The 2015 IGF is under way

The preparations for the 2015 IGF which will take place in João Pessoa, Brazil from 10 to 13 November will commence on 1 December 2014 with Open stakeholder consultations and the MAG meeting. These meetings will take place in Geneva and they will be hosted by the ITU.

The final year of the second five-year cycle is important for the renewal of the mandate of the IGF. The work of the Forum will be scrutinized in a framework of different processes that will contribute to the final decision of the United Nations General Assembly. The main reference document in this respect, of course, is the Recommendations of the CSTD Working Group on Improvements to the IGF. But a variety of other perceptions will also be taken into account. 

The 2015 edition of the IGF will take place in Brazil, where earlier this year the NETmundial took place. The outcome document of the Sao Paulo conference was very positive towards strengthening of the IGF and ensuring the extension of its mandate. Certainly, the Brazilian hosts will spare no effort in bringing the spirit of NETmundial into the João Pessoa IGF meeting.

The Open consultations that are scheduled on 1 December 2014 will focus on the analysis of the very successful Istanbul meeting and examine the impact of other Internet governance processes for the preparations and scope of the 2015 IGF. Participants will be able to discuss how the outcomes of the ITU 2014 Plenipotentiary Conference pertinent to Internet governance, or the NETmundial Initiative launched by ICANN, WEF and Brazil, should be factored into the structure of the 2015 IGF

The tasks for the MAG at the two-day meeting are multiple. We need to define the overall structure of the IGF meeting and the preparatory process that will lead to it. We need to review the existing workshop selection practice in order to take into account the lessons from the Istanbul process. We also need to revisit the main session preparation mechanism and see what improvements should be introduced to make the main sessions more dynamic and interactive. 

The best practices initiative of the 2014 IGF proved to be successful. The next edition of the IGF should continue to work on the compilation of best practices that will serve the global community and the developing world in particular. The MAG is expected to identify up to five new topics and design a process that will lead to the presentation of the documents at the Brazil meeting.

In planning the next IGF, the MAG also needs to keep in mind that next year will be critical given that the WSIS + 10 review high level conference will occur in December 2015.  In particular, the 2015 IGF meeting in November will take place at a decisive time in the intergovernmental negotiations of the WSIS +10 review.  The MAG should consider how the IGF could serve as a platform to engage nongovernmental stakeholders in this important discussion.

Other issues, like dynamic coalitions and their relation to IGF, the calendar of preparations for the Brazil meeting, and engagement with national and regional IGFs will be discussed as well.

The MAG should consider how to better communicate the outcomes of the IGF. The publication of the Istanbul IGF Report as a document of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference is a positive example of proactive communication. Many informative discussions are taking place at the IGF and we need to find ways of informing the rest of the world about them.

Let us work together to make the 2015 IGF meeting in Brazil an example of multistakeholder cooperation that benefits all.

Jānis Kārkliņš

Ambassador of Latvia, Chair of the MAG