MULTISTAKEHOLDER ADVISORY GROUP RENEWED TO PREPARE INTERNET GOVERNANCE

FORUM MEETING IN HYDERABAD, INDIA, 3-6 DECEMBER

The membership of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group, which is entrusted with assisting in the preparations for the annual meeting of the Internet Governance Forum, has been renewed.

A total of 50 members, 17 among them new, have been appointed.  This represents a renewal of one third of its membership.  The members of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group are from all stakeholder groups representing Governments, private sector and civil society, including the academic and technical communities, representing all regions.

The Special Adviser for Internet Governance to the Secretary-General, Nitin Desai, has been asked to continue as the Chairman of the Advisory Group.  The Chairman may select special advisers to assist him.  Representatives of relevant intergovernmental organizations and the European Commission are also invited to attend the meetings of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group.

All members serve in their personal capacity, but are expected to have extensive linkages with their respective stakeholder groups.  The main task of the Advisory Group is to provide advice on the preparations of the next meeting of the Internet Governance Forum, which is to be held in Hyderabad, India, from 3 to 6 December.

The renewed composition of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group is the result of broad-based consultations.  It reflects a widely held view that the Group should represent a better balance in terms of geographical diversity and gender.  The Group now includes 16 women among its 50 members, compared to 9 in its previous composition.

As part of its mandate, the Multistakeholder Advisory Group has been asked to continue efforts to enhance the transparency of the preparatory process by ensuring a continuous flow of information between its members and the various interested groups.

The assistance of the Advisory Group in planning the annual meeting of the Internet Governance Forum is appreciated and the outgoing members of the Group are thanked for their work and support.

The Internet Governance Forum is an outcome of the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, which took place in 2005.  In the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, Governments asked the Secretary-General to convene a “new forum for policy dialogue” to discuss issues related to key elements of Internet governance and set out the Forum’s mandate.

The Forum’s first two meetings took place in Athens in November 2006 and in Rio de Janeiro in November 2008.

For further information and a list of members, 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