SG/A/1006
PI/1717
18 May 2006

Secretary-General Establishes Advisory Group to Assist Him in Convening Internet Governance Forum

NEW YORK, 17 May (UN Headquarters) -- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today established an Advisory Group to assist him in convening the Internet Governance Forum, a new forum for a multi-stakeholder dialogue on Internet governance.  The Group includes 46 members from Government, the private sector and civil society, including the academic and technical communities, who represent all regions of the world (see list below).  It is chaired by Nitin Desai, the Secretary-General's Special Adviser for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), who may also select special advisers to assist him.

The Advisory Group will meet on 22 and 23 May in Geneva, following an open consultation on 19 May, also in Geneva.  Its main task is to prepare the substantive agenda and programme for the first meeting of the Internet Governance Forum, which is to be held in Athens from 30 October to 2 November.  Decisions on how to prepare subsequent meetings and on any future structure and working methods of the Forum will be taken in light of the experiences gained during the preparatory process for the Athens meeting.

The Internet Governance Forum is an outcome of the Tunis phase of the WSIS, which took place in November 2005.  In the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, Governments asked the Secretary-General to convene the Forum, giving it the mandate to discuss the main public policy issues related to Internet governance, in order to foster the Internet's sustainability, robustness, security, stability and development.

Governments called for the Forum to be convened in an "open and inclusive process".  Accordingly, the Advisory Group will carry out its work in an open, inclusive and transparent manner, and will seek to make the best possible use of electronic working methods, including online consultations.

List of members

Desai, Nitin, Chairman

Delhi/Mumbai - Special Adviser to the Secretary-General for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)

Members

 

Agrawala, Pankaj

Delhi - Joint Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology

 

 

Akinsanmi, Titilayo

Johannesburg - Programme Manager, SchoolNet Africa; Global Facilitator of the WSIS Youth Caucus

 

 

Akplogan, Adiel

Port Louis - Chief Executive Officer, Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for Africa - AfriNIC

 

 

Al-Shatti, Qusai

Kuwait City - Deputy Chairman of Kuwait Information Technology Society (KITS)

 

 

Bayramov, Ayaz

Baku - Head of Department for International Relations and Cooperation with NGOs, Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies

 

 

Bicalho, José

Brasilia - Member of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee; Advisor to the Board of Directors of the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel)

 

 

Clarke, Trevor

Geneva - Permanent Representative of Barbados to the United Nations Office at Geneva

 

 

Daftardar, Abdullah M.

Riyadh - Senior Executive, Communications and Information Technology Commission

 

 

Dardailler, Daniel

Nice - Associate Chair for Europe, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C); Member, Board of Directors, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

 

 

D'Costa, Valerie

Singapore - International Director, Info-Communication Development Authority, Singapore

 

 

Diop Diagne, Ndeye Maimouna

Dakar - Directrice des NTIC, Ministère des Postes, Télécommunications et Nouvelles Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication (NTIC)

 

 

Disspain, Chris

Carlton - Victoria, Chair, Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) Council; Chief Executive Officer, .au Registry

 

 

Echeberría, Raúl

Montevideo - Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer, Latin America and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (LACNIC)

 

 

El-Nawawy, Mohamed

Cairo - Chairman and Managing Director, TE Data

 

 

Fältström, Patrik

Stockholm - Consulting Engineer, Cisco Systems; Member, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF); Member, Swedish Government Information Technology Policy and Strategy Group

 

 

Gallagher, Michael D.

Washington D.C. - Chairman of the Communications Group, Perkins Coie LLC

 

 

Graham, Bill

Ottawa - Director, International Telecommunication Policy and Coordination, Industry Canada

Gross, Robin D.

San Francisco, California - Executive Director, IP Justice

 

 

Hassan, Ayesha

Paris - Senior Policy Manager, e-Business, Information Technology, and Telecoms, Executive in charge of Information and Communication Technology Policy, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)

 

 

Hellmonds, Peter

Munich - Vice President, Public and International Affairs, Siemens AG

 

 

Hofmann, Jeanette

Berlin - Researcher, Social Science Research Center

 

 

Iriarte, Erick

Lima - Executive Director, Alfa-Redi

 

 

Kafi, Abdullah

Dacca - Managing Director, J A N Associates Limited; former President, Bangladesh Computer Society

 

 

Kārkliņš, Jānis

Geneva - Permanent Representative of Latvia to the United Nations Office at Geneva

 

 

Katoh, Masanobu

Tokyo - Corporate Vice President; President, Law and Intellectual Property Unit and Security Export Control Headquarters, Fujitsu Limited

 

 

Katundu, Michael

Nairobi - Principal Officer, Information Technology Communications Commission

 

 

Khan, Masood

Geneva - Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations Office at Geneva

 

 

Kovács, Kálmán

Budapest - Minister of Informatics and Communications

 

 

Lohento, Gemma Brice (Ken)

Dakar - Panos Institute West Africa, Coordinator, Center for International information and communication technology Policies for Central and West Africa (CIPACO)

 

 

Markovski, Veni

Sofia - Chair of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee; Member, Board of Directors, ICANN

 

 

Oliver, Colin

Canberra - General Manager, International Communications, Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts

 

 

Papadatos, George

Athens - Minister Plenipotentiary, Department of International Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

 

 

Peake, Adam

Tokyo - Executive Research Fellow/Associate Professor, Center for Global Communications (GLOCOM), International University of Japan

 

 

Pisanty, Alejandro

Mexico City - Director of Computing Academic Services, Universidad Autónoma de México; Director ISOC Mexico; Vice Chair, Board of Directors, ICANN

 

 

Quaynor, Nii

Accra - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Network Computer Systems; President, Internet Society of Ghana

 

 

Sha'ban, Charles

Amman - Executive Director, Regional Office, Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP)

 

 

Shears, Matthew

Copenhagen - Director of Public Policy, Internet Society (ISOC)

 

 

Sierra, Colombo

Buenos Aires - Chief of Cabinet, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

 

 

Singer, Christian

Vienna - Head of Division, Federal Ministry of Transportation

 

 

Slizen, Vitaliy

Moscow - Head of Department, Information and Communication Ministry

 

 

Swinehart, Theresa

Marina del Rey, California - Vice President, Global and Strategic Partnerships, ICANN

 

 

Taylor, Emily

Oxford - Nominet (.uk), Director of Legal and Policy

 

 

Wessberg, Arne

Helsinki - President, European Broadcasting Union (EBU); President, International Institute of Communication

 

 

Xiaokun, Yang

Geneva - First Secretary, Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva

 

 

Zangl, Peter

Brussels - Deputy Director-General, Directorate General for Information Society and Media, European Commission



For further information, please visit www.intgovforum.org  or contact Markus Kummer, Executive Coordinator, Secretariat of the Internet Governance Forum, tel.: +41 0 22 917 54 88, e-mail:  mkummer@unog.ch .

* *** *