SECRETARY-GENERAL ESTABLISHES ADVISORY GROUP TO ASSIST HIM

 

IN CONVENING INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM

 

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today established an Advisory Group to assist him in convening the Internet Governance Forum, a new forum for a multi-stakeholder dialogue on Internet governance.  The Group includes 47 members from Government, the private sector and civil society, including the academic and technical communities, who represent all regions of the world (see list below).  It is chaired by Nitin Desai, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), who may also select special advisers to assist him.

The Advisory Group will meet on 22 and 23 May in Geneva, following an open consultation on 19 May, also in Geneva.  Its main task is to prepare the substantive agenda and programme for the first meeting of the Internet Governance Forum, which is to be held in Athens from 30 October to 2 November.  Decisions on how to prepare subsequent meetings and on any future structure and working methods of the Forum will be taken in light of the experiences gained during the preparatory process for the Athens meeting.

The Internet Governance Forum is an outcome of the Tunis phase of the WSIS, which took place in November 2005.  In the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, Governments asked the Secretary-General to convene the Forum, giving it the mandate to discuss the main public policy issues related to Internet governance, in order to foster the Internet’s sustainability, robustness, security, stability and development.

Governments called for the Forum to be convened in an “open and inclusive process”.  Accordingly, the Advisory Group will carry out its work in an open, inclusive and transparent manner, and will seek to make the best possible use of electronic working methods, including online consultations.

List of members

Chairman

Desai, Nitin

Delhi/Mumbai - Special Adviser to the Secretary-General for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)

Members

Agrawala, Pankaj	Delhi - Joint Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
Akinsanmi, Titilayo	Johannesburg - Programme Manager, SchoolNet Africa; Global Facilitator of the WSIS Youth Caucus
Akplogan, Adiel	Port Louis - Chief Executive Officer, Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for Africa - AfriNIC
Al-Shatti, Qusai	Kuwait City - Deputy Chairman of Kuwait Information Technology Society (KITS)
Bayramov, Ayaz	Baku - Head of Department for International Relations and Cooperation with NGOs, Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies
Bicalho, José	Brasilia - Member of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee; Advisor to the Board of Directors of the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel)
Clarke, Trevor	Geneva - Permanent Representative of Barbados to the United Nations Office at Geneva
Daftardar, Abdullah M.	Riyadh - Senior Executive, Communications and Information Technology Commission
Dardailler, Daniel	Nice - Associate Chair for Europe, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C); Member, Board of Directors, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
D’Costa, Valerie	Singapore - International Director, Info-Communication Development Authority, Singapore
Diop Diagne, Ndeye Maimouna	Dakar - Directrice des NTIC, Ministère des Postes, Télécommunications et Nouvelles Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (NTIC)
Disspain, Chris	Carlton - Victoria, Chair, Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) Council; Chief Executive Officer, .au Registry
Echeberría, Raúl	Montevideo - Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer, Latin America and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (LACNIC)
El-Nawawy, Mohamed	Cairo - Chairman and Managing Director, TE Data
Fältström, Patrik	Stockholm - Consulting Engineer, Cisco Systems; Member, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF); Member, Swedish Government Information Technology Policy and Strategy Group
Gallagher, Michael D.	Washington D.C. - Chairman of the Communications Group, Perkins Coie LLC
Graham, Bill	Ottawa - Director, International Telecommunication Policy and Coordination, Industry Canada
Gross, Robin D.	San Francisco, California - Executive Director, IP Justice
Hassan, Ayesha	Paris - Senior Policy Manager, e-Business, Information Technology, and Telecoms, Executive in charge of Information and Communication Technology Policy, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
Hellmonds, Peter	Munich - Vice President, Public and International Affairs, Siemens AG
Hofmann, Jeanette	Berlin - Researcher, Social Science Research Center
Iriarte, Erick	Lima - Executive Director, Alfa-Redi
Kafi, Abdullah	Dacca - Managing Director, J A N Associates Limited; former President, Bangladesh Computer Society
Kārkliņš, Jānis	Geneva - Permanent Representative of Latvia to the United Nations Office at Geneva
Katoh, Masanobu	Tokyo - Corporate Vice President; President, Law and Intellectual Property Unit and Security Export Control Headquarters, Fujitsu Limited
Katundu, Michael	Nairobi - Principal Officer, Information Technology Communications Commission
Khan, Masood	Geneva - Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations Office at Geneva
Kovács, Kálmán	Budapest - Minister of Informatics and Communications
Lohento, Gemma Brice (Ken)	Dakar - Panos Institute West Africa, Coordinator, Center for International information and communication technology Policies for Central and West Africa (CIPACO)
Markovski, Veni	Sofia - Chair of the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee; Member, Board of Directors, ICANN
Oliver, Colin	Canberra - General Manager, International Communications, Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts
Papadatos, George	Athens – Minister Plenipotentiary, Department of International Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Peake, Adam	Tokyo - Executive Research Fellow/Associate Professor, Center for Global Communications (GLOCOM), International University of Japan
Pisanty, Alejandro	Mexico City - Director of Computing Academic Services, Universidad Autónoma de México; Director ISOC Mexico; Vice Chair, Board of Directors, ICANN
Quaynor, Nii	Accra - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Network Computer Systems; President, Internet Society of Ghana
Sha'ban, Charles	Amman - Executive Director, Regional Office, Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP)
Shears, Matthew	Copenhagen - Director of Public Policy, Internet Society (ISOC)
Sierra, Colombo	Buenos Aires - Chief of Cabinet, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Singer, Christian	Vienna - Head of Division, Federal Ministry of Transportation
Slizen, Vitaliy	Moscow - Head of Department, Information and Communication Ministry
Swinehart, Theresa	Marina del Rey, California - Vice President, Global and Strategic Partnerships, ICANN
Taylor, Emily	Oxford - Nominet (.uk), Director of Legal and Policy
Wessberg, Arne	Helsinki - President, European Broadcasting Union (EBU); President, International Institute of Communication
Xiaokun, Yang	Geneva - First Secretary, Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva
Yahaya, Issah	Accra - Head of Policy Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation/Telecoms, Ministry of Communications
Zangl, Peter	Brussels - Deputy Director-General, Directorate General for Information Society and Media, European Commission

For further information, please visit www.intgovforum.org or contact Markus Kummer, Executive Coordinator, Secretariat of the Internet Governance Forum, tel.: +41 0 22 917 54 88, e-mail:  mkummer@unog.ch.

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For information media • not an official record