[AfrICANN-discuss] Invitation to IGF Cairo

[Alioune Traore]

Hi everybody!
egyptian are really doing good.
I hope that they enthousiame and actions will push all african's 
country do there best for playing real role in the development 
of all aspect of Internet.
Best regards
 
Dr Alioune Badara TRAORE
+223 6678 58 31
+223 6675 25 56




________________________________
De : Dandjinou Pierre <pdandjinou at gmail.com>
À : africann at afrinic.net
Envoyé le : Lundi, 9 Mars 2009, 11h48mn 07s
Objet : [AfrICANN-discuss] Invitation to IGF Cairo


Dear all,

I am sharing below the declaration by the Egyptian representative at the IGF sessioon of the 34th ICANN meeting which has just concluded in Mexico.

best regards
Pierre Dandjinou

(Declaration by Mrs Manal, Egypt)

Let me first, on behalf of Egypt, start by congratulating the IGF chair, secretariat and all MAG members on their tireless efforts in holding the past 3 forums and to applaud the professional organization by the previous 3 hosts, in Athens, Rio & Hyderabad, which would definitely make our job much more difficult.  
Egyptis very proud to be hosting the coming IGF in Sharm El-Sheikh on November 15th to 18th.  The IGF proved to be a perfect forum for discussions and exchange of information and experience.  It’s flexibility in terms of topics and format of discussion helps promoting it as a platform where participants can converse freely, highlight common points of agreement and identify points which need further discussion.  It also helps participants to have common understanding of problems and try to reach a way forward.  
Egyptbelieves it is important that the IGF continue beyond its 5-year mandate, maintaining its multi-stakeholder approach in public policy discussions and capacity building and acting as a venue for policy coherence, inter-professional dialogue and enhanced cooperation.  We look forward to further discussions on the future of the IGF  process during the forth forum in Sharm El-Sheikh, hoping that we would be able to maintain the balance and give enough time to discussions on both; the themes of the upcoming forum as well as the IGF review process.
I would like also to share with you where we stand today in terms of preparations both as a host country and as a participant to the forum. 
As you may know, the topics and themes discussed at the IGF are normally decided by members of the MAG, so it might be a bit early to talk about those right now, yet Egypt would definitely like to see more focus on an agenda that serves the region, which would certainly be more of a developmental agenda.  
Issues such as Multilingualism, policies that encourage local Content development, promoting regional & global coordination on Cyber Security & online Child Safety as well as challenges related to Access in terms of availability and affordability are all topics of interest.
As Egypt has always been an active participant to the IGF process, we are trying, within the multiple regions we belong to, to raise awareness of the event and to promote it as an opportunity for raising issues of common interest, as well as an opportunity for capacity building and for getting introduced to new topics and to participating to the policy making of emerging issues as well.  We're also trying to highlight how the forum is flexible in terms of the topics discussed and the format of discussion as well as the flexibility in means of getting one's voice heard either through physical attendance or via remote participation as well as highlight how the forum’s non-binding output still influences decisions made by other relevant bodies.
We are also aware that, on the national level, our interest in the IGF agenda will never be pushed forward unless there is collective participation from all national stakeholders.  It is no secret that the government of Egypt is more active, on the international level, than other stakeholders within the country.  So we are working on encouraging collective participation from all national stakeholders.  We’re having various national and regional activities taking place between now and November.  
We've had a capacity building course with DiploFoundation on general IG issues tackled from all different points of views, policy, technical, legal and business.  We've also held a session on Internet Governance in cooperation with the International Chamber of Commerce ICC-BASIS, which tackled the issue from a business perspective.  The session aimed at encouraging more involvement from the local business sector not only during the upcoming IGF meeting but also afterwards.  The session focused on the business sector as the driving force for Internet development, how the business sector worldwide is directly affected by Internet public policies and what role can the business sector play in shaping this policy making; thus ultimately answering why the Egyptian business sector should care to participate.  This awareness raising was very important not only on the thematic level but also, and even more importantly, in terms of mapping and linking our
 national dialogue to the global dialogue of the IGF where same issues and many more are being discussed.  The Egyptian business community has always participated in the making of national Internet policies since early 90’s and hence the expertise are there and are aware of topics only missing that link between our national dialogue and what's taking place on the international level. 
It’s not only the Egyptian business voice that is not adequately represented but also other stakeholders from Egypt too.  We still have more activities planned between now and November including a Summer School on Internet Governance in cooperation with Arhus University and Prof. Wolfgang & the Arab World Internet Institute, we also have plans for exchange of experiences with other national IGFs as well as holding specialized thematic workshops on topics of interest to our national stakeholders; thus trying to bring everyone onboard.  We are also trying to put in place, in cooperation with ISOC, a one-day African IG event during the next AfriNIC/AfNOG meeting in May, which will be hosted in Cairo.  And normally we have ongoing coordination with Arab countries through working groups of the League of Arab States.
Now, before getting into logistics, I would like first to thank our Indian and Brazilian colleagues who have been very helpful in voluntarily sharing with us their experiences and giving us all the tips and advices that may help us with our preparations.  
As you may know, the next forum will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh, a beautiful famous resort which you will hopefully find peaceful and quite to work in the morning and very enjoyable and entertaining after the meetings.  The event will be held at the Congress Center which is a state-of-the-art center used for all major events held in Sharm El-Sheikh.  
As Sharm El-Sheikh is Known for its wonderful beaches and being a target destination by tourists of all nationalities, there are hotels of all different categories and widely ranging prices all over the city.  Preferential rates of the event will range from around 80 USD up to 200 USD which we hope would suit all participants.  Those special rates will extend 5 days prior and after the event time for participants wishing to come earlier or extend their stay in Sharm.  The city is not big and has no much traffic, so no matter where you decide to stay, you'll still be a few minutes drive from the venue, yet not a walking distance because it's sometimes a long walk even to come out of the hotel.  
There will be shuttling between the venue and the event’s official hotels which will be announced, as soon as settled, on the event's website.  Sharm El-Sheikh is a 45-minute flight from Cairo and there are already a number of scheduled flights between Cairo & Sharm every day.  There are also flights from some parts of Europe that go directly to Sharm.  There will be meet and assist at both airports, in Cairo & Sharm El-Sheikh.  Egyptair will be the official carrier of the event and will be providing 15-25% discount on air tickets for conference participants.  Additionally, there will be an official travel agent who can prepare in advance day excursions and other local trips. 
All this information and much more will be posted to the event's website, which is igf09.eg, it is still under construction but is expected to be ready by next week.  
And last but not least we are arranging for an unforgettable social event and are eagerly waiting to receiving you all in Sharm El-Sheikh.


      
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