On June 9, ICANN80 hosted a high-level government meeting organized by ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). The previous such meeting was held in 2018 in Barcelona, and those gathered in Rwanda discussed the transformation of the global network that has occurred during this time, new opportunities and new challenges associated with these transformations, as well as the role of national governments in improving Internet governance within the framework of a multistakeholder model and opportunities progress towards a multilateral model.
The meeting was chaired by the Minister of Information and Communications Technology and Innovation of Rwanda, Paula Ingabire, and the event was attended by ministers and high-ranking government representatives from many countries around the world, ICANN Board Chair Tripti Sinha, International Telecommunication Union Secretary General Doreen Bogdan-Martin, representatives of the Internet Engineering Council, regional Internet registries, leading technical experts in the field of Internet technologies.
The first session of the meeting was devoted to the role of governments within the multistakeholder model of Internet Governance and their interaction with ICANN and other representatives of the community. All participants in the discussion expressed their commitment to the principles of multistakeholderism, noting that interaction within the model should develop in accordance with the changes that the global network is undergoing. In particular, the representative of the US National Telecommunications and Information Technology Administration (NTIA), Alan Davidson, emphasized that in the coming decades, ICANN will retain its key role in making the Internet work, but changes in the structure and interaction within it must occur at a faster pace, as rapid changes The global network itself is today's main challenge. And the Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Technologies of Paraguay, Juan Ardison, drew attention to the fact that even at the national level, parties interested in the development of the Internet sometimes act as if independently of each other. He said that he sees it as an important task for governments to coordinate and ensure the interaction of all stakeholders.
The subject of discussion at the second session was the cooperation of stakeholders in order to overcome emerging difficulties. ICANN Chief Technology Officer John Crane identified one of these challenges as the threat of fragmentation of the Internet, in particular due to the emergence of parallel identifier systems. John Crane emphasized that any policies and technologies should be implemented with the long-term consequences of their introduction in mind, with maximum attention to how they may affect Internet users.
During the third session, participants discussed issues of network inclusivity and overcoming the digital divide. The participants highly appreciated the successes of the host country, the government of Rwanda, in the development of the Internet and digital technologies and spoke about the difficulties that many developing countries have to overcome along this path. Moreover, these difficulties can be not only economic, but also political in nature. Thus, the representative of Iran, Hussein Mizapour, said that the country’s authorities have made great strides in providing even residents of agricultural regions with mobile Internet connections. At the same time, he noted that the successes could have been more significant if not for the sanctions imposed on the country. Hussein Mizapour expressed hope that such high-level meetings will help the parties find mutual understanding and solve problems together. He also stressed that Iran has always strived and will continue to strive for a better digital future for everyone.
A separate session was devoted to the development of the Internet on the African continent. The speakers noted that the problem of digital inequality is particularly acute in many African countries: while on average about 60% of people in the world have access to the Internet, for Africans this figure is only 7%. Participants pointed to the need to solve specific economic and infrastructure problems, for example, the need to reduce taxes in high-tech industries responsible for the development of the Internet in the region. Attention was also drawn to the complexities of countries located in central Africa and landlocked. For this reason, they are unable to connect to fiber optic cables laid along the ocean floor. This was discussed, in particular, by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy of the Republic of Chad, Bucar Michel. He emphasized that creating a fiber optic network in the country is currently an impossible task from an economic point of view. At the same time, he pointed out that a way out could be found in this situation too. One option is, for example, to use the capabilities of the Starlink, and the government of the Republic of Chad is already negotiating with Elon Musk.
