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<font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Congrats Qusai, That is a big
step for the region. And special congrats to you and your organisation
for pushing this....parminder </font><br>
<br>
On Tuesday 14 February 2012 04:56 PM, Qusai AlShatti wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAC2SYrOdDr8pMHvGzv+QCTOL2YgRq2b+6jWjsBcMuOSAv4RH5A@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div>Dear Colleagues:</div>
<div>I would like to take the opportunity to announce the
establshment of the Arab IGF (AIGF). The first meeting of AIGF will be
organized by Kuwait Information Technology Society which will be held
in Kuwait on the first week of October 2012. I am attaching the AIGF
announcement. </div>
<div> </div>
<div><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font>
<p
style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;"
class="MsoNormal" align="center"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font
face="Calibri">Announcement
of</font></span></b></p>
<font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font>
<p
style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;"
class="MsoNormal" align="center"><b><u><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font
face="Calibri">The endorsement of the Arab Internet Governance Forum
(AIGF) process</font></span></u></b></p>
<font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt; text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><font
size="3"><font face="Calibri">A Multistakeholder
open consultation meeting to discuss the launch of the Arab Internet
Governance
Forum (AIGF) was held during the period of 31/1 – 1/2/2012 in Beirut,
Lebanon.
The open consultation was organized by the League of Arab States (LAS),
the
United Nation Economic and Social Commission of Western Asia (ESCWA)
and the
Council of Ministers of the Republic of Lebanon. The open consultation
was
sponsored by Kuwait Information Technology Society and RIPE NCC and was
attended
by the IGF secretariat. More than 50 participants representing
stakeholders
from governments, private sector, civil society and regional
organizations in
the Arab World attended the open consultation and engaged actively in
discussing the importance of an Internet Governance Forum for the Arab
World. </font></font></p>
<font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt; text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><font
size="3"><font face="Calibri">The open
consultation was carried based on the request of the Arab
Telecommunication and
Information Technology Council of Ministers (ATICM) to seek feedback
from
various stakeholders on the need for an Arab IGF. The ministers
requested it
after receiving the outcome of an expert group meeting that was
organized by
the ESCWA in October 2010 which emphasized on the need to have a
dialogue on
Internet Governance with relevance to stakeholders in the Arab World. </font></font></p>
<font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt; text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><font
size="3"><font face="Calibri">During the
open consultations, a strong consent emerged on the need and the
importance for
the Arab IGF especially with the turn of events in the region and the
major
role of the Internet in these events. A report recommending the
establishment
of AIGF was drafted by the participants and forwarded by the LAS
Secretariat to
the Executive Bureau of the Arab Telecommunication and Information
Technology Council
of Ministers (ATICM) on 2/2/2012, who welcomed the outcome, endorsed it
and
recommended the active participation of all stakeholders, including
governments, in the Arab IGF process.</font></font></p>
<font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt; text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><font
face="Calibri"><font size="3">The participants
in the open consultations focused also on the goals of the AIGF and its
structure. There was consent to adopt a structure similar to the IGF’s
current
structure with a secretariat and a Multistakeholder Advisory Committee
(MAG). <u>A
proposal was made by Kuwait Information Technology Society to host the
First
Arab IGF in Kuwait in early October 2012 and a proposal was made by the
Republic of Egypt National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority to be
the
AIGF secretariat</u>. There was an agreement and consent on both
proposals by
the participants. It was agreed that a public announcement for the MAG
membership will be made to give the opportunity for all stakeholders in
the
Arab world to express their interest to participate in it. </font></font></p>
<font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><font
size="3"><font face="Calibri">The open consultation recommended that
the AIGF should:</font></font></p>
<font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font>
<p
style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt 38.15pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"
class="MsoListParagraph"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span
style=""><font size="3">·</font><span
style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; -x-system-font: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span></span><span dir="LTR"></span><font face="Calibri"><font
size="3">Focus on discussing public
policies related to Internet Governance especially in the areas of
access,
stability, security and development.</font></font></p>
<font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font>
<p
style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt 38.15pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"
class="MsoListParagraph"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span
style=""><font size="3">·</font><span
style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; -x-system-font: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span></span><span dir="LTR"></span><font face="Calibri"><font
size="3">Facilitate the exchange of
information, best practices, knowledge and lessons learned by involving
experts, technical community and Academics.</font></font></p>
<font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font>
<p
style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt 38.15pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"
class="MsoListParagraph"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span
style=""><font size="3">·</font><span
style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; -x-system-font: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span></span><span dir="LTR"></span><font face="Calibri"><font
size="3">Gather different opinions
and build consensus for unified Arab views on priorities and on
mechanisms to
respond to Arab countries needs related to Internet governance issues.</font></font></p>
<font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font>
<p
style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt 38.15pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"
class="MsoListParagraph"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span
style=""><font size="3">·</font><span
style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; -x-system-font: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span></span><span dir="LTR"></span><font face="Calibri"><font
size="3">Discuss emerging issues and
present recommendations on it.</font></font></p>
<font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font>
<p
style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt 38.15pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"
class="MsoListParagraph"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span
style=""><font size="3">·</font><span
style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; -x-system-font: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span></span><span dir="LTR"></span><font face="Calibri"><font
size="3">Build and develop capacity
in Internet Governance as well as improve the participation of all
stakeholders
to benefit from all possible resources of knowledge and expertise.</font></font></p>
<font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font>
<p
style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt 38.15pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"
class="MsoListParagraph"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span
style=""><font size="3">·</font><span
style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; -x-system-font: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span></span><span dir="LTR"></span><font face="Calibri"><font
size="3">Communicate globally the Arab
positions and enhance the Arab role in formulating Internet Governance
policies.</font></font></p>
<font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font>
<p
style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 38.15pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"
class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span
style=""><font size="3">·</font><span
style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; -x-system-font: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span></span><span dir="LTR"></span><font size="3"><font
face="Calibri">Outreach with the Internet
Governance Forum and other regional IGFs with purpose of exchanging
knowledge
and expertise.</font></font></p>
<font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></div>
</blockquote>
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