I participated at the WSIS Forum organized by the ITU in Geneva Switzerland from 12 to 16 June 2017 on behalf of ICANN. I spoke at the session “Harnessing the potential of Government officials for participation in Internet Governance” organized by ICANN.
During the forum, I had the chance to meet with the ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. Mr Zhao reiterated his support to a stronger relationship and collaboration between ICANN and ITU.
The session was a roundtable discussion in the form of a multi-stakeholder dialogue on capacity development initiatives by the ICANN Community, and in particular the Government Advisory Committee, and other organizations, to work on specific issues of interest for governments in underserved regions with respect to the development of the Internet and specific policy and regulatory issues pertaining to it. It reflected on successful recent meetings in Nairobi, Kenya, in Nadi, Fiji, and others with governments and other stakeholders and discuss how this approach could be replicated in other underserved regions in general.
Moderator
Moderator Alice Munyua, ICANN GAC USR Co-Chair
Speakers/Panellists
- Thomas Schneider, OFCOM Switzerland
- Susan Telschter, ITU, Switzerland
- Khaled Koubaa, ICANN Board
- Anne-Rachel Inne, ICANN, Niger
- Jovan Kurbalija, DIPLO, Switzerland
- Representative of AUC, Ethiopia
- Representative of Kenya Government