On November 28, the Digital Reality discussion club held a stream session devoted to the upcoming annual IGF meeting.
The 19th annual IGF meeting is scheduled to take place from December 15 to 19, 2024, in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, under the overarching theme “Building our multistakeholder digital future.” Its program includes breakaway sessions and debates on the following topics:
- harnessing innovation and balancing risks in the digital space
- enhancing the digital contribution to peace, development, and sustainability
- advancing human rights and inclusion in the digital age
- improving digital governance for the Internet We Want.
During the stream, the club members discussed their expectations from the upcoming forum. Speakers included Director of the Center for Global IT Cooperation Vadim Glushchenko, Member of the Executive Board at the International Information Security School of the Diplomatic Academy of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation Daria Stepovaya, and EURALO Secretary (At-Large, ICANN) Natalia Filina. ICANN’s Stakeholder Engagement Senior Manager for Eastern Europe and Central Asia Mikhail Anisimov moderated the discussion.
The meeting’s participants will form the Russian delegation at the annual IGF meeting and will be able to make presentations at various sessions and follow their proceedings. During the club meeting, they shared their views on the agenda of these sessions and reviewed the IGF’s overall program and structure, including ICANN’s participation in the forum and the focus points for EURALO’s end users. A brief debate followed as part of the customary interaction with those who were following this stream online.
The participants noted that Russian businesses feature prominently in the forum’s program, and went on to express hope that drawing the business community into this dialogue would have a positive bearing on the IGF agenda.
“It is great to see that businesses are part of this conversation. After all, the private sector must remain part of the overall debate on internet governance. Interestingly, the debate on the extent to which efforts by major platforms to impose various digital restrictions affect the overall digital space has been increasingly open and inclusive lately,” EURALO Secretary (At-Large, ICANN) Natalia Filina said.
The growing influence of AI on the way people live, both in terms of its digital and offline implications, has become a hot topic. The multistakeholder model’s operation and development were also among the key topics. In fact, the Center for Global IT Cooperation will take part and hold several sessions on this matter.
“One of the trends we have been witnessing for several years now when preparing and holding IGF meetings, is that AI is always a hot topic. Adopted recently, the Global Digital Compact pays special attention to this technology. It is not surprising that this year one of the four key sessions will also focus on governing AI and ensuring its ethical use,” Director of the Center for Global IT Cooperation Vadim Glushchenko pointed out.
The participants also highlighted the fact that young people will be actively involved in pushing forward IGF’s agenda.
“We will hold two discussions this year, and have been doing this for three years now. We surveyed youth organizations taking part in IGF meetings and found out that there were about 40 different topics, but only 13 made it into the final program,” Member of the Executive Board at the International Information Security School of the Diplomatic Academy of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation Daria Stepovaya said.
The Coordination Center will also take part in the IGF meeting. Its program includes two sessions initiated by the Coordination Center’s Youth Council together with the International Information Security School of the Diplomatic Academy of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation.
