On the eve of the Internet Governance Forum Belarus, Youth IGF Belarus was held in Minsk, organized by the largest registrar in Belarus HOSTER.BY. The Youth Forum on Internet Governance brought together senior students and graduates of the forge of IT cadre in Belarus - the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radio Electronics, which became the platform for the Forum this year.
Representatives of the domain industry of Russia, Belarus and international industry organizations took part in the Forum. At the opening of the Forum, Andrey Vorobyev, Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, delivered a welcoming speech: “Youth shape the present and determine the future of any country. In the IT sector, this manifests itself most clearly and expressively: from bold ideas and initiatives to scientific achievements and implemented practical projects. As Johann Goethe once said: “Even though the world as a whole progresses, youth must always start again from the beginning.”, National and regional youth forums and schools on Internet Governance are held to make the younger generation’s first steps in the field of Internet Governance more confident, the results of which are summed up on an annual basis within the framework of the youth track of the main IGF.”
“Some of the events that we hold in Russia go beyond national boundaries - we are very pleased to invite students from Belarus to take part in the Russian Youth Forum on Internet Governance, which is scheduled for early April and will precede RIGF 2024, as well as to undergo training in the Russian Summer school on Internet management, lectures in which are held in Russian,” Andrey Vorobyev said.
General Director of HOSTER.BY Sergey Povalishev touched upon the importance of participation in the Internet Governance process and holding national forums on Internet Governance.
Vahan Hovsepyan, External Relations Officer (Caucasus and Central Asia) at the RIPE NCC, told Forum participants about the activities of the RIPE NCC and the Community Projects Fund, about RIPE fellowships and how to take part in fellowship programs.
Mikhail Anisimov, Global Stakeholder Engagement Sr. Manager for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at ICANN, introduced the audience to the multistakeholder model of Internet Governance using the example of the domain name system. “The complexity of Internet Governance often lies in the fact that different organizations, often international, are responsible for each element of the governance system. The main thing in this process is to establish reliable relationships between them to ensure coordinated and effective work. One of the main advantages of the multistakeholder model is that there is no single red button to turn off the Internet. The voices of different stakeholders allow us to create a balanced system of rules that maintains the stability of the Internet.”
Youth IGF Belarus is the youth part of the Belarus IGF Internet Governance Forum, which annually brings together more than 300 participants from all over the world. In Belarus, IGF is traditionally organized by HOSTER.BY, the largest registrar of .BY and .БЕЛ domains, a provider of cloud solutions and hosting, which serves more than 60% of all Belarusian websites. The Belarusian Internet Governance Forum, in which the Coordination Center will take an active part, starts tomorrow, November 15 - follow our publications!
