[WSIS CS-Plenary] Meeting today on the IGF preparation

Wed Feb 15 19:11:50 GMT 2006

Find below a short outline of George Papadatos presentation to civil society
participants today 15 February 2006.

On the work of the Greek government on the preparation of the IGF inaugural
meeting, George Papadatos stressed the following points:

*	The Greek Government established an Inter-ministerial Steering
Committee (set up by the minister of Transport and Communications and with
members from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to tackle the various
organisational tasks and interface with the UN and other entities. 
*	Creation of a Greek Website dedicated to the inaugural meeting of
IGF (www.IGFGreece2006.org <http://www.igfgreece2006.org/> ) for information
of organizational arrangements. 
*	Steps to date on the preparation of the Forum are:

*	Briefing of the ICANN board and GAC in Vancouver
*	Briefing of UN DSG Ms Louise Fréchette at UN Headquarters New York
*	Consultations with regional groups, presentation to the ICC in Paris
in late January.

*	Steps to come are:

*	Participation in the open consultations on the IGF in Geneva
(16-17/02).
*	Visit of a High Level delegation to the UN Secretary in New York.

*	Dates of the inaugural meeting of the Forum: the Greek Government
propose to hold the IGF meeting on 24-26 October 2006 (the only one
available in accordance with the international and national agenda and with
religious celebrations). The date will be determined by the UN SG after the
IGF consultation. He said the UN SG was informed of this proposal. 
*	The meeting would definitely take place in Athens.
*	He said the Greek Government expressed its capacity to host a small
secretariat and provide housing, in a context in which the structure of this
secretariat is not yet established. 

In addition, George Papadatos also laid out the Greek position about the
IGF:

*	Rules and procedures: avoid that rules of procedures, complicated
accreditation and registration create conflicts between governments and
stakeholders.
*	Working methods: one session of three days per year, opening in
plenary and breaking into WG and panels. 
*	IGF bureau / organizing committee: Optional model: 5 states (1 /
regional groups) + CS and PS. He said this committee could probably be
nominated by Kofi Annan for fhe first IGF meeting, before a more democratic
process be adopted for the next sessions.
*	IGF output: he said the question of IGF output should be the first
issue to be discussed at the next consultation. 

Afterwards participants also had a very open discussion on procedural and
content related aspects of the IGF. This included, among others, the
following comments:

*	Need to see the IGF as an on-going process, in addition to the
yearly physical meeting (W. Kleinwaechter).
*	Distinction between procedural issues and content related issues (W.
Kleinwaechter). 
*	The IGF should not be seen as dealing with the whole WSIS agenda (R.
Bloem).
*	Virtual model for the Secretariat through electronic devices of work
(M. Mueller)
*	Athens should be an open conference with no heavy accreditation
procedure (B. de la Chapelle).
*	Some potential working models for the IGF were also introduced. 

Best, 

Philippe

Philippe Dam
CONGO - WSIS CS Secretariat 
11, Avenue de la Paix
CH-1202 Geneva
Tel: +41 22 301 1000
Fax: +41 22 301 2000
E-mail:  <mailto:wsis at ngocongo.org> wsis at ngocongo.org
Website:  <BLOCKED::http://www.ngocongo.org> www.ngocongo.org 

The Conference of NGOs (CONGO) is an international, membership association
that facilitates the participation of NGOs in United Nations debates and
decisions. Founded in 1948, CONGO's major objective is to ensure the
presence of NGOs in exchanges among the world's governments and United
Nations agencies on issues of global concern.  For more information see our
website at www.ngocongo.org <BLOCKED::http://www.ngocongo.org/> 

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