Press release

25 Nov 2014

Beirut

Third Meeting of the Arab Internet Governance Forum Opens Tomorrow

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Lebanese Minister of Telecommunications Boutros Harb, ESCWA Executive Secretary Rima Khalaf, Lebanese Minister of State for Administrative Reform Nabil de Freige, and Director General of Ogero Telecom Abdulmunim Youssef tomorrow inaugurate the “Third Annual Meeting of the Arab Internet Governance Forum (AIGF-III)” at 9:30 AM at the Movenpick Hotel, Beirut. The master of ceremony in the opening session will be the media figure Mounir el Hafi. The forum will include two days of thematic workshops and plenary sessions under the main theme "Arab Perspective for Shaping the Future of the Internet". It will address the following sub-themes: Internet Infrastructure and Access; Internet Global Public Policies, and National Policy-Making; Openness: Rights and Responsibilities; and Privacy and Rebuilding Trust. Participants in the meeting will be all stakeholders interested in internet governance issues from governments, the business sector, civil society, technical community and academia, and intergovernmental organizations. Also present will be policy and decision makers and experts in the area of Internet governance from within and outside the Arab region. The event is organized under the joint umbrella of the Arab IGF process, ESCWA and the League of Arab States (LAS), and with the close cooperation of the Egyptian National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA) – the host of the Arab IGF Secretariat – and in consultation with the Arab Multistakeholder Advisory Group (AMAG). A pre-event on capacity building was held today on Internet governance, with the participation of trainers from various stakeholders in the area of Internet governance. The event was opened by Chief of the ESCWA Information and Communication Technology Policies Section and Chairman of AIGF-III Ayman El-Sherbiny. The event covered Internet governance areas and issues that interest all stakeholders in the Arab region and at the international level. It highlighted the working definition of Internet governance and addressed the areas infrastructure, critical Internet resources, cybersecurity, privacy, and covered freedoms, openness, and discussed the Internet governance processes and the international developments in this area. The Arab IGF was established in 2012 within the partnership framework between ESCWA and LAS similar to the global IGF, launched by the United Nations Secretary-General in 2006, following the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society. As the global IGF, the Arab IGF provides a platform that brings together all stakeholders to engage in open dialogue on internet-related public policy issues and priorities of the Arab region. * *** * For more information on the forum, kindly visit: http://www.escwa.un.org/information/meetingdetailsAR.asp?referenceNUM=3361a For your queries, kindly contact: ESCWA Communication and Information Unit (ECIU) on either of the following numbers: +961-70-993 144, +961-03-910 930, +961-76-04 64 02. Please direct your emails to: escwa-ciu@un.org
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