Internet is everywhere a part of our lives, its importance most vividly captured in the recent news in the Middle East for political change, and in Japan in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami. This importance has been noticed by governments, business and civil society groups. As a result, in 2003 and then in 2005, the United Nations organised the World Summit on the Information Society to discuss Internet governance. The topic is not about the rules of the Internet as much as how the rules are made and perhaps more critically, how good rules can be made.
A study group was formed by then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and 40 persons appointed to the UN Working Group on Internet Governance in 2004. The result was the creation of the global-level Internet Governance Forum. In 2010, to give inputs to the UN after five years, the Asia Pacific Regional IGF (APrIGF) was organized and held in Hong Kong. This was a very successful event as it had support from many Hong Kong entities.
Today, Asia has the strongest growing demand for Internet addresses. That is more and more people in Asia are using the Internet. In contrast to North America and Europe, demand for the Internet in Asia is not only growing but growing at an accelerating rate.
This year, the second Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF) will be held at such a propitious time. It will be held in Singapore 16 to 17 June 2011. It will bring together some 300 senior Government and private sector representatives as well as the technical and academic community from across the region to exchange ideas and shape the future of Internet governance in this part of the world. Among the wide-ranging topics to be discussed will be accessibility to the Internet, intellectual property issues and online security concerns. Of significance is the launch of the Chinese and Tamil domain names in Singapore. This is particularly noteworthy as it was a group of Singaporeans that spearheaded the drive for multilingual domain names. Further, the findings from the forum will be submitted to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) for possible inclusion into the agenda.
To attend the forum, please register your participation here or simply send an email to aprigf.sg@ntu.edu.sg and a representative will contact you soon. www.http://2011.rigf.asia
Bazlu
______________________
AHM. Bazlur Rahman-S21BR
Chief Executive Officer
Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC)
[NGO in Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council]
&
Head, Community Radio Academy
House: 13/1, Road: 2, Shaymoli, Dhaka-1207
Post Box: 5095, Dhaka 1205 Bangladesh
Phone: 88-02-9130750, 88-02-9138501
Cell: 01711881647 Fax: 88-02-9138501-105
E-mail: ceo@bnnrc.net www.bnnrc.net