The first meeting of the discussion club “Digital Reality” this year took place on January 25. The topic was the final messages of IGF 2023, held last fall in Kyoto. The club live stream was combined with a meeting of the Internet Governance Committee.
During the broadcast, experts discussed the final messages of the Forum, reports with recommendations from IGF Policy Networks on Artificial Intelligence, Internet Fragmentation and Cybersecurity. The speakers paid special attention to issues related to the Global Digital Compact.
“The preparation of the Global Digital Compact, starting in 2022, should build on more than 20 years of Internet Governance and digital cooperation discussions within and outside the UN and their results: the Geneva Declaration of Principles, the Tunis Agenda, the NetMundial Declaration, reports of UN expert groups and UN High-Level Groups, as well as reports of the UN Secretary-General. There is no need to invent something new. But there is a need to review the digital cooperation strategy, identify weaknesses and gaps in existing mechanisms, as well as adjust processes and procedures where necessary from time to time,” Andrey Vorobyev, Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, said.
Director of the Center for Global IT-Cooperation Vadim Glushchenko spoke about his impressions of the Forum on behalf of a direct participant, and also provided an overview of the main messages and final documents. Advisor to the Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ Vladimir Gorzhaltsan highlighted Russia’s position on key issues related to the IGF and the agenda discussed within the Forum.
Mikhail Anisimov, Global Stakeholder Engagement Sr. Manager for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at ICANN, shared his impressions of the Forum:
“ICANN focused on three topics during this forum. The first was the the Internet Fragmentation, the use of a single system of unique identifiers for addressing on the network. The second was the IGF mandate and the WSIS+20 process, maintaining a stakeholder approach as the main format for discussions in the field of Internet Governance. And the third topic was an inclusive internet, multilingualism and universal acceptance of domain names and email addresses.”
Natalya Filina, Secretary of EURALO, At-Large, ICANN, spoke about the main differences between the last Forum and previous ones.
“As a representative of the At-Large ICANN community, I want to note that in addition to the strong presence of the technical community, the Internet Governance Forum has seen many young faces in recent years. And if earlier the luminaries of the Internet talked about how important it is to attract the younger generation to participate in the Forums, now young people are an active participant in all discussions, and the IGF in Kyoto is no exception,” she said.
Members of the Youth Council of the Coordination Center, who took part in the IGF in Kyoto as organizers of “youth” sections - Andrey Aleinikov and Pavel Pozdnyakov, also shared their impressions.
“For me, as a representative of the youth community, first of all, the very fact of our presence at this forum and the participation of the younger generation in the discussions taking place on the sidelines of the IGF is important,” Andrei Aleinikov said. “Another important point is networking and the acquaintances that we manage to make at such events - they serve as the basis for future cooperation,” Pavel said.
The Coordination Center interviewed IGF participants in Kyoto - the video with subtitles in Russian can be viewed in a separate playlist on the YouTube channel of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ.
A recording of the discussion club meeting is also available on YouTube.
