide in terms of our ability to attract investments.  We're the first in the State in terms of generating new jobs.  We are number four nationwide in our contribution to the GDP.  We are ranked third in the UN habitat prosperity index.

However, in spite of these great indicators, Zapopan also ranks second nationwide in terms of its inequalities.  As a municipality, we have four times the territory of Guadalajara, with 1,110 square kilometers.  With this type of data, I would like to describe to you the great challenge facing us.

Today, using the technology as a tool to fight inequality, undoubtedly the Internet and accessibility for all, regardless of their economic or social standing, will imply a very important factor in their inclusion in development.  The notes of a city are undoubtedly the type of investments it's able to draw in.

In Jalisco and in Zapopan, we have designed and jointly set down the basis that we can have Jalisco be the capital of innovation, and that's why we are wagering attracting high value added investments that imply knowledge and visitors that will bring in a great deal of wealth to this city.  We've also wagered that with this concept of a creative digital city, a structure that was born in the municipality of Guadalajara, that we will be able to extend this, expand it throughout the city, the creative digital city that was conceived of initially simply as a building in the historic downtown area of Guadalajara in the Morales Park can also be a concept that will be adopted throughout the city.  That is to say when we visit any city distinguished by its knowledge, we can realize that it's not just a building per se.  It's not just a matter of the surroundings of a physical area that describes a creative digital city, but rather it's a city in its entirety.  And as a result of this, we have established our strategic alliance with the Government of the State so that this creative digital city can reach many more municipalities, including that of Zapopan.

Insofar as we are able to consolidate this great project, Jalisco will become renowned nationally and internationally as this capital of innovation.  I would like to cordially welcome you to the municipality of Zapopan, and, of course, to wish you a wonderful stay in this area.  We hope that you will be able to enjoy all of the attractions that are just there outside of these doors.  Thank you very much.

[ Applause ]

>> C. MASANGO:  Thank you very much, Mayor Lemus.  Now I'd like to give the floor to Ambassador Miguel Ruiz‑Cabañas Izquierdo.  Undersecretary for multilateral affairs and Human Rights at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico.  Thank you.

[ Applause ]

>> M. Izquierdo:  Good afternoon.  The govern or of the State of Jalisco, Mr. Lemus Navarro, the Mayor of Zapopan, thank you very much for this wonderful welcome to the State of Jalisco, and the municipality of Zapopan.  Mr. Lenni Montiel, Assistant Secretary‑General of the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs.  Ms. Alejandra Lagunes, National digital strategy Coordinator.  I'm very pleased to be here in this city in Jalisco, because my family is from this state, so it's always a pleasure to come back here.

I bring you the regards of the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico.  She was not able to be with us today.  She had to stay in Mexico City, as she had other affairs to deal with.  But I have several messages for you.  Clearly, the 2030 agenda is the most ambitious agenda of mankind in recent history.  I would put it at the level of the UN Charter of 1945.

Why?  Because it is an international agreement that no less and no more proposes to do away with poverty of the world, leaving no one outside of the benefits of development.  Each and every one of the states in this world must be on the path to development focused on individuals, and this had never before been seen.  It's a great satisfaction for the international community to have achieved 17 SDGs, 169 concrete targets.  We hope that within this time frame, the history of the world will be one of progress, development, and that humankind can feel satisfied and gratified with itself.  In Mexico we're well aware of the Internet and the capacity for information offered by information and communication technologies.  They represent a privileged tool for reaching International Development goals.  They provide us with communication with the entire world.  They give us solutions, enabling us to gain access to the new global wisdom, through the Internet, and that's why the second message, the main challenge that we have as an international community, is to make access to the Internet equal for all, access for all from the different regions, nations, subregions, can have equal access to the Internet and so that we can all benefit from it.  And that is the great challenge.  Thirdly, we must be aware that the Internet also implies risks.  These are risks that cannot be set aside.  All countries must have National strategies for cybersecurity.  They need to cooperate with other states to do away with the negative adverse effects of agents that use the interpret for their own ends which are ‑‑ Internet for their own ends which are not the ends best for humankind or society in its entirety when they are used by groups such as organised crime or groups that promote violence for instance.  Cyber security and protection against attacks must be one of the major priorities of our discussions in terms of the IGF.  They must also our discussions ensure access to the Internet and its interoperability.

Number four, the IGF has become a privileged space for exchange and debate amongst all actors that are tied into the benefits of access to the network.  If we look at the renewal of the mandate of the IGF for another 10 years we can understand the importance of this Forum and I'm so pleased that this is being done in this capital of innovation.  It's not just for instrumentation of the SDGs but we are truly pleased as well that the holding of this event is per se that to foster the enabling of sustainable and inclusive growth, fighting Climate Change with cross‑cutting policies that contribute to access and use of the Internet.  I would congratulate the organisers of this event and wish you the very best in your week of exchanges.  I truly hope that they are very fruitful.  Thank you for your attention.

>> C. MASANGO:  Thank you very much, Ambassador.  I would like now to give the floor to Governor Aristótles Sandoval, Governor of the State of Jalisco.

[ Applause ]

>> A. SANDOVAL:  I would like to give you all the most cordial of welcomes to this, your home over the next few days, to Mexico, where amongst things Mexicaning such as the mariachi you've just heard with its wonderful notes.  Of course the land of the most well‑known alcoholic beverage in the world, tequila which we have here that you can try of course in moderation and clearly Mexican sport par excellence, Mexican horseback riding.  Here in Zapopan, the capital of innovation, all three levels of Government are joined to work in this engine that fosters transformation through this virtual world.

I would like to thank of course Alejandra Lagunes, Lenni Montiel, of course Miguel Ruiz‑Cabañas Izquierdo who listen to society and transformation in this very important time in which we are seeing changes in society.

History is being made here, sowhen we have an opportunity to attend fora of this importance I like to remember wasn't very many years ago that humankind was remembering the fall of a world that divided the world in two and then it was in the '80s when technology that was Building Bridges that set aside geographical borders and National boundaries enabling collaboration, Co‑Creation and enrichment of cultures and when all of this comes to mind, I am still surprised that today, whereas in the world we're still discussing how to use the tools of communication and transformation, we continue to see universal society, the society of knowledge and with the existence of statements that talk about walls that would continually be erected to divide peoples.  Here we're discussing the relationship that exists between Internet and Sustainable Development, development of information technologies for the good of our peoples.

In the '70s, many organizations documented the relationship between these goods and wealth.  The last latest data of The World Bank indicate that for each increase of 10% of the population connected to the Internet, there's a 1.3% increase in the GDP of a nation.  However, recent history also tells us that the distribution of this wealth is not equal.  It is focused on those who have the greatest possibilities of learning how to take advantage at an early age of these benefits and those whose abilities are developed for use of technology to its greatest effect.

Technology also implies social gaps.  They support other.  Different researchers have told us about this.  2016 Information Society report, communicated through the UN confirms that appreciation, amongst the ten highest ranked countries because of their index on information technology, we have 7 European nations and two from Asia.  Those who are most communicated are also ‑‑ those who are least communicated are the countries that are least developed, so the UN and its desire to fulfill the Sustainable Development Goals and to have this be supported by the IGF becomes even more important.  Here we have Governments and peoples that need to foster this transformation on a daily basis.  The UN General Director who has just spoken of doing away with all forms of poverty by 2030, says that this is an ambitious yet reachable goal, and it is the key to success in this work of collaboration, solidarity and promotion of peace.

Personally, I believe that there is no place that is more Democratic, sound, and ready for international collaboration than the Internet.  It's a matter of a public space such as roads, schools, universities, sidewalks and parks, although it does not have any barriers, any physical frontiers or boundaries.  However, there are other types of barriers that we need to ensure that all human beings be able to take part in this progress, and those are the barriers of inequity or of inequality.  This year, 165 countries that take part in the measurements have progressed significantly.

Mexico, for instance, thanks to its transformational efforts in communications and technologies, fostered by the President of Mexico, went from ranking 96 to 92nd.  4.78% in 2015.  The progress was seen in greater use of ICTs.  Whereas a greater percentage of the world's population is using broadband and only 47% is using broadband.

We've seen that those with the highest wages are most likely to use advanced services:  e‑Trade, Government, e‑Government platforms, and those who have less abilities to use the Internet to communicate or for entertainment.  These are the high prices of services, low income and the lack of skills which are preventing a more expanded use of Internet and its services.

In this Forum, the Argentine Forum, we were told of the economic barriers that are seen in the Internet in the knowledge ‑‑ society of knowledge in high‑level academic institutions that support online books and texts and have access to them, many researchers have to pay very high amounts of money.  So it was difficult for me to find a quote by her because some of her articles are not really accessible.

The private sector and the social Sector must work together in development of ICTs, converting digital illiteracy into access to all forms of Internet, without discriminating on any basis:  Gender, ethnic basis, any basis.  In this state, we have set this as one of the priorities on our agenda, fostering adoption and use of ICTs.

I have only left to say:  Welcome to all of you.  I hope your stay is very pleasant.  We will be anxiously waiting to read of your results, because your discussions and reflections will be very important to raise awareness in Governments, and to empower society in this virtual world that is beginning to build transformation, and that fosters change for the good of all.  Thank you very much.

[ Applause ]

>> Y. MARTINEZ:  Thank you very much, Mr. Governor.  Now I would give the floor to Assistant Secretary‑General, Mr. Lenni Montiel.

>> L. MONTIEL:  In accordance with the customs of the Internet Governance Forum, I now have the honor to invite Ms. Alejandra Lagunes, Coordinator of the National digital strategy in the Office of The President of Mexico to assume the Chairpersonship of the 2016 IGF on behalf of the Government of Mexico.

[ Applause ]

>> A. LAGUNES:  Assistant Secretary Montiel, thank you for your words.  It's an honor for me on behalf of the Office of The President to preside over the IGF 2016.  I'm sure we're going to have very useful and productive dialogue over the next four days.  Thank you, Sir.

[ Applause ]

>> C. MASANGO:  Thank you.  I would like now to give the floor to the ‑‑ 

>> A. LAGUNES:  The future of our co‑existence in modern life is based on the development of the art of day log.  Dialogue implies the true intention of mutual understanding in order to live together in peace.  Thanks to our difference and not in spite of them, Sigmund bow man.  Lenni Montiel Assistant Secretary‑General of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Pablo Lemus Navarro, Governor of Zapopan.  Undersecretary for multilateral affairs and Human Rights, Aristótles Sandoval, Governor of Jalisco, good afternoon to you all.  It is an honor for Mexico that you accompany us on this 11th edition of the IGF.

Thanks to the UN and particularly to the Assistant Secretary‑General, Mr. Lenni Montiel, Mexico is honored to host you.  Thanks to the crossing of borders to bring together this event.  Thank you to all panelists and all attendees, and to the Governor of Jalisco and his team for their valuable collaboration in the undertaking of this Forum and the Mayor of Zapopan for all of their assistance.

Since the creation of this Forum, it was considered an open space of multistakeholders so as to establish and share best practices on Internet Governance.  A dialogue that makes us more human, that brings us closer and open the doors to true co‑existence of all persons.

Today we welcome more than 3,000 representatives of over 80 countries from all regions of the world joining us today.  This meeting is held in a unique time, just more than a year ago year from all over the world agreed on the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development.  We countries committed to over the next 15 years doing away with poverty and hunger, to building more just and inclusive societies that do away with inequalities, and have a healthier environment.  The challenges are enormous.  However, as never before we have the opportunity to support each other in the transforming power of the Internet and to comply with them.  We want to have Governments, private sector, Civil Society, Academia and the technical community joined together to transform our world.  Internet Governance defines shared principles that model the way in which we interact on the Internet.  We are convinced the importance of maintaining an ongoing dialogue can enable us to do this.  Multiple stakeholders enables us to do that.  It's in the DNA of the Internet, and that's why just three years ago the Government of Mexico fostered a Constitutional reform that guarantees access to the Internet as a Constitutional right.  In addition to the telecommunications law establishes the principles of neutrality, so that users can gain access to any service, content or application offered on the network.

We have the Act for the protection of personal data that seeks to ensure privacy, as well as the law for transparency and access to public information.  Three years ago we also designed the National digital strategy and since then, and forever onward we've collaborated with different actors to build a more inclusive and open Mexico, a digital Mexico.  The results have already been seen.  We've got 70 million users in the country, an increase of over 70% over four years.  For the first time, over 50% of the population is connected to the Internet.  The percentage of users that uses the Internet to interact with the Government has grown 17‑fold in just three years, going from 1.2% in 2012 to 20.8% in 2015.

Mexico is a leader in Latin America and the Caribbean in online services and online participation, according to the United Nations e‑Government survey.  We are also the first Regional place in the barometer of ‑‑ in the open data barometer and the OECD data index, the speed with which our digital world is evolving forces us to reinvent ourselves constantly.  As a society we need innovation in all senses.  Even and particularly in Internet Governance.  We are compelled to think outside of the box, with increasing cooperation and participation, setting aside vertical plans and structures and favoring horizontal and cross‑cutting structures, spaces of thought and exchange such as this Forum enable us to look at our decisions and actions to continue to move forward.  I thank once again all of those who are here today.  I know in upcoming days in the close to 200 sessions we'll be holding we will have enriching debates, proposals on crucial topics:  How to connect half of the population that is still not connected.  How can we prepare to meet the world challenges in terms of information security?

How can we promote a digital environment that is reliable for trade and financial exchanges?  How can we make the most of the Internet to generate more jobs instead of displacing them?  How can we ensure that everyone has the skills necessary in the 21st century so as to benefit from this evolution of the Internet?  How can we achieve that the Internet is a catalyzer for social justice?  It is our obligation to see that these benefits are for all to close or bridge the gaps that enable us to do away with other gaps that humanity faces.

Clearly, we need to build on our points of agreement and exchange of ideas so that we can make the most of all of the potential of the Internet and this will be the most valuable work of our next three days.  Without further ado I would ask you to kindly stand.

And given that it is 16:57 hours of December 6, 2016, I formally declare open the 11th edition of the Internet Governance Forum.  Thank you all very much, and welcome to Mexico.

[ Applause ]

>> C. MASANGO:  Thank you very much, Chair.  Can you please all remain seated while we first of all take an official photo of the dignitaries?  And then they will leave and then we'll start the opening session.

So please remain seated.

Thank you very much.

Will the dignitaries please leave backstage?

We're going to start the opening session immediately.  So I would like to call up on the stage Mr. Eber Betanzos Torres, Undersecretary of public Administration, of Mexico.

Thank you very much.  Following the conclusion of the Opening Ceremony, we will now proceed with the welcome remarks made by representatives of all stakeholder groups.  We have 18 people who will each speak for a maximum of 5 minutes.  The speaking order was determined by a public draw yesterday afternoon in Workshop Room 1.

>> Torres.  It is my pleasure to give the floor to the first speaker of the 11st session of the IGF 2016, Malcolm Johnson, Secretary‑General, ITU.

[ Applause ]

>> M. JOHNSON:  Don't need that.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.

It's a great pleasure for me to be with you here in the beautiful sit testify of Guadalajara, six years after the city hosted the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference of 2010.  The ITU Secretary‑General Houlin Seo is very disappointed not to be here with you.  He sends you his very best wishes for a successful IGF and he thanks the Mexican Government for hosting this meeting.  Also, congratulates UNDESA for its excellent organization of this Conference.

As Mr. Zhao mentioned at the ICANN meeting in Marrakesh earlier this year, it's very important to keep the Internet as a global, stable, common good for all, and he promised that ITU would continue to contribute to strengthen it.

So dear friends, the ICT Sector is increasingly important for environmentally sustainable social and economic development, and it's now widely recognized that ICTs will be essential for the achievement of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals.  Good collaboration, cooperation, and coordination between the various bodies and stakeholders, agencies, businesses and academe yacht that make up the ICT ecosystem is essential if these Sustainable Development Goals are going to be achieved.

And this is why the ITU as the UN lead Agency for information and communication technologies and telecommunications has always supported the IGF and will continue to do so.  The IGF plays a very important role as a platform for exchanging ideas and best practices, to further progress in bringing the benefits of the information and knowledge society to all people.

As is reflected in ITU's annual Measuring the Information Society Report which was launched last month, and ranks countries according to their ICT development according to 11 different indicators, it's pleasing to note that there has been significant development over the last year in the extension of the ICTs.  However, half the world still remains unconnected, and great disparities continue to exist, especially in the least developed countries, where only one out of 7 people is connected.  ITU takes this very seriously, as ITU has the goal of connecting the unconnected, and its core mission is to close the digital divide.

The last ITU Plenipotentiary Conference set a number of ambitious goals for connectivity, and this is included in what we call the Connect 2020 Agenda.  This will be a major contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.  And to help achieve this, ITU has joined and has formed a number of global strategic partnerships, including the world economic Forum's Internet for All, and the U.S. Government's global connect initiative.  Where we have found gaps, we have encouraged the establishment of global multistakeholder partnerships.  One recent one is what we call EQUALS, the global partnership for gender equality in the digital age.  This was recently launched by ITU and UN Women.  And ITU regularly convenes global community to discuss and identify solutions, in particular the annual World Summit on the Information Society Forum, held in Geneva each year, which is co‑organised between ITUbeUNESCO and UNCTAD, and UNDP.  It's the largest ICT for Development Conference in the world, and serves as a platform for discussing the role of ICTs as a means of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

The recent ITU Telecommunication Standardization Assembly gave further impetus to ITU's work on standards, in particular the network standards which will be necessary to support cloud computing, Internet of Things, 5G, and smart sustainable cities.  The ITU Telecom World event which was held last month in Bangkok serves as a platform for accelerating ICT innovation for social and economic development through offering the possibility for startup companies and small and medium enterprises to show case their products, and to network with other companies and Governments.  So these events together with the IGF and similar events around the world all have the same goal:  To ensure the active participation of people and countries around the world in the development and the use of the Internet and ICTs, more generally.general IANA transition on September 30th was an important milestone in the management of the critical Internet resources.

On behalf of the ITU Secretary‑General I convey our best wishes to go ran Marby and his team as they embark on the implementation phase, and we look forward to strengthening the relationship between ICANN and ITU to our mutual benefit.  ITU is open and willing to work with all stakeholders to ensure a more equitable, accessible and trustworthy Internet for all.  So thank you very much for your attention and I wish you a very productive and enjoyable IGF.  Thank you.

[ Applause ]

>> C. MASANGO:  Thank you very much, Deputy Secretary‑General.  Now I would like to call upon Ms. Lynn St. Amour, Chair of the Internet Governance Forum, multistakeholder Advisory Group.

[ Applause ]

>> L. ST. AMOUR:  Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, buneos tarreds.  The 11th IGF marks the first IGF following the 10 year mandate renewal by the United Nations General Assembly and we're particularly happy to be here in Jalisco, giving Mexico's early support for renewing the mandate and the early commitment to host IGF 2016 and let me also take this opportunity to again thank Member States for their support for the renewal of the IGF's mandate.  As we start the second decade of the IGF expectations are high.  It's the first time since the IGF's inception we have a long and fairly clear runway ahead of us.  While there was clear and strong support for the extension of the IGF's mandate there were also calls in the WSIS+10 outcome Document for us to accelerate the implementation of the recommendations from the CSTD Working Group on improvements to the IGF, and there were specific calls for the IGF to continue to show progress on working modalities and the participation of relevant stakeholders from developing countries.

This year's theme is Enabling Inclusive and Sustainable Growth.  It acknowledges the calls made in the WSIS+10 outcome Document while also recognizing the very important goals set out in the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly important given ICT's role as an enabler in virtually all the SDG goals.  I believe the IGF is making progress in these areas and hope it seems that way to all of you as well.  Looking at the IGF agenda, one can see how much of it is focused on addressing inclusion, various digital divides or complex policy issues, to name only a few.

And with respect to the improvements suggested by the CSTD Working Group on IGF improvements or to the calls in the WSIS+10 outcome documents if Document some steps have already been taken and thank the Chair of the CSTD for recognizing these efforts in his comments in an earlier session today.

Staying on this point of improvements of what many call continue you'll evolution earlier this year the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs UNDESA organised a retreat on advancing add 10 year mandate.  This retreat is part of the community's on going process aimed at continually improving the IGF.  Other efforts as part of this process focus on strengthening the intersessional activities to provide more tangible outcomes.  These intersessional activities currently are the best practice Forums, the Dynamic Coalitions, and the policy options for connecting enabling the next billions initiative.  Other efforts were working more substantially with National and Regional IGF initiatives or the NRIs, improving remote participation capabilities, and increased support to newcomers and youth programmes, again to name just a few of the efforts.

Returning to the retreat, participants came from all stakeholder groups.  The proceedings from the retreat were published several months ago in a lengthy public consultation period followed.  That consultation continues through this IGF and there's a slot during the taking stock session on Friday afternoon for this.

Post‑this consultation, the process will be launched with the IGF community to advance the findings from the retreat.  One thing though has become quite clear:  From the retreat proceedings as well as from discussions within the MAG, and the broader community, and that is the need and the desire to work to a longer time frame for many of our efforts.  We now have a longer runway in establishing a multiyear strategic level IGF Program will help us improve and strengthen not only the annual IGF but all the intersessional activities as well.

We've just begun the second decade of the IGF, and as I said earlier, expectations are high across all stakeholders.  This would seem then to be a good opportunity to remained everyone that the IGF is an extra‑budgetary project of the UN.  Meaning that the preparation of the Forum and support to the year‑round intersessional work relies on voluntary contributions, on donations, and not UN member fees.

This can in fact be a fairly limiting factor on what the IGF can achieve, so we'll be looking to increase support to the work of the IGF through both traditional and more innovative ways, and any and all suggestions are welcome.

The IGF makes important contributions in so much areas, such as expanding access, social inclusion, and economic growth, and working to close many of the digital divides, promoting Human Rights, and we look forward to accelerating developments in these areas the and so many more.  Finally, this year's IGF again set new benchmarks, while time doesn't allow me to enumerate them here we'll make sure they're featured in the Chair's report at the end of the meeting.  On a personal note I'd like to thank all those who helped me this year in the role of MAG Chair.  I'd also like to recognize the efforts of and thank the MAG Members, the IGF sec stair yacht, UNDESA, and of course the donors and Government of Mexico for their roles in making this IGF a success.  Finally a very big thank you to the community for all who work so hard to make this IGF another great event and to all those here and online for all the passion and hard work, and I hope you can tell just how much all that support has meant to me this past year.  Thank you.  Or late hours.

[ Applause ]

Thank you.  The next speaker is Mr. Hasanul Haq Inu, Minister of Information, Government of Bangladesh.

[ Applause ]

>> H. INU:  Thank you.  Mr. Chair, dignitaries, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.  As you know the ICTs are key enablers of development across all pillars of Sustainable Development and inclusive growth, but at this point, the present digital economy is developing without a proper digital infrastructure, and without a proper legal regulatory technical regimes.  Internet is making a glass house which needs security added with trust.  Otherwise, the glass house will be compromised.

Three, there is also democracy deficit in the governance of net and multistakeholderism is yet not properly limited for the societal and technological vulnerabilities.

Five concentration of National e‑Commerce is a threat to the tax revenues of the global south.

Six, digital market economy is in place, and it is expanding globally without a proper legal regulatory framework.

Seven, the great divides are still there, the rural divide, the poor connected and unconnected, north and south, et cetera.  The challenge still exists to connect the unconnected, the last billion and the next billion.

Nine, the world is still bogged down by three illiteracies:  Language illiteracy, information illiteracy and ICT illit Rahty 10, there is new development but cyberspace is threatened by cybercriminals and terrorists and there is a tendency to mill tries it.

11, besides these, the world is facing 6 major issues:  Poverty, ICT, environment and Climate Change, gender disparity, SDGs and terrorism.  All these problems need to be addressed and we can enhance inclusive growth and Sustainable Development.  For this, we need to agree on a policy paradigm shift to incorporate and coordinate the role of the State and National needs and social needs with market forces and entrepreneurships.

It is a four dimensional model which will ensure inclusiveness and sustainability with green and Digital Development.  For me for announcing Sustainable Development, we need Internet, which is affordable, accessible, efficient, resilient, reliable.  Interoperable, functional, stable, secure, as well as scalable in the long run.  We need sustainable inclusive for people Internet.  For this I propose 10‑point Action Plan and followed by three global level international treaties.

Ladies and gentlemen, to make the Internet sustainable and inclusive I propose 10 points.

Number one, affordable.  Two, accessible.  Three, safe.  Which will include reliability of hardware and software, privacy and Data Protection, et cetera, et cetera.

Four, to adopt enabling laws to remove international ‑‑ Internet application blocks at National and international level.  Five, removing democracy deficit in the governance of Internet.  Six, capacity building and institution building.  And ICT literacy.  Eight, content developing in mother tongue and nine digital economy and trade which will harmonize global trade and National trade.  Ten, Internet be made basic human right.

Having said that I say that we need to agree on three global treaties.  One is global Treaty on cyberpolicy, two, global Treaty on cyber security and a global agreement on Democratic governance and multistakeholder governance of Internet.  Having said that let me conclude, now it is a time to see where the time arose with an Internet that is sustainable both denouncing yes to Human Rights, no to terrorism, and Cybercrime.

Let Internet be instrument of peace and development, not an instrument of terror.  Thank you very much.

[ Applause ]

>> C. MASANGO:  Thank you very much, Minister.  I'd like now to invite Siyabonga Cwele, Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services, South Africa.

>> Cwele:  Members of Internet communities, ladies and gentlemen, it is with great honor to join you all at this 11th Internet Governance Forum in this beautiful city of Guadalajara.  I would like to congratulate His Excellency, the President, the Government and the people of Mexico for their unprecedented hospitality.  We gather here under renewed mandate given by the UN General Assembly, who reaffirmed this Internet Governance Forum as an important platform to enhance engagement of stakeholders on Internet Governance, especially those from developing countries.

To this effect, the mandate of the IGF was extended for another 10 years, so it will enable, ensure that we ‑‑ the digital divide that currently exists among developed and developing countries, urban and rural areas within countries, as well as between men and women, are, or is eradicated.

If we are to achieve a people centered inclusive and development orientated knowledge economy, enabling individuals and communities to achieve their full potential in promoting their Sustainable Development and improving their quality of life, then we must put Internet development for all at the center of our collective Program of actions.  By end of this month, UN Broadband Commission estimate that 3.6 billion people will be connected to the Internet while 3.9 many from developing countries will remain unconnected.  It also alerted us to the widening gender divide, digital divide.  The Internet is a key enabler for development, and is a catalyst for accelerating the outcomes of all three pillars of Sustainable Development, namely, economic development, social inclusion, and Environmental Protection.  We need public‑private partnership and co‑initiative to address this divide.

As a member of the international community, we must share collective responsibility to ensuring that action translate to tangible ICT investment and equitable allocation of resources to the developing countries.

We must improve Internet access and affordability of ICT Application and services to the citizens, especially to the marginalized groups such as women, people living with disability, and youth.  For this to happen, we must transform the Internet and its management and operations into a truly global multilateral resource.  This means encouraging investment in affordable and reliable electricity for those who come from developing countries, investment in broadband infrastructure to drive uptake, the development of locally relevant content and applications to ensure usage, developing fairer standards to promote innovation in developing countries, including the capacity to manufacture end‑user equipment.

South Africa like other developing nations do not want to miss the revolution.  Want to be at the forefront of its benefit while minimizing the potential negative impact on job creation.  We are encouraging advancement and incentivizing international companies to locate their original innovation in South Africa.  We have revised National policies to encourage ICT investment.  We have a National ICT Forum which brings together all National stakeholders and assists us in our policy implementation.

Wi‑fi is being used, public wi‑fi is being used as a means of ensuring basic Internet access for the poor.  We are now focusing on infrastructure rollout to underserved areas.  Reliable connectivity and innovation are no longer nice to have, but essential tools for development.

I agree with more entrepreneurs who say it may not actually cost us so much.  As some predict because individuals and businesses are ready to pay for broadband even in Africa, because they receive better utility as citizen and provide higher chance for companies who are willing to inhavest in such markets.

Ours is to ensure enabling environment.  Let me conclude Program Director by emphasizing that it is possible to connect every global citizen by 2030.  It is a function of robust networks use innovation, converting local content into economic opportunity and affordable data and services.  It is about human solidarity, to connect the global poor.

Digital divide like poverty is not natural for Africa, and it will be overcome.  We draw our strength from our former President Nelson Mandela whose encouraging words, who said, I quote:  Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity.  It is an act of justice.  Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural.  It is manmade, and can be overcome and eradicated by actions of human beings.

Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great.  You can be that generation.  Let your greatness blossom as we connect the last 100 to the Internet.  I thank you very much.

[ Applause ]

>> Torres:  Thank you.  The next speaker is Ms. Megan Richards, Principal Advisor in DG CONNECT, European Commission.

[ Applause ]

>> M. Richards:  Good afternoon everyone.  To be here in Mexico especially with the new mandate of the IGF for the next 10 years which Mexico supported very strongly.  We're very pleased to be here.  Unfortunately the Vice President who was planning to come here and has been a great supporter of the IGF was not able to be here today but he sends his very best greetings and wishes for a very successful Conference.  It's particularly important that this IGF takes place in Mexico with the theme of enabling an inclusive Sustainable Development.  Mexico as I said has been supporting very much the multistakeholder approach and it's very useful and important that we have this multistakeholder meeting here in a thriving, dynamic economy and also the first one that takes place after the IANA transition, which so many of you have worked on with a lot of devotion, many hours, a lot of hair‑pulling.  It wasn't easy but it was achieved and I want to mention also the importance of the contribution of the U.S. Government in making this happen and in allowing it to take place.  But of course, it is the first success of the multistakeholder approach.  We have to make it work now.  Now is our challenge to make sure this really works well and I throw that challenge out to all of you to ensure that we continue on this very good path.

Europe has been supporting the multistakeholder approach to Internet Governance for many years.  This is something that has supported not just politically by the European Parliament, by the Council of Ministers, by the European Commission, by all the Member States of the European Union, but we also contribute financially to the Secretariat and we have done in the last ten years and will continue into the future.  We have a strong and vibrant Internet Governance environment, and community, in Europe but this goes far beyond Europe's borders and we recognize and participate very actively in all the global efforts in Internet Governance.  In fact, today there are 12 Members of the European Parliament participating.  We've never had such a large Delegation add an Internet Governance Forum and it shows how important we think this is for the future of the Internet.

In Europe, we are developing and building a digital single market, and the Internet is at the backbone of the digital single market.  It's the intention to improve the digital economy and society and the Internet is really at the base of that so this is one of the reasons why we think that the Internet is so important and its governance is particularly important.

And the digital single market is not something that is intended to make Europe a closed fortress.  On the contrary.  The introduction and establishment and development and rollout of a real digital single market will make Europe an even better global player, much more open to the rest of the world, much easier to trade with, especially with respect to digital goods and services, and this is the future.  We've seen what a dramatic change and improvement over the last 20 years the Internet has brought to all of us in terms of improving the economy and also enabling society.

And that's what I want to bring now the discussion on the Sustainable Development Goals, because as I said, the digital single market by using enabling technologies is addressing most of those Sustainable Development Goals not just in Europe, but also beyond.  And we have seen how important the use of information and communication technologies are in driving forward and achieving those goals.

The introduction and development of our information and communication technologies and bringing digital technology into our development assistance is also a very important element.  Europe is the biggest development aid donor and we have just in the last few weeks made even more commitments to making sure that digital technologies are embedded in that development assistance, and that we work together with everyone around the world to ensure that this multistakeholder approach to supporting the Internet and making sure that it grows and develops properly, and brings solutions to ensuring that we achieve the Sustainable Development Goals is really carried out over the next years.

So all stakeholders have a voice in making sure that the Internet works, in making sure that the Sustainable Development Goals are achieved, and I want to make a special plea to all of you in this room, but also to the next generation.  Over the past 20 years, when and while the Internet has really become more of a mainstream communicating facility, economic facility, and improved the lives of so many people, we have to make sure that the future which lies with you has the Internet as its core, and a solid, robust, and stable Internet that we can all trust and use.

So I throw that challenge out to you.  We are here to help and to contribute and to participate as we always have with all the stakeholders on an equal footing.  Thank you.

[ Applause ]

>> C. MASANGO:  Thank you very much.  It's now my pleasure to give the floor to our next speaker, Mr. Goran Marby, CEO and President of ICANN.

[ Applause ]

>> G. Marby:  Thank you.  First I would like to thank Mexico and IGF for having me here.  I really love this event.  And as you know, ICANN is a very strong supporter of this event, and it's not only because we see this as one of the most important places to discuss Internet progress but it's based on something that we think is very important:  The multistakeholder model and its process.

It's been spoken about but in the heart of this it's the multistakeholder model, a model we now know actually works and again I'd like to take the opportunity to thank you all for all your support during this process.  Without you, it wouldn't have happened.  And actually without you, it shouldn't have happened.

The multistakeholder model made the decision that so many people came together in so many countries for such a long time.  No one has seen anything like it before.  It is like a big peace project.

I also think that the multistakeholder model has done something else during this time.  It actually creates credibility and accountability because what we at ICANN can do now if we're accountable for a multistakeholder model with a lot of people involved in it and that's more than being accountable just to a company or an organization or actually to a Government.

But we're not done yet.  We have to continue to develop the same way as Internet develops itself.  We need you not to stop now.  Here in this event now looking forward to all the discussions you're having because you're hear to form how people are using Internet, which is really, really what Internet is for.  We will continue to support IGF at all levels ‑‑ Regional, local, whatever it is and we will also continue to work together with other UN bodies and thank you very much, Malcolm, for your remarks as well.  We will also continue to work with the WSIS Forum and also with UNESCO.

Because today, we have 3.6 billion users, on one interconnected system.  This is what you've created.  This works according to plan as usually Steve says.  And we're going to add more people and the Internet is going to change when we add more people to it.  With your help, with your work, with your passion going forward I don't foresee any major problems.  Thank you very much.

[ Applause ]

>> E.B. TORRES:  Thank you, Mr. Marby.  The next speaker is Ms. Anita Gurmuthy, Executive Director, IT for Change.

>> A. Gurmuthy:  Respected colleagues and dear friends, most of us who come back to the IGF year after year share a dream, a dream that the Internet as a cherished innovation can make possible a society that's free and equal.  With 10 IGFs behind us, we need to ask ourselves how well we have done.  Let's take access.  Over 40% of the 7.5 billion people on this planet are connected.  However, we are told that connectivity rates are slowing down.

But this may not be a cause for worry.  The network will get to the last woman anyway.  Never mind if it is rudimentary and of poor quality.  Never mind if it is zero rated.  A global immersive, invisible networked computing environment builds through the marvels of the cloud massive data centers and proliferation of smart everythings will soon be upon us.  The world will be connected by 2025.

My submission as we begin our deliberations on inclusive and Sustainable Growth at this IGF is that since 2005, as we have been busying ourselves to bring access to all, a mission creep has overtaken us.  A totalizing net of surveillance has annexed the planet, rapidly unfolding society and sociality.  The unfreedoms of the Internet are not just about exclusion, but the December pottism of a ‑‑ despotism of a datafied world.  There was a time when those who could manipulate media manipulated elections.  Now they're taking over electoral processes and media.  Welcome to post truth on the post human planet.

The primary problem before us is not a problem of trust, as we are told in every other Internet report, but that of greed.  And digital capitalism it is cheaper to give access to people than leave them alone, and so as we stand by watching, the Internet is becoming a rapacious instrument of capture.  It is the basis of networked individualism, the motor of a consumptive society where the race for Big Data co‑opts us as willing slaves of limitless goodies.

From a predatory Internet, path downhill can only be a society that self‑cannibalizes.  The second problem is that we have forfeited the opportunity that the digital revolution brought us to build a technology of memory that can radically change the power structures of society.  The history of every civilization is about its technology of memory.  As social memory and cognition are increasingly centralized through the databases and algorithms of state and corporate surveillance we see a crisis of extreme alienation and unprecedented inequality, a world that is fully networked as things stand can neither be sustainable nor inclusive.  2025 is unlikely to be raceless, genderless, castless or classless.  This brings us to the third problem:  The digital phenomenon is invariably cast as post‑political, as an autonomous force that is best left alone untarnished by human intent.  But in conclusion presupposes the rule of law as the Internet redefines, it dislocates the boundaries of existing jurisprudence to pass the test of equality and inclusion, the network data structures scaffolding all institutions need a new philosophy and signs of law and justice.

The current paralysis of global Internet Governance is unsustainable.  As the global network finds its way into reality, augmenting it through embedded code and remote control, there is a huge loss of local autonomy.  The Internet's logic is inherently irreverential of territorial jurisdiction.  The absence of a Democratic international plat form to access public ‑‑ reflects a monumental crisis of Government.  A platform of corporations, partnerships of AI to benefit society is all set to formulate best practices on artificial intelligence technologies.  Industry standards do indeed have a role to play but an Internet that can be individually empowering collectively enriching and eke Lolley restorative is possible only through a Democratic rule of law that can guarantee the mechanisms of accountability and global governance.  We need to forge a digital compact.  The die logic space of IGF is indeed a unique venue for public deliberation but we need a robust political process to develop global norms and policies for the Internet as required by the Tunis Agenda.

The task for Civil Society is cut out.  Unless social movements can come together to reimagine an alternative Internet one that promotes diverse universes under the Internet will not be possible.  Our wisdom is getting colonized.  It is time for a new politics of Internet Governance.  At the risk of sounding tech no deterministic I would like to say to you all, if we can save the Internet, we may perhaps be able to save the planet.  Now, let's look to our neighbor and begin a conversation.  Do they know there is a question here?  Do they understand the now or never imperative?  Friends before I say thank you, I would like to lend my voice of support to the statement issued by my Mexican Civil Society colleagues during the IGF about their Human Rights concerns.

I believe that the Internet must be protected as a bastion of democracy, it cannot become an instrument to undermine Human Rights.  Now I say thank you.

[ Applause ]

>> C. MASANGO:  Thank you very much, Ms. Gurmuthy.

Now I'd like to give the floor to Mr. Omar Mansoor an carry, President of technician Afghanistan.

.

>> O. Mansoor:  Hola, Mexico.  Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.  My name is Omar Mansoor Ansari and I'm President of technation, a Kabul based technology.  A new MAG member and I'm honored to be speaking to you on behalf of the business community.  But before I begin, I'd like to engage with you in an exercise.  Will you do it with me?  Will you do it with me?  Okay.  The world exists because there are good people like you.  Okay.  Now, I'd like the people, except for the first and second row, to stand up.  Please stand up.

That's the population of underserved developing world.  And this is huge.  These are the young people in our planet.  The women, the poor.  These are the people when it comes to business, these are the startups and SMEs who innovate and create technologies solutions for the most critical problems we face.

By the way, these are the rich people.  They're from developed countries.

[ Laughter ]

And I'd like all of us to be sitting with them.  Thank you.

Ladies and gents, in order to provide an Internet that's one and for all, we need to engage the underserved population.  If we're thinking about connecting the next billions, we need to take committed actions to serving and engaging the local communities in the developing economies.  Let me share with you the Afghanistan case because that's where I belong.

Internet in Afghanistan costs $300 per MBPS, a connection, making it completely unaffordable for the Afghans.  The majority of whom are living under the poverty line.  While the same bandwidth in the U.S. is $5, in Japan it's less than half a dollar.  This is how and why our education, business, and society in Afghanistan cannot enhance the way we want it.

Dear colleagues, this is not the Afghan problem alone.  There are so many other people and economies that are affected by lack of access to the Internet, access to education, especially for women, job opportunities, inadequate policies to facilitate investment, and support innovators and entrepreneurs to nurture and grow.  And issues such as cybersecuritythreats, cross‑border data flows, and access to other basic needs.  In short, the very challenges the sustainable Development Goals, the SDGs are developed to address.

Dear colleagues, the business community calls for action to address these challenges, as we see them critically important for an equitable and Sustainable Development across regions.  However, we also understand that a single stakeholder group would not be able to address these alone, thus we call for partnerships in collaboration among diverse stakeholders to address these and many more challenges our people face in developing and developed countries.

The IGF makes this collaboration possible by providing an excellent platform for enhancing dialogues and discussions across different stakeholder groups.  And that's why I'd like to congratulate the IGF community for their tireless work during the first decade of the IGF and getting the endorsement of the United Nations to get the extension.  This extension gives us new opportunities to plot our course for fulfilling the vision of the Tunis Agenda and to take up the critical integration and synergy between the IG and the SDGs.

Dear colleagues, the IGF has truly deepened my knowledge and understanding of the Internet issues.  And I am still learning.  When I see many young faces and newcomers in the hall, that reminds me of my participation at the WSIS 2003 as a member of the youth caucus.  I was excited, I was learning, but confused at the same time.

I want to invite you, the newcomers and youth, to continue to be part of the IGF family to contribute to your local communities and actively engage with us on global level.  Dear colleagues, I want to wrap up by wrapping on behalf of the business community the efforts of the Mexican Government for hosting us and also for their dedication to the IGF throughout the years.

I also recognize and appreciate the UN officials, Governments and IGOs representatives from civil, private, and technical communities who made it possible for all of us to come together in the spirit of partnership and collaboration, to address the most critical challenges we are facing today.

May we see more Internet Governance partnerships that are aligned to the SDGs and in the developing countries.  Thank you for your attention.

[ Applause ]

>> E.B. TORRES:  Thank you Mr. Mansoor an Tsarry.  The next speaker is Mr. Shigeki Suzuku, Vice‑Minister for Policy Coordination, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Government of Japan.

>> S. Suzuki:  I would like to extend gratitude to everyone making tremendous efforts to host this Forum.  I greatly appreciate that we could reaffirm the importance of the Internet Governance Forum, IGF, as a space that facilitates a discussion and dialogue of Public Policy issues on the Internet Governance, was confirmed at the WSIS 10 High Level Meeting in December 2015.  It's my great pleasure to attend this Forum.

IGF has been functioning very effectively as an opportunity to gather multistakeholders and deepen the discussion over various issues surrounding the Internet that has been changing with times, including global issues such as a sustainable environment, aging society, poverty and so on.  As I mentioned in the beginning, the IGF for years was decided as the WSIS+10 High Level Meeting held in December last year, it is our understanding that this renewal is the result of the fact that IGF as a place for the free and open discussion was recognized to play an important role in the development of the Internet worldwide in the future, and the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.  In order to enable us to achieve the main theme of the Forum, that is Inclusive and Sustainable Growth.  Through our discussions at IGF, it is essential for us to participate proactively in the discussion at IGF.  In the meantime, we should cooperate with Regional Internet Governance Forums and train young people as the Youth IGF so that they will play active roles in the next generations.

We consider that it is important for IGF to transmit a clearer message to the world through its activities whale taking a more practical initiatives and encouraging the various stakeholders in the world to deepen their discussion over the Internet Governance.

I suppose that it is still fresh in your mind that the contract between the ICANN and the INEA ex paired on December 30th this year and the IANA function has been transferred to the goal multistakeholder community.  This transition has a crucial importance indicating indicating continues to be operated by the multistakeholder which include full and active participation by the private sector, Academia, Civil Society, and the Government.

In that sense, Japan sincerely welcomes the IANA function to transitions.  Finally I fully expect that discussions contributing to the Internet Governance of the future will be made at this IGFat the first meeting of an important event that is the renewal of IGF decided by the WSIS+10 High Level Meeting and the IANA functions to a transition.  Japan as a member of the multistakeholders would like to commit continuously so that the important resources of the Internet will be distributed smoothly.

Therefore, I would like to keep contributing the future of the Internet with you all through fruitful discussion and sharing best practices.  Thank you very much.

[ Applause ]

>> C. MASANGO:  Thank you very much, Vice‑Minister Suzuki.  I will now give the floor to Mr. Lawrence Strickling, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and Administration, NTIA, of the United States.

>> L. Strickling:  Thank you, we're now at the halfway point I believe so hang in there just a little bit longer.  Nearly 20 years ago, the United States promised to privatize the Internet's Domain Name System.

Two years ago, the United States announced its intent to complete the privatization once the multistakeholder community  completed a consensus plan for that transition.  That transition was discussed in great detail at the IGF in Istanbul in 2014 and again last year in Joao Pessoa.

 

Today I am pleased to appear at transition was completed as of October 1, 2016.So is United States Government now stands on an equal fatting with all other Governments with respect to ICANN and the Domain Name System.  For the past two years, the world has witnessed the power of the multistakeholder model of Internet Governance.  In developing the IANA transition plan stakeholders around the world including many of you have provided perhaps the most compelling demonstration the power of the multistakeholder model we have ever witnessed.  The challenge now before us is how can we expand and evolve the multistakeholder approach?  Can we build on the success of the IANA transition and on the outcome of the 10 year review of the World Summit on the Information Society to tackle other Internet policy challenges and to do this, we must understand and adhere to the attributes of a successful multistakeholder model.  Is clear the most effective multistakeholder processes are ones that one, include and integrate the viewpoints of a diverse range of stakeholders ensuring that historically underrepresented groups have a meaningfulful say in the policies that impact them.  Two it produces outcomes that are consensus based, reflect compromise and are broadly supported by the stakeholder communities.  Three, the agendas are built through bottom‑up contributions rather than delivering top‑down mandates and fourth, the process must earn its legitimacy by practicing openness and transparency and developing an environment of trust.  Let me elaborate on the legitimacy point because it is perhaps the most critical component.

Participants must have some trust in those convening the process and a sense that the world at large will accept and recognize the outcome of the process as authoritative.

So where does legitimacy come from?

Often that legitimacy may come from a government or some other "official" entity that convenes the process.

But Government does not have to be the legitimizing force.  The NTIA is an example of a multistakeholder body that gained legitimacy organically over the years and did not require the blessing of a government Agency like NTIA.  One thing is clear to be accepted as legitimate a process needs to be open to any participant and consciously include a diversity of stakeholders.  The Internet thrives today only through the cooperation of many different parties so solving or even meaningfully discussing policy issues in this space requires engaging participants from industry, Civil Society, Governments, technical experts and the academic communities.  Absent this openness and diversity it will be difficult to achieve the degree of legitimacy needed for a multistakeholder process to be successful.  And at the same time participants must know they will be the ones to make the decision and that it must be a consensus decision.

Expanding and evolving the multistakeholder process also requires a dedicated and concerted effort to educate people about the multistakeholder model.

It is up to those of us who support the model to build greater awareness and understanding of it among key policymakers, business leaders, and others around the world.

When we engage in those educational efforts, we must be direct and upfront and explain that multistakeholder processes are not easy.

They can be chaotic and they do require a serious commitment of time and energy from participants.

But we can point to a record of success.

We can explain that they offer a nimble, flexible approach, and are better suited to rapidly changing technology and markets than traditional regulatory or legislative models.

So I urge you to seize this moment.

Use the momentum generated by the recent success in completing the IANA transition to build on that experience and find opportunities to apply the multistakeholder model to those issues where it has the best chance to succeed.

Throughout this week in Guadalajara, as you engage in discussions with different stakeholders from around the world, consider how you can organize multistakeholder approaches back home in your own community.

Consider how you can join with other stakeholders regionally or globally to demonstrate the value of the multistakeholder Model and continue to engage in the IGF going forward:  This annual Forum, the National and Regional initiatives and the important dialogues and intersessional work it fosters.

This is the first IGF in the renewed 10‑year mandate we achieved in the WSIS review last December, and we have nine more years to look forward to continue to expand participation, enrich the dialogue, and, indeed, demonstrate the power of the system for all.

The world is waiting.

Let's get on with the task.

Thank you.

[ Applause ]

>> E.B. TORRES:  Thank you, Mr. Strickling.  Next up is Mrs. Kathy Brown, President and CEO, Internet Society.

>> K. Brown:  Good afternoon.  Once again, I'd like to thank the Government of Mexico for hosting this IGF, and the Multistakeholder Advisory Group, and you, Lynn, for putting forth such an excellent agenda.

And to all of you, friends and colleagues, for being here, especially the next generation of Internet leaders, 90 young activists from Mexico, the region, and around the world.  Thank you for staying to the end.

The open trusted global Internet has delivered on its promise as a tall to change lives, enhance communities, and to provide essential Human Services.  But the progress is uneven and threatened by challenges that have grown just as the Internet itself has grown.  I'd like to suggest to you, my friends and colleagues, that now is the time for the Internet Community to confront the most important challenges before us, to advance our shared objective of bringing the Internet to everyone everywhere.

First and foremost, as every speaker before me has said, we have only done half the job.  Connecting the unconnected remains a key challenge and deploying infrastructure, increasing usability, and enforcing and ensuring affordability are critical to creating an Internet that is truly for everyone.  Today we released a report entitled, beyond the net, showcasing the impact The Internet Society and its partners are making in providing connectivity to the least connected communities.  You'll find it on our home page.

We ask you all to join in this effort.  At the same time, multiple security issues are damaging user confidence, and have emerged as the existential threat to the future of the Internet.  The center society's global Internet report released last weeks calls for urgent attention to the growing problem of data breaches.  In addition, issues such as blocking of content, privacy, masseur vail lance ‑‑ mass surveillance, Cybercrime, hacking and fake news are all contributing to what is a growing global erosion of trust amongst users.

It is incumbent upon those of us who build, safeguard, and cherish the global, open Internet to be realistic about both the Internet's strengths and weaknesses.  We understand its technical vulnerabilities.  And the social and political challenges that are mounting.  We can best explain the Internet's openness as a means to protect it.  It is the key to robust, flexible, and agile solutions.  We can't let policies of fear damage the foundational values that have defined the Internet since its creation.  Openness, transparency, and inclusiveness.

At the WSIS review as Larry just spoke, the Governments of the world renewed the commitment to a collective, inclusive model for governing ourselves on the Internet.  We have the opportunity now to reinforce this multistakeholder approach, as we address today's pressing issues.  Collaboration, not isolation, is the way forward.

We're in a good position because the Internet's governance model and its technical architecture is designed to facilitate collaboration and change.  But change will not happen by itself.  It will take all of us working together to keep the Internet open and secure for future generations.  We have a choice:  We can let others take the lead, or we can be resolute and fate for the future we want.

The IGF is an ideal place to come together:  Civil Society, Governments, technical experts, and Academia, to find a coherent voice and insist on the model we fought for, and for the Internet we want.  We still have time, but there is urgency.  Our collective actions today will determine the Internet of opportunity that future generations will inherit, use, and build on.  Let's use this meeting in this wonderful place to recommit ourselves to the shared values and shared objective of bringing a global, open, trusted Internet to everyone everywhere.  Have a good meeting, and thank you.

[ Applause ]

>> C. MASANGO:  Thank you very much, Ms. Kathy Brown.  Our next speaker is Mr. Indrajit Banerjee, Director, of the Knowledge Societies Division, of UNESCO.

[ Applause ]

>> I. Banerjee:  Excellencies, developed participants, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of UNESCO, I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the Mexican Government for hosting the 11th IGF, which is an indication of their commitment to Internet Governance.

We had very fruitful sessions at the pre‑event yesterday and I have an exciting Program ahead of us.

I would also like to thank the dedicated Chair of the IGF, the IGF Secretariat and the Multi‑Stakeholder Advisory Group and all the other contributors for an inclusive, transparent and successful preparatory process.UNESCO is very pleased to contribute for the 11th time to an IGF, particularly now that it has been renewed for another 10 years.

This new medium‑term perspective is a testament to how successful the bottom‑up multi‑stakeholder approach of the IGF has been.

It is also an opportunity to plan further ahead, and we appreciate efforts made by the IGF chair and MAG members trying to take a holistic view of explore what we would like to achieve and cover over the next decade.

For UNESCO, the application and defence of all human rights online, in order, now I quote the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, "to bridge the digital divide and to develop knowledge societies," unquote, should be one of the pillars of IGF's future work.

Ensuring Human Rights online is a constantly growing challenge and at the same time vital for assuring peace and "enabling inclusive and sustainable growth," the theme of the IGF this year.

While we all know about the evolving Internet opportunities, we are also increasingly aware of the challenges we need to address.

The rise of social media, for example, has opened new avenues for free expression and at the same time, it has given rise to hate‑speech, cyberbullying, the  Cybercrime, threats to privacy and many such challenges.  It is however not just technology that is developing.  The recent IANA transition shows us the fundamental and exciting developments in the area of Internet Governance.

And at UNESCO's 38th General Conference, Member States adopted a new to Internet issues, based on the Outcome Document of the CONNECTing the Dots Conference, which many of you participated in.

This includes the Internet Universality concept and the ROAM principles, which stand for a Human Rights based, Open and Accessible and Multistakeholder‑shaped Internet.

Defending human rights online also means ensuring that access to information and knowledge is truly universal, that we continue to have an Internet, not a "splinternet."

But we need to go far beyond connectivity and infrastructure issues, when we think about universal access.

We need to therefore overcome also barriers in terms of education, of language, of available content, of enabling  policies and of capacity.  We need to address what are called soft challenges which constitute sometimes the biggest barriers.

We need to recognize that less

women and girls have access to the Internet and that little is done for people with disabilities to access the Internet.there are more than one billion people who suffer from one form of disability or the other and for them access is critical to empowerment and inclusion.

 

We need to better understand the whys and target our collective action. in that sense the IGF provides us with an excellent platform.

 

UNESCO is addressing these challenges through numerous activities.

Last year, UNESCO's Member States decided that 28 September is now the International Day for access to information.

UNESCO is also contribution to SDG 16.10 on public access to information, with a number of you as close partners.

At this IGF, UNESCO will be sharing findings from the latest edition of our Internet Freedom Series publications, and our work on the UNESCO Atlas of  Languages.

We will be contributing through discussions on judiciary systems, social media and youth radicalisation, and encryption.

Our Open Forum on Thursday will touch on our Internet‑related work on the SDGs, as well as explore topics relating to Internet Universality, on balancing transparency and privacy, and multilingualism and empowering people with disabilities.

There is still a lot of work left to create an online environment where human rights are protected, which is open, multistakeholder‑shaped, and accessible to all.

In this spirit, I wish us  productive and constructive changes and effective collaboration for the future of Internet Governance.  Thank you for your attention.

[ Applause ]

>> E.B. TORRES:  Thank you, Mr. Banerjee.  I'd now like to give the floor to Mr. Steve Crocker, CEO and co‑founder of Shinkuro, Chair of the ICANN Board.

[ Applause ]

>> S. Crocker:  Thank you all, and thank you very much for the invitation to speak hear, particularly since May colleague, Goran Marby has already spoken about ICANN and I have currently the privilege of being the Chair of the Board of ICANN, but I'll try to speak less about ICANN and more about the Internet as a whole, and to emphasize the positive.  And it's going to be a challenge, because almost everything that can be said has already been said.  That is the future of the Internet.  A friend of mine once said you can find everything on the Internet.  It's typed in every day over and over again.

I had the privilege of being part of the origins of this process, going back almost 50 years ago, and a few of us were sitting around a Table not much bigger than sort of the space I'm outlining here trying to figure out what we were going to do with this technology that was being presented to us and we had a blank slate, and not much guidance.

And we established not so much in a carefully thought out way but sort of in an intuitive way a principle of openness that actually evolved into three distinct and very important directions.

One was that from a technical perspective, the architecture needed to be open.  We could not anticipate, we did not know, all of the uses, all of the applications that would come into existence, but we knew that there would be many, and that they would be beyond whatever we might conceive of, and so it was vital that in the initial protocols that we defined, that we believed the hooks would leave the access so that it's not a sealed product so to speak but an open platform that people could add to.  That led to the idea of protocol layers, and worked out very nicely.

What's important here are the other two elements of openness that emerged.  We made all of the documentation, all of the thought processes, all of the dialogue accessible and open to anybody anywhere, free of charge, no problem whatsoever.  We didn't even think about it as that being unusual.  Later we learned that it was.  It's had absolutely dramatic impact.

The other element of openness was open participation.  It was not just the few of us who were involved in the initial discussions, but it was an open Forum that grew from a half dozen to a dozen to oh, my God, we've got 50 people, where are we going to put them all?  And it grew substantially, of course, past that.

The IETF is sort of the hallmark of that Forum today.  Hundreds of Working Groups still working on protocols.  You thought all the protocols were built.  Not so.  1,000‑plus people, between 1,000 and 2,000 people come to IETF meetings three times a year.  IETF is just one of multiple institutions that have grown up in this environment.  The Regional Internet Registries, The Internet Society, the Internet service providers, ICANN, more recently, and the IGF, of course.

The creation of these institutions in this open environment is another aspect, another consequence, of the openness, and it is vital to the continued growth, continued evolution, and continued success.

The Internet has affected and transformed almost every aspect of our lives, every aspect of our society.  There are obviously some challenges that it has presented.  We've heard about security.  There are challenges to governance.  There are challenges in every aspect, and, of course, these are on top of the enormous benefits and the enormous capabilities that it has brought us.

These will continue, and the challenge I think in front of us is not only to embrace and enhance and strengthen the institutions that we have but yet even to build new institutions that deal with some of the emergent problems where we do not yet have the proper governance mechanisms.

ICANN is a particular solution to a particular problem.  I've been very pleased to be strongly involved in it for a long period of time.  It sits at the intersection of the openness of the technology and the openness of the governance process, but it is not a solution to everything.  It is a solution to the particular tasks that we've set forth and I look forward to and fully expect that just like IGF, just like ICANN, there will be other institutions that get built.  You guys are going to do it.  Thank you.

[ Applause ]

>> C. MASANGO:  Thank you very much, Mr. Correct me if I'm wronger, our next speaker is Mr. Moctar Yedaly, head of the Information Society Division of the African Union Commission.

[ Applause ]

 

>> M. YEDALY:  Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen:

It is an honor and privilege to be here today and deliver these remarks on behalf of the African Union Commission.

It is always sad when I get into a gathering like that and I don't see many Africans in the room.  It's always telling me I still have a long, long way to go.

But having said that, we would like first of all to thank the Government and the people of Mexico for having us here and hosting this great event.  Our special thanks to the organisers, specifically the IGF Secretariat and the UNDESA.  The African Union Commission believes strongly on the IGF.  That's why we are ‑‑ we have and we still host the African Internet Governance Forum Secretariat, and we try to emulate that at each of the levels, meaning at the Regional level what we call the economic ‑‑ the Regional economic communities, and specifically within our countries.  So far, most of our countries have constituted the Internet Governance Forums and we have the five Regional economic communities also set up their own Regional Internet Governance Forums.  We have hosted the last one in Durban, and there will be a specific session with regard to that specifically on Thursday, and we're invitingology of you to participate on that.  The ICTs in general represent a unique opportunity for Africa to transform itself, and specifically to catch up with the rest of the world with regard to education, health, peace, and stability.  It is very important for us to make sure that Internet is being used properly to address those socioeconomic challenges we do have specifically to make sure that the governance is actually so appropriate that Africa will not be opening itself because of the lack of contents or because of lack of connectivity to expose itself to so‑called digital colonization.  We'd rather be part of the economics to make sure that our programmes with Africa and for Africa are being done properly.

We would like to thank everyone individuals, NGOs, companies, private sector, Internet Governance institutions who are assisting Africa to build their own digital agenda.  It is a tremendous work you are all doing, and you are all doing within Africa and Africa is really feeling grateful for that.

This is all I wanted to say from the African Union point of view.  Again by returning our thanks to everybody.  Our special thanks to one person Larry Strickling.  You have been part of the history.  You've made the IANA transition happen with all of us.  Thank you very much.

[ Applause ]

>> E.B. TORRES:  Thank you, Mr. Moctar.  The next speaker is Mrs. Maria Fernanda Garza, President and CEO of Orestia, ICC Mexico.

>> M. Garza.  Thank you very much.  I am chairwoman of the international chamber of commerce in Mexico and a member of the global Board of Directors of ICC.  I am also CEO and Founder of several enterprises outside the ICT Sector.  I am pleased to be here speaking on behalf of the ICC the world business organization, a global network of 6.5 million companies of all sizes and sectors in 130 and countries.  Since 2006, ICC has enabled many representatives from its network to come to the IGF each year under the umbrella of its business action to support the Information Society basis initiative.

To engage with colleagues from Civil Society, Governments, and technical community with the purpose of building common understanding of the opportunities and challenges presented by the evolution of the Information Society and the digital economy.  The business Sector that comes to the IGF each year is committed to the goal of the World Summit of Information Society, achieving a common vision:  Desire and commitment to build people‑centric, inclusive, and development‑oriented Information Society where everyone can create access, utilize and share information.  On this context we see the Internet as a boundless platform for products and services innovation, business opportunities, and social inclusion.  A critical enabler of social and economic change, and a facilitator of greater dialogue and collaboration between Governments, business, and citizens.

Internal influence on access, diversity, trust, openness, security rights, and multistakeholder participation will impact our ability to manage socioeconomic aspects of Sustainable Development.  Therefore, Internet Governance is a critical dialogue in shaping the evolution of global communication and knowledge, which is necessary for inclusive and Sustainable Growth.  The IGF chose for its 2016 theme:  Enabling inclusive and Sustainable Growth and we cannot think of a more fitting topic for the Internet Community to focus its collective energy on.

It is my understanding that on this first year of the IGF's new 10‑year mandate, IGF has taken some important steps to pursuing inclusivity in the event itself and in the Program.  This has been done both through outreach and active engagement of National and Regional initiatives.  It has also been achieved through community‑driven intercession activities and best practices Forum work.

In its aim to be more inclusive the IGF not only faces outward with outstretched arms but rallies the global Internet Community to engage with local communities.  This is important to raise awareness and to develop an understanding of why the topics we are addressing here at the IGF are important locally.

It also informs on how to engage and be part of the conversation.  I would like to encourage all communities represented here to continue this active effort to bring in new voices and that will enrich our discussion.  Last year, ICC acted as key focal point for business in the many processes that led to the creation of the 2030 development agenda and its landmark Sustainable Development Goals.  We recognize that to reach the SDGs, we need to harness the potential of ICT to accelerate Sustainable Development.

ICC basis wants to celebrate inclusion and share an example on how ICT can contribute to SDG number 10:  10 reduce inequalities.  That's why we have supported the participation in the ‑‑ the social enterprise laboratory at this year's IGF.  Laboratory empowers young women from low income backgrounds in several Latin American countries by giving them access to education and jobs in the digital Sector.  The private Sector, it is committed to playing its part in advancing this agenda with other stakeholders.  This includes helping to ensure an enabling environment for ICT to facilitate inclusive and sustainable development routes in a safe and secure Internet for business, Governments, and citizens alike.

A fully interoperable policy and legal framework, strict respect for Human Rights, both online and offline.

An open and competitive market in the Internet and Internet enabled products and services, vital for many emerging SMEs in developing economies.  And a sound policy development to facilitate the speedy adoption of new technologies that augment the use of Internet as a platform for innovation and economic growth.

ICC will double the efforts to ensure that the evolution of Internet Governance is good for business and good for society, staying faithful to the tenet that international trade, investment and a market economy with social responsibility are cornerstones for raising and spreading wealth.

Thank you for joining us here in Mexico for a new round of dialogue and progress for Internet Governance.  We look forward to working with all actors for a more connected, inclusive and sustainable future for all of us.

[ Applause ]

>> C. MASANGO:  Thank you very much.  I'd like to welcome to the floor Mr. Jari Arkko, Chair of the IETF.

[ Applause ]

>> I'm very happy to be here in Mexico and the Conference.  The topics of the week are very important and to begin with I wanted to join others who noted the IANA transition in their speech.  I want to congratulate us all for successful completion of the project.  The new arrangements are in effect and working well.  They're done.  Time to move on.  Let's talk about on going efforts and future challenges.  Many of you have noted the important task of connecting the remaining billions of people to the Internet.  That is a very important task and it's still ahead of us but ladies and gentlemen that is not enough.  Not just a matter of high‑speed broadband.  Quantity and quality.  The openness, the local or localized content and excess surveillance.  Three years ago I was at the first IGF in Bali.  At the time Snowden revelations came to light and I talked about how we at IETF started to react to it and asked for your help in working together on this topic.

Many things have happened since then and I wanted to give you a brief report on where we are.  In short, the IGF decided surveillance is like any other threat.  Something we need to do our best in protecting against.  We have been updating protocols to help with this.  We replace weak algorithms.  If you want to know about the details I'd like to refer you to an Article that appeared today in the register.  I think my colleagues may be Tweeting that URL as we speak.

At the same time, the world's service providers have also taken steps in improving security.  As an indication of a big global change encrypted traffic is now a maturity of traffic in many networks.  One of the efforts that we currently are working with at the IETF is a new transport protocol likely to replace many of the current TCP connections providing security and efficiency benefits to users.  Maybe this new protocol is just a detail but it's actually also an architectural change in that it puts the end points and applications even more in charge than they have been before.

Expect to see much faster technology evolution when changes do not require kernel updates as an example.

And whale technology is not a solution to all of this openness and other problems, we also need other aspects, and while there's plenty of work left to do each technically for instance helping operators deal with traffic management in an all encrypted world, I'm still proud of the progress to date.  I look forward to working with you all on the next steps.  So thank you.

[ Applause ]

>> E.B. TORRES:  Thank you, Mr. Arkko.  The next speaker is Ms. Michele Woods, Director, Copyright Law Division, WIPO.

[ Applause ]

>> M. Woods:  On behalf of the WIPO Director‑General, Francis Curry, we welcome the opportunity to participate in this important meeting on enabling sustainable and inclusive growth.  The world intellectual property organization together with its 189 Member States works to promote an effective international intellectual property system that enables innovation and creativity for the economic, social, and cultural development of all countries.

 

Some of you may say to yourselves, even if you are too polite to say it to us:

What does this have to do with Internet governance?Over the next few days we'll demonstrate again and again that in fact intellectual property and Internet Governance writ large have numerous areas of convergence.  A well balanced and well‑functioning intellectual property system contributes to Inclusive and Sustainable Growth by both providing guarantees and incentives for innovation to take place and for creators to flourish and by providing for flexibilities and exceptions to the scope of protection that help to guarantee that the interests of society, the general public, and individual users and consumers are also taken into account.

 

Earlier today, WIPO joined in discussing the importance of finding the right balance in a lightning session on "finding the balance:  access to knowledge and culture online."     .

Much of that knowledge and culture is embodied in copyrighted content.  We will offer programming here that illustrates both of these IP perspectives:  The rights and the exceptions.  And their importance for Sustainable Growth.  This morning we heard film producers from developing economies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America discuss the importance of the intelluctual property system in setting up the legal framework and business environment for them to create local content.  The Internet has created important new mechanisms for content creation, distribution, and consumption, which in turn have driven growth in the creative industries Sector of the economy.  From the economic perspective, we see a growing awareness of the contribution of creative industries to National economies.

WIPO studies show that across developing transitional and developed economies, on average, the creative industries account for some 5.2% of GDP, and some 5.3% of total employment.  More evidence is provided by our global innovation index which measures the innovation performance of over 140 countries.  The broad GII vision of innovation includes familiar IGF themes of access and use, Internet freedom, knowledge diffusion, and online creativity, among others.

The results in recent years have reiterated that digital innovation is a key driver of economic growth.  We've briefly touched now on the importance of content for the Internet ecosystem, and I want to address the other side of the balance.  Tomorrow, in our WIPO open Forum, we will focus on the role of the Internet in implementing the flexibilities and exceptions to intellectual property rights.  We will use the specific example of the WIPO Marrakesh Treaty.  This Treaty embodying the values of the CRPD can exponentially improve the lives of many 285 million persons in the world who are blind and visually impaired because of the Internet.  That will be the vehicle to allow the instant cross‑border transfer of accessible books in digital formats which will allow people in all member countries access to education, learning, and the complete expression of their own culture, despite their visual impairments and disabilities.

The Marrakesh Treaty development process is also relevant to the on going discussion here at the IGF about multilateralism and multistakeholderism.  Stakeholders drove the progress of the Marrakesh Treaty at all stages.  We'll be joining a discussion tomorrow on what lessons that hybrid, open, transparent process can bring to multilateral institutions.

We will also highlight the role of the public/private, multistakeholder WIPO accessible books consortium, the ABC, in making the promise of the Marrakesh Treaty a reality by using the Internet to move content across borders and the Internet will also be the key driver for WIPO's crucial contribution to the achievement of SDGs 9 and 19, with a focus on education, and innovation.

In general, the key IGF theme of increasing access to process, to content, and to distribution mechanisms has been an important recent focus of our work.  We look forward to discussing both our new open access policy and our use of creative comments licensing with many of you the next few days.

I could go on and on through the entire Program with more examples of convergence between Internet Governance and intellectual property, but I'm sure those of you who are still here will be glad to hear I'm not going to do that exercise.  Instead, I will simply ask you to partner with us to raise awareness of the intellectual property system and to ask Governments around the world to provide an appropriate framework to allow the Internet to deliver inclusive, Sustainable Growth to all economies.  Thank you.

[ Applause ]

>> C. MASANGO:  Thank you very much, Ms. Woods.  The next and last but certainly not least speaker is English near José Luis Saca Jiménez, President of the international Association of broadcasting.

[ Applause ]

>> Jose Luis Saca Jimenez:  Thank you.  I will be brief I know.  I'm the last one to speak in this session.  First of all, I'm Jose Luis Saca Jimenez, President of the international Association of broadcasting which is one of the 8 Members of the world meetings on broadcasting and it is an honor for me to present my speech here today at the IGF.

And as well as I have done so in the past in the IGF fora.

I would like to comment that the international Association of Associationing has been port of this process the past few years especially since it has been organized with the European Union for broadcasting and the World Summit on broadcasting and we will ‑‑ we have supported and we will keep supporting the IGF in its following years.

We are looking towards 10 more years during which we can do many things and overcome many challenges and leave things behind, set standards and quality standards for all of us.  Of course, we seek to establish Sustainable Development for all of our country, and wish to support content providers around the world.  We are also a fundamental part of democracy, and keep promoting freedom of expression.

We support the United Nations' objectives, especially when it comes to the SDGs.  These are goals that we share with all of you, and we know that along with the progress of the Internet and broadcasters, we will be able to profit greatly from all of these technologies.

Let's not forget that it is through the free reception media that is used around the world, over 95% of radio and over 80% regarding television, that we seek to overcome and achieve these goals.

In this way, the Internet can also be developed in other areas of this Sector.  Finally I would like to say this step being taken here in Guadalajara is a very important one regarding all of the goals that broadcasters share around the world, regarding the progress of our societies.  Thank you.

[ Applause ]

>> C. MASANGO:  Thank you very much.  With these comments I think we have concluded the opening session, and I would like to thank all of you who stayed behind.  Thank you very much.  And I wish you all a very pleasant and fruitful IGF 2016.  Thank you.

[ Applause ]

[ End of Session – 18:45 ]

 

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This text is being provided in a rough draft format.  Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings.

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