The future of the internet is a key issue for the world

Egypt to host 4th Internet Governance Forum in November

Geneva, 8 October 2009: Speaking at ITU Telecom World 2009 in Geneva, Dr. Tarek Kamel, Egypt’s Minister for Communications and Information Technology reiterated the critical need for the global community to come together to shape the future of the internet. The Minister hosted a lunch for dignitaries and delegates attending ITU to highlight the wide reaching agenda for the fourth annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) meeting taking place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt between 15 and 18 November.

“This meeting is an excellent opportunity to maintain the multi-stakeholder dialogue that is vital to the future of our planet.” the Minister said. “A number of very important issues will be covered including child online safety, cyber security, multilingualism, the availability of localized content, broadband outreach and many others across legal, regulatory, social and economic fields. All of these will be discussed in the busy agenda in Sharm El Sheikh and I encourage everyone who plays a role in these areas to attend the meeting. This is the first IGF to be held in Africa and the Middle East and we also believe that all of us in the region can make a major contribution to this debate.”

The IGF agenda will cover managing critical internet resources; security, openness and privacy; access and diversity; internet governance and emerging issues such as the use of social networks. Over 2000 delegates are expected to attend the meeting in one of Egypt’s premier resorts.

“There have been many positive developments in recent years around the development and use of the internet,” continued Dr. Kamel. “But these steps need to be built upon across the international community through dialogue and interaction. A strong presence at the IGF meeting will reflect our continued conviction to lead the way we govern the internet, involving all the key stakeholders in the process.”