Kuwait Hosts First Annual Arab Internet Governance Forum

Under the joint patronage of the League of Arab States (LAS) and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the First Annual Arab Internet Governance Forum (IGF) will be hosted by the Kuwait Information Technology Society (KITS) on 9-11 October 2012, at the Regency Kuwait Hotel. The meeting will be held in collaboration with the Arab IGF Secretariat represented by the National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA) of Egypt, and is sponsored by a number of institutions, including Zain, Réseaux IP Européens (RIPE), ICANN and APTLD. The First Annual Arab IGF will open at 09:30 on Tuesday 9 October, and address the themes of Access, Openness, Security and Privacy, Content, Managing Critical Internet Resources, and Youth. The Arab IGF process was established following the Conference and Public Consultation to Establish the Arab IGF (Beirut, 31/1-1/2/2012) and its outcome document that was supported by the 31st Meeting of the Executive Bureau of Arab Telecommunications and Information Council of Ministers (Beirut, 2 February 2012). The Arab IGF is an instrument intended to implement the Arab Regional Roadmap for Internet Governance: Framework, Principles and Objectives that was prepared by ESCWA and LAS in 2010. Its process represents a decentralized platform for dialogue and policy consultations among all stakeholders, including governments, private sector, civil society, academics, technical community, and regional and international organizations, to discuss and debate topics and issues concerning the policies on Internet use that are important and relevant to the Arab region. * *** * For more information: http://arabigf.kits.org.kw, http://igfarab.org, www.facebook.com/ArabIGF, twitter.com/igfarab