[governance] Malta Conference on Internet Governance (10-12 February 2006)

Jovan Kurbalija jovank at diplomacy.edu
Thu Jan 19 17:00:08 EST 2006


Dear Colleagues,

Various IG initiatives have been gaining momentum. This will not be a boring
year!

Let me report briefly on the Malta Conference (10-12 February). The
preliminary conference programme is available at
http://www.diplomacy.edu/Conferences/IG/program.asp (invited speakers to be
confirmed). The conference has been conceptualised as an analogy to the
SimCity computer game. Instead of a city, the conference will aim to
"construct" an Internet Governance Forum  "building", with the conference
participants acting as designers. The conference will comprise truly
multistakeholder participation, with each feature of the IGF building being
addressed from as many different perspectives as possible. 

The first meeting of the Internet Governance Capacity Building Initiative
(IGCBI) will also be hosted during the conference, including the planning of
training and research activities for 2006. The IGCBI meeting will be
attended both by institutions who expressed an interest in participating in
the Initiative as well as the donor agencies.

More information about the conference and other ancillary events can be
received from Yasmeen Arif, the IG Coordinator (yasmeen at diplomacy.edu).

Hope to see you in Malta!

Regards, Jovan



P.S. About Venue

It is probably not widely known that Malta is a "high-tech island," with the
world's highest Internet penetration (% population) of 78.3%. The top 10
Internet usage nations are: 1. Malta (78.3%); 2. New Zealand (77.6%); 3.
Iceland (76.5%); 4. Sweden (75.3%); 5. Hong Kong (70.7%); 6. Denmark
(69.5%); 7. the United States (68.7%); 8. Singapore (68.3%); 9. Norway
(68.2%); and 10. Australia (68.2%). The EU has a penetration rate of 49.3%
and a user growth rate of 143% (source: InternetWorldStats.com). High-tech
goods and services accounted for 55.9% of Malta's exports in 2004. Malta's
high-tech aspect is beguilingly blended with its rich history (e.g. the
capital city Valletta, the medieval capital Mdina, Neolithic temples, etc.).




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