The inaugural ceremony of United Nations second Internet Governance Forum (IGF) has been held on Monday November 12 2007 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Governments, business entities, civil society members from around the
world were present in the inaugural meeting of the Forum. The forum
will continue until the 15th of November 2007 following a number of sessions and workshops on the issues around the internet.
Mr. Sha Zukang, Under Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs,
read
out the message from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, terming
the IGF as a landmark event that deals with the issue of internet
governance. He emphasised that the internet has become a fact, a tool in
our globalised world which serves to promote peace, security and
human rights.
"We do embrace a forum whose platform proposes that the internet reaches the 5 billion of the world population that still doesn’t have access,"
Sha Zukang told
the audience. He termed the IGF not as a traditional meeting, "its about
international cooperation that aims at bringing people together through
discussing, exchanging information and sharing good practices and
lessons to maximise the opportunity it brings."
He
expressed concerns about the importance of the relationship of children and
young people that opens up cultures and diversity. "Their safety needs
to be taken care of," he mentioned.
Sergio Rezende, the Brazilian minister of Science and Technology
in his speech, said that the internet is a credible vehicle for liberating economic
opportunity, which has also a clear link to the social world such as
freedom of expression, distribution of content, new insights that bring
greater understanding for humankind. Terming the IGF as a unique
opportunity for all, he insisted on the multistakeholder nature of it, which, he argued, brings all
together to act on a common cause.
Mr. Roberto Mangabeira Unger, extraordinary minister for Strategic Affairs,
Brazil, inaugurated the function with
Sha Zukang, Under Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.
Roberto Mangabeira Unger termed the internet as the most revolutionary
innovation for mankind. He emphasised the importance of internet
governance reiterating the great topics that will be discussed in the IGF during the coming four days: access, diversity, openness and security.
Sérgio Rezende, Minister of Science and
Technology,
Brazil, came back to say that the
internet in inhabited by a political and economical vision. "It is a means of creating
alternatives, it has the potential to make the revolution for peace," he said.
Mr.
Augusto César Gadelha Vieira, coordinator of CGI.br spoke about the usefulness of emphasising
the role of the internet for the global community.
The Association
for Progressive Communication (APC), recognised as an important
stakeholder in the arena, considers the IGF as
one of most significant and innovative public spaces. APC sees as the
most important challenge and prime topic at the second Internet
Governance Forum (IGF): internet for development. This development can
be addressed by looking into a set of themes that are all related to
digital inclusion: Access; Internet governance; Financing; Human
rights; participation in public policy processes; Gender equality; ICTs
& sustainable development.
Ahmed Swapan Mahmud from
Rio De Janeiro,
Brazil