[governance] IGF meeting, Geneva, 23-24 February 2009

[Jacqueline A. Morris]

That's Carnival Monday and Tuesday! (Mardi Gras for the NOLA crowd) I 
guess Carnival isn't important in Geneva?
Jacqueline
Adam Peake wrote:
> From the IGF website 
> <http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/index.php/component/content/article/42-igf-meetings/313-taking-stock-of-the-hyderabad-meeting-preparing-the-igf-review-process 
> >
>
>
> Consultations open to all stakeholders will be held in Geneva on 23-24 
> February.
>
> Two main items will be on the agenda:
>
> * Taking stock of the Hyderabad Meeting and suggest improvements for 
> the 2009 Meeting to be held in Sharm El Sheikh
>
> * Preparing the IGF Review process.
>
> Written contributions are welcome and will be posted on this Web site. 
> To facilitate the discussions, a questionnaire will be made available 
> in due course.
>
>  - - - -
>
> On the first, it's time to suggest new themes, how to deal with old, 
> possible new formats, what worked well and less well in Hyderabad 
> (this may seem trivial, but please remember to say how much the lunch 
> was appreciated!)
>
> On themes, I hope some time will be given over to discussion from 
> national and regional IGF meetings.
>
> Nitin Desai's comments during the taking stock are well worth reading.
>
> On the second issue, the IGF review, Markus Kummer gave an outline of 
> the expected time line and some background of the review process 
> during the taking stock session in Hyderabad, he said:
>
> "The mandate is, shall we say, relatively clear.  It has to be -- it 
> has to take place within five years of its creation.  And this 
> generally assumed that the creation dates back to Tunis 2005.  So the 
> Secretary-General will have to make a recommendation to member states, 
> as it is stated in the Tunis agenda, and make recommendations so that 
> a decision can be taken within these five years.
>
> This brings us to the General Assembly of 2009 -- 2010.  Sorry.  That 
> is two years from now.
>
> And in order to get there, we will have to get started soon.  In order 
> for the General Assembly to take a decision, the report from the 
> Secretary-General needs to be ready in early 2010.  It will then go to 
> the CSTD in May 2010, from there to ECOSOC in July 2010, and from 
> ECOSOC to the General Assembly, which then has the last word on 
> whether or not to continue the forum in December 2010.
>
> In other words, we will have to get started early next year, and we 
> will prepare that with a day set aside at the meetings in February. We 
> have the dates already for the open consultations.  That is 23rd and 
> 24th of February.  And one day of these two days will be set aside for 
> the discussion on how to prepare this review process.
>
> And, of course, we invite all stakeholders to post their ideas and 
> comments.  And we'll post it on our Web site.  And we will, as usual, 
> prepare a paper as an input into the discussions.
>
> The process will then be conducted on the basis of these discussions 
> in February and brought to fruition at the meeting in Egypt sometime 
> in late fall.  And I am given to understand that our Egyptian hosts 
> may be able to announce us the dates later today. [15-18 November]
>
> But it is also, I think, understood and also not the desire of our 
> Egyptian hosts to turn the meeting in Egypt into an inward-looking 
> meeting where we discuss the future of the IGF.  This will be one item 
> on the agenda of the meeting, like we have today, the taking stock and 
> the way forward.  We would then discuss the review.
>
> But the actual review will have to take place at the meeting itself. 
> The mandate says the Secretary-General will have to consult -- 
> informal consultations with forum participants.  And that can only be 
> the annual meeting of the IGF.
>
> So we will have to come to consensus in this area.  We do say the IGF 
> is not a decision-making body.  But we will have to find some way of 
> reaching a consensus on what will then go into the report of the 
> Secretary-General.  But the final decision will be with the member 
> states in the various instances, CSTD, ECOSOC, and, finally, General 
> Assembly."
>
> <http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/hyderabad_prog/TSAWF.html>
>
> Worth seeing the complete quote, then there shouldn't be any (many) 
> questions.
>
> Adam
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