The following are the outputs of the real-time captioning taken during an IGF virtual call. Although it is largely accurate, in some cases it may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
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>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Good afternoon, evening and morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to MAG virtual meeting number 19, and I suppose the last MAG meeting before the IGF annual meeting. Just a reminder to everybody that the meeting is being recorded. I think we do have a transcript. And I'm not seeing it working, but I suppose we do. By the way, can somebody hear me? I didn't check that if?
>> CHAIR: We can hear, Chengetai.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: And we are using the speaking queue, and there will be a summary a couple of days afterward. With that I will hand it over to Lynn to start the meeting.
>> CHAIR: Thank you, Chengetai. This is a slightly different time, and there are competing meetings, but we did try to schedule it paying attention to the ICANN meeting as well. So thank you for the individuals that are joining from there. The first order of business is approval of the agenda which was sent out last week. It pretty much follows the last few weeks’ Agenda Item, and I think for the bulk of the line items what we want to focus on is exception reporting, any critical needs if you have needs for a speaker or if there have been any significant updates.
We are not looking for full individual reviews, just sort of an exception or significant update. So let me see if there are any suggestions or requests for additions to the agenda. And or any other items under AOB. I will give it the proverbial slow count.
Not seeing any, we will call the agenda approved. And I think my only kind of comments are to thank everybody, again, for having made this meeting, and I can see on all of the lists there is a tremendous amount of work with some of the process changes we made this year, particularly staying focused on the thematic tracks and with the introductory and closing sessions as well, so I really appreciate all of the effort everybody is putting into that.
We have a number of substantive updates, some updates on some of the main sessions. Those will come under item 7 and 9 for the most part. But really, the purpose of this meeting was primarily to give everybody an opportunities to solicit any additional support or help or suggestions you might need from MAG and we will work toward the final stages of preparation here. So with that, I will turn the floor over to Chengetai for an update from the IGF Secretariat.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you, Lynn. Just a few quick updates, we have 50 remote hubs that have been registered. That's up from 33 last year, so that's a marked improvement, and we have also started training sessions both for the remote hubs and for their remote writing sessions, those have started. We have 202 online participants registered and for the on site participants, we have 5130. And I think that is the largest number of registrants we have ever had for an IGF meeting so let's see how that translates to participants, but I think we should expect the highest number of participants this year.
For the IGF village, the booth logistics have been posted, so those are on the website, and I think also the booth organizers have received an email with what they should do and how the booths are and where each individual booth is. Now, we are still waiting for a few session reports. The deadline was 28th, but we are still waiting for them and especially from some main session organizers and we also request that you add descriptions in the sched program. I think this is useful because the Sched program is she accessible on the cell phones, iPads, et cetera, and they will know what the session is about if you add those descriptions.
For the feedback on the HRPDC report. We did have a deadline, but we are still accepting and receiving input. We have, I think, over 21 written contributions that have been submitted, and we have a solid number of comments that use the platform to make comments onto the document. And over the past two weeks, we have received new contributions from the U.K., Germany, EBU, and FU source IT organisations as well and some people in their individual capacities have also contributed.
As far as the travel is concerned, I think all of you who have requested for travel have been contacted either by the IGF Secretariat or by UNDESA and you are working out your travel, and I think all of your questions that you had last time about accommodation, et cetera, have been answered. I think that is all, and if anybody has got any questions, I'm happy to answer them. But I will hand it back to Lynn, yes.
>> CHAIR: Thank you, Chengetai. The floor is open for any questions, comments. Again, we will wait for a moment for people to get into the speaking queue.
All right, not seeing any. The next Agenda Item was an update from the host country. I looked at participants a minute ago and didn't see anyone there, but let me see if somebody joined. Rudolf, I see you now, excellent. You have the floor, Rudolf. Thank you.
>> RUDOLF GRIDL: Yes, first of all, we are overwhelmed by the great response and by the large number of people who already registered and actually still persons coming to us wanting to register so this is something we are very happy about and thanks to everybody who is helping in promoting this event. Secondly, we have now a quite consolidated, I would say, group of high level multistakeholders attending the meeting on day zero shared by our Minister.
We will have around 30 Ministers, Vice Ministers, and heads of international organisations or high ranking representatives of which, and around the same amount of civil society technical community on the one hand and private sector on the other hand. So that will be, I think, very interesting meeting. There will be only one session or two, two sessions that will be closed. That is the ministerial breakfast in the morning. That is something that Ministers wanted to have the space and a time to speak amongst themselves.
That will really be one hour and a half, perhaps a little bit longer and then there will be an Opening Ceremony which will be open to everybody, to every participant, and the three themes of this year's IGF shortly speaking data, security and inclusion, will then web site the subject of the panels that will follow. So there will be three panels on each and we will now probably not divide them into three rooms, but into five rooms so we will have more time for a panel to discuss.
This will also, of course, be open and it would be welcome if from the audience there will be some participation, questions, answers, so forth. We will now start to fill this also into the official schedule of the IGF, but I asked a little bit for your forgiveness, we have so many things to do, so we did not yet come to the point where we had really the time to do it, but we will.
And then will be the closing plenary, I would call it, in the form of a lunch and that will be, again, a closed session by the mere fact that you cannot have everyone in the same room eating. So we are quite satisfied with the turnout of this, and we are, of course, inviting people to attend if they are interested. I think that will be really interesting discussions amongst these high level representatives and also with the participants.
And then there will be on day one, I don't think I'm not going to speak about the main session. We are going to do that later. I will start with the Opening Ceremony.
>> CHAIR: Excellent. Okay. Good.
>> RUDOLF GRIDL: So this will start a little bit before 2:00 and there will be two speeches by our Chancellor and by the Secretary General of the United Nations and we are very thankful, proud, and happy that he finally could make it with all of the scheduling and rescheduling with Chile and Madrid and everything that he could still manage to come. That is really something that not only for us as a host country, but I would say for the IGF in general and for the MAG and the whole community, it's a very encouraging and satisfying side so thank you to everybody who is working on that.
That will be the opening segment. After this we have high level panels. We are still, the discussion is if it will be three or four because there are so many people interested in participating in these high level panels on day one, and we want to accommodate, of course, every wish and we want to have a good balance of gender, regions and of stakeholders, and there were some did and lively sparking discussion on this theme so we are now trying to see how we can accommodate all of that.
For the moment, we have been thinking about three issues, namely future of Internet Governance, Internet Governance and the SDGs, and the last one about the Internet Governance and SMEs. And then as I told you, we are not at the end of our thinking on that. Maybe a fourth one which would then lead to a little bit shortening of the other three. We don't know yet. So that will be, that will be from our host country perspective day one, and, Lynn, do you want me to talk about the parliamentarians as well.
>> CHAIR: Yes, that would be helpful, Rudolf.
>> RUDOLF GRIDL: For the parliamentarians we are actually quite overwhelmed about the response. For the moment there are around 45 parliamentarians from 35 to 40 countries which is really great. Coming from all over the world, and some from the Global South which makes us happy and proud. There will be one first session organized by our committee, our parliamentary committee for digital affairs, some kind of a welcoming session on day zero.
So whether parliamentarians can arrive and there will be some explanations about what is the IGF, what is the agenda, what they can expect, what are their opportunities and possibilities and then there will probably be some kind of, I wouldn't call it a division of labor. That's too much.
But people could tell what they are really interested in, what are the fields they are interested in, and then they would attend these workshops and main sessions that are in this field, and then day 4, their last day, there will be an entire main session dedicated to the parliamentarians, and there will be some kind of so the parliamentarians will themselves report to their fellow lawmakers about their experiences, about what they have learned, about what they think should be done, and they are even now thinking about some kind of parliamentarian outcome or something which would be great, because it's not binding, but it would commit the parliamentarians to continue this engagement with the IGF, which is something that we would really appreciate and value.
So that's for the parliamentarians, and I stop here and I am open, of course, to any questions or comments that you might have.
>> CHAIR: Thank you very much, Rudolf. Let me see if there are comments or questions from the floor. I think we will give everybody just a moment. Thank you very much for the full update. It's very clear that there is a lot happening and you are very busy and everybody remains extremely supportive of everything you are all doing. I don't see any further requests from the floor.
>> RUDOLF GRIDL: Perhaps two smaller but perhaps important organizational issues. It might be important for one or another. One is that there is the possibility for childcare. So if anyone needs some child care, there is a fully fledged child care organized, and the second one is that there will be a sustainability centre where people could contribute, but also get information about interaction between the digital world and sustainability world and so this is something which was also, of course, very important to us, because it is in the run up to the, I would say now Madrid Conference, and so we wanted to create a link between these two major UN events.
>> CHAIR: Rudolf, that's remarkable, Desai used to have a number of comments on UN meetings and every one that follows is bigger and better than the previous, and I think that's been true not necessarily on every item, and I think Germany is setting an entirely new record here in terms of bigger and better with respect to all of these accommodations and, you know, the additional innovations and sessions of the parliamentarians and that sort of thing. So very, very, very much appreciated, and this certainly will be a great IGF.
>> CHAIR: Thank you. I don't see any other questions for the floor. There was a request to list the high level participants, and then I think a request by country. I don't know what sensitivity or privacy
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: We will do this a little bit later in the process. We are still checking because, for instance, we have a bunch of very high ranking Ministers, CEOs that have like informed us that they will come, but who are not yet registered formally. So we want to clear up all of these things, and then a little bit closer to the IGF we will, of course, and we will probably choose the way of publishing it on the online schedule of the IGF, then you could really see who are the participants in the different panel and fora and so forth. So, but I can, of course, understand this request.
And I am fully aware that this is important, but please give us another few days, a week, so we can really thoroughly have a good picture of who will really come and who is also registered and all of these things.
>> CHAIR: Right, thank you very much, Chengetai. And I'm sure if anyone has a burning need maybe we can go through the Secretariat if they know then yourself.
>> RUDOLF GRIDL: Is this person coming, no problem. They can come to us and we will give the information that we have.
>> CHAIR: Right. Okay. That's great. I still don't see any requests for the floor, and I'm not sure if you were going to be able to stay for the entire meeting, but one thing I thought I might do with the group's support would be move to update on a couple of the main sessions. The one you alluded to earlier with respect to the digital cooperation, consultation, and then probably the closing ceremony as well. There are component pieces of that that involve the host country as well.
>> RUDOLF GRIDL: Yes. That would be great.
>> CHAIR: If we come to the first main session, which is on day 1, Tuesday morning, which is the digital cooperation based off of the HLPDC report, some weeks ago I sent out and we discussed at a MAG call kind of the proposed format for that keeping in mind that the Secretary General's office, its representative that's actually driving the HLPDC activities has been very clear and very strong that he really wants a substantive consultation with the IGF community, and that he is actually looking for significant kind of ideas or suggestions with respect to how to advance some recommendations in the report, and, of course, any other recommendations the community might have.
So with that in mind, and they will be there over the course of the week to do bilaterals as well. With that in mind, the proposal for that main session was basically based on a session which we ran back in 2015 for the WSIS plus 10 which is not a panel per se, so, again, we are following that format quite directly.
What we are proposing is that there are a few remarks from host country Chair representative, which I think we believe will be Daniella. We will have Fabrizio Hochschild who was out of the Secretary General and he was the person who drove the HLPDC effort on behalf of the Secretary General's office, and he is now moved to be responsible for the 75th anniversary of the United Nations next fall. At which point he really expects that there would be some substantive improvements is probably the right word, to digital cooperation across the UN system.
Again, digital cooperation shouldn't be conflated with Internet Governance. The report is much broader than Internet Governance, and certainly much broader than the IGF, but they are looking to bring forward component pieces of that digital cooperation report into their 75th anniversary celebrations which I believe we should expect would actually point to some either new directions or different focus for the UN as well given some of the recent conversations.
So what we are proposing is that there would be basically Fabrizio would be on the panel on the stage, if you will, he will make a few introductory comments. We are not looking for a substantive summary of the HLP report or the effort or the launch. I think that was covered extremely thoroughly months ago. This is meant to be an introduction to the session we are going to hold.
We are looking at two co mood raters, Ambassador Benedict of Fonseca Brazil will be at the IGF and he has agreed to be one of the co moderators. He is in fact in a different role for Brazil, so this is not in his formal role there, but it's in recognition of all of his experience with the IGF and most recently he was the Chair of the Working Group on enhanced cooperation. So he has got really deep knowledge of IGF agenda, cooperation and the various stakeholder views as well.
The other proposal is that I would be the other Co Chair. As you all know, the MAG Chair is appointed by the Secretary General as are MAG members. So it was felt that it was important to actually have that kind of symmetry, if you will, on the panel. The other hopefully benefit is that I obviously bring a lot of knowledge about the IGF and some of our improvements particularly over the last few years. So I can make reference to those as appropriate.
What we are actually proposing is that it be the consultation actually be based very closely on the recommendations that were in chapter 4 which focused on some different possibilities for advancing digital cooperation Internet Governance, but specifically in that chapter focused on the IGF plus model and then on the recommendations and recommendations in chapter 5. So that will be the context of the consultation and we are working with the Secretary General's office to prepare a document that will draw forward my kind of trends or views that had been expressed through our consultation, the consultation of the IGF community that Chengetai referenced at the top of the call here as well as the consultation that the Secretary General's office has been holding.
In our last, Rudolf and I spoke to them a few weeks ago, and in that session they said that they had reached out to about 500 people. A lot of it was verbal or through meetings or other sessions and that they had had approximately at that time about 100 responses back. Again, a lot of them were verbal and through discussions, but there were a number from Governments as well, and in fact, I think there is high alignment between the Governments that submitted to them and the Governments that actually submitted to our consultation.
But in any case, we are putting those two consultations together to create a document which our hope is that it's sought the middle of next week it's out the middle of next week. I'm still waiting for further follow up from the Secretary General's office, but the intent was to get the document out in front of the community ahead of the session, again, similar to what we did in the WSIS+10 session as well.
What we would like to do is we will be asking the audience to sit in stakeholder groups, and we will have four microphones that are aligned by stakeholder group. Again, it makes it easy for us to make sure we are actually hearing from all stakeholder groups and actually turns out to be a really big kind of visual aid if you will in terms of understanding what the various stakeholder communities are thinking. So we will have to put out some additional sort of instructions in the guidelines for that room and also in the description which I equally plan on submitting to the Secretariat.
I think the final comment is we will then ask Fabrizio for final reflections at the end of the session, and start a discussion on next steps as well. Before I go to the closing session, let me see if there are any comments or questions from the floor., but first ask Rudolf or Chengetai if there is anything that I neglected to mention.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: I think you covered it all, Lynn. I think that's very well covered.
>> RUDOLF GRIDL: Yes.
>> CHAIR: Thank you both. I did want to be fairly thorough for it because I think it's a very important session for us, Benin, you have the floor.
>> BEN WALLIS: Montreal, thank you, Lynn. I wasn't quite sure whether to mention this, but it's related to the HLPDC report. I just wanted to let everybody know that there has been a submission to the HLPDC consultation about how the best practice for items provide a good platform or the envisaged cooperation accelerator function. It was an initiative of the IGF consultant, and it's been signed by at least one coordinator from each BPF as well as the two consultants, so I have just put a link to it in the chat. And I thought it was worth sharing that information with the board.
And that's quite a constructive practical input into how that particular recommendation in the report might be taken forward looking to the BPFs for inspiration. Thanks.
>> CHAIR: Thank you, Ben, I thought that was a great effort.
There have been a couple of other questions in the chat room. First of all, Hanna actually reminded me, they, we will be looking for Rapporteurs. That's still something we need to do. So appreciate Hanna's offer and we will pull that together over the next week or so. With respect to who's draft will be in the consultation document, that will be an effort between some representatives out of the Secretary General's office, Fabrizio and his team, the Secretariat, myself, Rudolf, and the host country, and just trying to I don't expect it to be a hugely long document.
Again, this really is focused on chapter 4 the IGF plus model, a couple of recommendations in chapter 5. And the document should simply identify whether or not of the submissions we have received, which frankly aren't a lot. I mean, they are good, but there is not a lot. What if any kind of positions can be drawn from those submissions to date from which to start a dialogue.
So, I mean, that's the basis. It's meant to be quite factual, and the Secretary General's office had offered to kick off the drafting, but we need to move that along quite quickly now so that it's out of the community and ahead of the meeting. Let me see if there are any other comments there.
>> MIGUEL CANDIA: I would like to have a question, it's Miguel Candia.
I can't put my hand up because I'm connecting from my phone.
>> CHAIR: It's tough going back and forth between the screens.
>> MIGUEL CANDIA: So just on the session, it is, I believe it's very, very more than and very interesting, and I understood that we have three people in the podium, yourself,, the Brazilian delegate, and someone from the UN. Is that correct? Fabrizio. So, host country, likely to be Daniella.
>> I heard you mention from Brazil. I thought if we have any reps for Government, maybe the other communities might feel that they don't have a voice up there. So it's not my intention to have seven people on the podium. It's just to understand the idea to have those three people, you know, leading the session a bit further, because I, maybe, if I, if I'm understanding correctly, I don't see someone from any other communities there are or were part of the HLPC report in leading the session.
That's just for me to get clarity on the multi stakeholderism of the podium.
>> CHAIR: It's a good question, Miguel. And I want to be clear that this is not a panel. So there aren't a lot of speakers. This really is a consultation with the community. So we have the, you know, Germany there as the host country, of course, Co Chair, which is a formality for most of the sessions. The UN representative is there because he is the individual that actually was the champion or lead or drove, whatever is the right verb here of the HLPDC effort through the UN. And then there are two co moderators.
So there aren't panels or speakers per se. Any introductory comments would be pretty much focused on what we want to do with this consultation session. I suspect Fabrizio would talk about the current situation within the United Nations where this effort sits with, what some of the next steps are, but it really is about a dialogue amongst the community with the community.
So I don't actually see a lot of interaction or engagement from anybody that's quote, unquote, up on the panel. It would be to certainly make sure we are getting through the agenda, the key points are coming forward. That sort of thing. It's not, not speakers per se.
>> MIGUEL CANDIA: Okay.
Thank you, Lynn. It's just to get, you know, as long as we get the most of all of the communities that we can get in the session, I believe it could be okay.
>> CHAIR: I'm hopeful. We had a really, I think, successful event with the WSIS+10 which was organized exactly the same way. We had two of the co facilitators from the WSIS+10 were there in the Fabrizio, which were Ambassador Fonseca and myself and Janice Kirkland was the MAG Chair, and the introductory comments and the rest just move forward following the draft outcome document that was available at that time.
We will produce some other kind of consultation paper, and the discussion will then move forward through the community. And there will be an open mic for all four communities and as Hanna is saying, technically they are all speakers. Technically they are the speakers.
>> MIGUEL CANDIA: Thank you, Lynn, that's all for me.
>> CHAIR: Thank you, Miguel. It was a good point. I'm glad we emphasized it. I'm sorry, I muted myself.
If could I move quickly though the closing ceremony. This is the nearly three hour session that takes place at the end of the last day, and the it draft that we are working from would actually have the last hour, the last hour is reserved for kind of the closing formality. So that's where we have the individual kind of closing reflections from the four stakeholder groups. We will have a closing speech from the German Government, the UN representative will formally close the IGF, and we will also have a short announcement for next year's IGF.
That's the last sort of roughly hour. The first two hours we are actually proposing, given under have been a number of fairly substantive sets of activities over the course of the week, we start with the high level leaders meeting where I believe we are expecting some messages to come out of those high level leaders meeting whether it's focused on these are the areas that are of concern to us or most interest or whatever those messages are, that there will be messages coming out of the high level leaders' meeting that all meetings do, they will bubble through the course of the week.
And we should take a few minutes and kind of reflect on that engagement as well as the parliamentarians. So there is a session looking for just some high level readouts and reflections from those two activities. We are expecting a readout on each main theme. It's probably something in the neighborhood of seven minutes from each main theme. And I think it's just to give a flavor of kind of what transpired over the week. Maybe a short expose a of emerging key messages, some of the, some of that can be pulled forward from the concluding sessions, the thematic concluding sessions. We are working on.
We are also running a survey in the background for each workshop, which is going to ask a question which is what could the IGF and its associate activities do over the next year to make progress on this particular theme. And we are going to find some ways to pull that in whether it's using a word cloud or things scrolling in the background, but something to get a flavor of that kind of expanded engagement.
And then we are asking for a relatively brief update again from U.S.G. Fabrizio Hochschild and the co moderators on the Internet Governance, the cooperation session as well, primarily because as I said a short time ago, Fabrizio and his team are there to listen over the course of the week and it would be important for the communities to understand what are the reflects, what are the messages they are taking away, what are the next steps. So we would like to dedicate a little bit of time to that.
Once we get through those kind of short reports, that would leave roughly an hour for the community discussion, the taking stock, at which point people could come in on any of the topics that were raised earlier or on anything else that's on their mind. So reverting back to the format we were using for the concluding sessions in previous years. Last year, if you recall, we left it very, very open because with President Macrons, the lodge of the call with the Secretary General's comments with the HLPC activities in the background, we thought it best to leave it a little unstructured so the community could bring forward those items that were of the most interest to them.
I'm not sure everybody thought that was all that successful, frankly, so we are trying to kind of capture high level reflections and readouts of the key activities over the course of the week, and then invite the community to reflect and comment back on those or on, as I said, anything else that's of interest to them. So that's the structure we are looking at there.
It's with all of the appropriate parties for a last view, and then we will be posting that up on the site as well.
So let me see, again, Chengetai or Rudolf, any comments or additions? Anything I forgot to that session? And Wai Min as well, I know you said you are in a place you can't talk. If there is anything you can add, please put it in the chat room, this last session has been a joint effort between the host country, IGF Secretary, DESA and the community, the MAG. Chengetai, is there anything else we need to comment on there or Rudolf?
>> RUDOLF GRIDL: Not from my side.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: That was excellent. No. Nothing to add.
>> CHAIR: So then the floor is open for any comments or questions MAG members? Wai min is saying nothing on his side. We will continue to work on that, the Secretariat will be reaching out to the various stakeholder groups to their closing reflections speakers. And if people are okay, we will move back to I think item 5 this which is updates from DCs, best practice for items, other intersectional activities or NRIs and we can come back and work our way through the rest of the agenda. I just thought it made sense to bring those items forward.
So, again, this is sort of exception reporting. If there is anything you would like the MAG or the Secretariat or myself to help with or any substantive updates, and let me go first to, I will just follow what's on the agenda here and then what's up in the chat room there. So Best Practice Forums. Ben, you have the floor.
>> BEN WALLIS: Thank you, Lynn.
Yes, so just a couple of brief substantive updates. We as in the kind of BPF organising team, we are working on the session that will happen in Berlin. I can share some great news in that we have managed to get the French Ambassador for digital awareness, Anriette to speak at the session. He will speak at the start of the session about the next steps for the Paris call. And then we are going to move to a panel discussion. We are reaching out to potential speakers.
We are planning to hold a BPF call in the next ten days to discuss with the BPF generally about the panel and raise awareness of the session that we are going to be having in Berlin. And then finally, I think I mentioned this before, but we are exploring ways to have the BPF's 2019 work presented in the two UN cybersecurity processes the OEWG and the GGE, and our lead expert Martin van horn Beck will be at the stakeholder session of the OEWG at the start of December and will be able to present the work of the BPF this year. Obviously we won't quite have finalized the report. The report needs to be finalized after the meeting in Berlin. This will come several days after so it will take a couple of weeks to finalize the report and take any input we receive in Berlin. We are also looking whether there would be opportunities to have one of us representing the BPF or possibly a member state that has been closely involved to present the work of the final report to the EOEW, GEGG when they meet in early 2020. And thanks to Wai Min and colleagues with linking us up with the relevant parts of the UN Secretariat to make that happen.
Thank you.
>> CHAIR: Excellent. Thank you, Ben. I'm really glad to see the connection between the UN cybersecurities as well. Carlos Afonso, you have the floor, Carlos.
>> CARLOS AFONSO: Thank you and sorry for being late. Regarding the BPF local content. I have good news really thanks to the tremendous work done by Ori we have organized survey among the people interested. We got 36 responses, submissions, and managed to consolidate these responses in an excellent document. So we have some things substantial to go ahead in the BPF on local content. I think this will be very interesting to be debated this, the document, which is here at the IGF, and we are pretty much heading for an interesting outcome document at the meeting.
Thank you. Maybe Anriette can say something more.
>> CHAIR: Sure. That would be great. And then we can maybe go to agenda and access immediately after as well.
>> Thanks, Lynn, and thanks, Carlos. It was easy to do a good report because we got such good submissions, and just to add to Carlos' update, we also had a meeting last week on planning the session. So we Vice President finalized that yet, but we are getting closer to that.
I haven't set the report to the MAG. It's on the website. But I will send the local content and report to the MAG for your input as well.
And on gender and access, we have an incomplete outcome report. I think our coordinators have just become really, really busy.
I think Maria Paz is dealing with the situation in Chile and I think it's been really difficult for them to work on the report. But we do have a draft report. We haven't shared it with the MAG yet or put it online.
We shared it among BPF members, and I think we will complete it in time. It's just that it's not quite as advanced as the local content.
>> CHAIR: Thank you Anriette. If you can think of anything we can do that would be helpful, do let us know.
>> I will. I think it's just a question of, you know, of getting another, we will have another meeting amongst the coordinators. I don't think there is anything you can do, but don't panic about it, I think it will be completed. We can always have a, as the reports can be updated until later on. I just really would like to get something out quite soon, and I will be able to do that by the end of this week, but I do believe we need to get some feedback from the coordinators.
>> CHAIR: Thank you very much. It's obviously a very, very important topic.
>> Thank you, Anriette.
>> CHAIR: Thank you, Carlos. Again, really glad to see the local content one coming to fruition as well.
We have one more BPF, Internet of Things, big data. Is there someone who can give us an update on that?
>> Hi Lynn, this is (?). Thank you for giving me the floor. I will give you a short synopsis about BPF. We had a meeting on the 29 of October, and we are actually finalizing the draft report. We are collecting some more input from the mailing list, and also other people were in touch with us on this subject, and we will publish then this report. And after the 8th of November.
And we are also trying to prepare the workshop. We are sharing a list of possible speakers, but we have not invited them yet. And then we are trying to collect inputs from the mailing list about speakers and so on. And discussing on how to structure the BPF session.
So that's it for the moment, Lynn. Thank you.
>> CHAIR: Thank you very much. I appreciate so much all of the work that's been done on the BPFs. As you all know the BPFs were started several years ago partly in response to trying to work on some, you know, more concrete kind ever outcomes, and I think, you know, the work that's been done through the BPFs has been really helpful and I think shows what can be done. So I also appreciate the effort by others with respect to not contrasting that but showing that alongside the proposed cooperation accelerator.
So I think there is a lot of learning in that, and I appreciate all of the efforts everybody has put into making the BPFs so successful. We could go to an update on the dynamic coalitions. Jutta, are you able to give us an update or is someone else? Jutta or is Markus on the call? Let's try and raise Jutta in the background as well.
In the meantime, Anja, could you give us an update on the NRIs.
>> ANJA GENGO: Hi Lynn and everyone. I'm sorry, I had an issue with the mute button. Yes, thank you very much. I will gladly provide a very brief update compared to what's been given. In the last call, so we have had a call, I believe, maybe ten days ago, and the list of speakers has been finalized. As you know, the speakers, well, the allocation of the speaking slot is conditioned on the submission of a written input on the topic of emerging technologies. And the session will be split into two sections. The first section maybe 45 minutes long will serve as setting the stage.
In there we will have ten NRIs coming from all five regional groups, and after that we will have additional eight NRIs that will be speaking directly from the position of their case study inputs. After that we are opening the floor to all over present NRIs, but also the participants, not necessarily affiliated with the NRIs to discuss on the notion how the emerging technologies are impacting the lives of people in various countries and regions.
So that's as much, that's as much as it relates to the main session. As you know, the Rapporteurs, the co moderators online and on site are also finalized so they are quite set to go and now we are focusing on the finalization of the consultation of inputs and we will probably have that announced on the IGF website in a few days before the meeting. Thank you.
>> CHAIR: Thank you Anja.
>> JUTTA CROLL: Can you hear me now? It's Jutta speaking.
>> CHAIR: Yes, if you will, Anja just finished her update on the NRIs and I want to see if there are comments or questions from the floor. I'm very glad you are able to give voice here. Any questions or comments for Anja on the NRIs and their various activities? I will thank Anja for that and note again that the number of NRIs continue to grow over the course of the year and I think their activities are getting stronger and stronger and I think they are also an important kind of, an important piece of the IGF annual meeting here, one where I think all of our efforts and activities are enriched and I'm hopeful that it enriched their activities as they take them back home as well. So I appreciate all of the efforts of the NRIs to support this set of activities on top of your own, your own individual activities and Anja, thank you for all of the support you provide to them. It is a large task. So let's mover then to the DC move then to the DCs and Jutta Croll, you have the floor.
>> JUTTA CROLL: Yes, thank you for giving me the floor, Lynn. I have nearly lost my voice, so I hope I can say something. The dynamic coalitions have been mainly working on the main session. So this is a report on the main session as well as on the work of the DCs. We have completed the structure of the session, and although it took some time, we have now 14 out of the 18 dynamic coalitions that are active that have given their contribution to the session. They have filled in the form and prepared the paper.
We have appointed two moderators for the session which are Tatiana Topena and Michael Ogia who will be the tandem moderators for the session. So I would say everything is very well on track, and what we also could say is with regard to the content that we, with the dynamic coalition chief, we have a very good coverage of work on Sustainable Development Goals. So the session will give a very impressive painting or an impressive picture of what the work of the dynamic coalition contributed to the achievement of the SDGs. So that's for the moment.
Thank you.
>> CHAIR: Thank you, Jutta, and I hope you feel better soon too.
>> JUTTA CROLL: I'll be fit for the IGF. Don't worry.
>> CHAIR: Jutta is also providing support to other activities in the background as well. So a very full schedule at the moment. Any comments or questions from Jutta on the DCs? All right. Not seeing any requests for the floor, go to Agenda Item 6 which is updates from the Working Groups.
We can follow the list that's in the, on the website there or if somebody wants to jump in.
>> JUTTA CROLL: Since I have the mic still open I ask say only a few words about the Working Group on workshop evaluation. I just checked with Luis and we have now got 54 responses to the evaluation that we gave to the workshop proposals. We have not yet achieved to analyze any of the feedback we have gotten. We will try to do that, but I'm not sure whether we are successful due to all of the members of the Working Group are very busy in preparation of the IGF, and all of our engaged are engaged in other work and session organising, so on.
But definitely it would be useful if we could have a meeting with the MAG as it is, and with the incoming MAG members to have at least the first look at the results of the analysis and this will build the basis for the workshop evaluation process in 2020. Thank you.
>> CHAIR: Thank you, Jutta and thank you for staying with the survey as well. I do this was important because there were fairly substantive changes this year. So I appreciate all of your efforts there. Are there any questions for Jutta on the work group on workshop evals?
Is there anybody who is able to give an update on either the improvement or the outreach and engagement.
>> JUNE PARRIS: Yes, good evening. This is June Parris. I'm going to do both updates, some of my colleagues are busy at ICANN now so they can't really do this update. I will start with improvements. We have done some reviews over the last couple of weeks, and I think we are on the way to completion. We realize that we can't complete this work before the IGF. And, therefore, we are looking at suggesting an internal survey to be done, and present I'm sorry, presented to the MAG, and this will need, this will bring us a different and broader perspective on the work that we are trying to do.
And also on recommendations as well as our initial assessment we hope to get this survey out to the MAG. This activity should be launched at the beginning of the next MAG cycle we are hoping since we can't seem to complete the work now before Berlin. Also developing a report, we are also looking at developing a report from 2016 2019 on recommendations that are in progress. The group is planning to meet in Berlin and hopefully we will get some sort of response there from other MAG members.
With outreach and engagement, we are also looking at the IGF hashtags and further marketing strategies that we hope to link with the Secretariat. So in deliberation whether or not we should either send an email to the Secretariat or we should just have a meeting, call a meeting before we get to Berlin. We haven't actually finalized this yet. Arsene possibly will send an email, he is at ICANN at the moment, so he is rather busy. We will be meeting up at Berlin and we will seize how much we can do when we are there, when we are all together which is a lot easier face to face.
Thank you very much.
>> CHAIR: Thank you, June. The floor is open for any other comments or questions and maybe while people are thinking about that, I just have a couple. With respect to the Working Group on improvements, there has been so much work done on that over the past years and I know it's a very, very, very big lift because it's taking all of the suggestions from the CSG Working Group on the improvements, from the DESA retreat from the taking stock, from the WSIS+10. I'm wondering if it's appropriate at some point for us to take and they had gone through many of them and said these are under way, these are done, these are still open, but we know who and how they should be advanced and then there was another category which is these are open and so we are not quite sure where they should move to be advanced. Maybe we can split that task out so it's not such a huge lift for one Working Group and see if we can maybe focus on either the more substantive suggestions and just focus on those or split it out according to these other designations, but I think one thing that would be helpful is if the Working Group can think about, you know, the work you have done this year, and maybe make some recommendations with respect to how that work could best be progressed as we go forward because it's become such a huge lift and I'm afraid it could be difficult for one Working Group to really try and move it all forward. So I think we need to take some, you know, more maybe strategic view of what's critical to get done and make sure we are resourcing that first.
And then with the outreach in communications, I don't know if the, if there is anything specific you are looking for support on or expect to get done with relationship to this IGF and or at the same time whether or not the Secretariat has any kind of comments or thoughts as well. I want to see if there is anything else we can do to move forward. We are engaging pretty broadly with a number of press activities and some additional press support activities. I think the hashtag thing is probably pretty much settled, but, again, Chengetai, is there anything you want to add or June, anything you specifically
>> JUNE PARRIS: Yes, we have got a brilliant group. They have come up with some really good ideas. It's just to see if we can merge what the Secretariat has with what we've come up with, and if we could get the two together to make it a bit stronger. The market the IGF maybe not this year but perhaps for next year, if we could put these things together and make it bigger and better. The Secretariat has been really busy this year because Berlin is big, and very busy. So perhaps we could probably move forward for next year, for 2020, and see if we can get it all together.
>> CHAIR: Thank you, June. Chengetai, any comments, reflections?
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Yes, exactly, and I wanted to actually touch base with the team because I think you had a few ideas on messages for the coms team for Twitter and such like that, I wanted to but we can do it offline as well, we don't have to involve the whole MAG. So I will get in touch with you tomorrow and we can discuss.
>> JUNE PARRIS: Thank you so much.
>> CHAIR: That would be great. Thank you, Chengetai, and thank you, June and to the Working Group members there as well.
The two other quick updates, one is on the fundraising. Again, we had just determined that this year we were going to take some very concrete activities, and there is a certifies of activities that we will be rolling out at this IGF in Berlin. DESA, the IGF Secretariat and myself are working on a post card or a leaflet, not really quite sure what sort of size or shape it will take yet. We had the model from last year which is done by some of the MAG members and supported by the Dutch Government.
We also have a leaflet that DESA had actually done for a significant outreach effort they had had in New York earlier this year. In any case, we are going to have a handout, which will be in each one of the participant's bags. We believe we are going to be able to put them out at the high level leader's meeting and in addition there is going to be a session at the IGF which is entitled something like why the IGF matters kind of a fundraising request or a donation request, something like that, which is going to be structured around having four or five kind of key donors talk about why they contribute to the IGF and how it's made a difference to them and why it matters. And we are also looking to have some organisations such as the African Union and some other organisations, civil society organisations as well talk about why the IGF matters to them.
So this isn't kind of a meeting, a donors' meeting per se, it really is why the IGF matters, the difference it's making with several different perspectives, those who are donors, and those who participate deeply in the IGF. And at the same time, make sure it's clear that the IGF is in extraordinary activity of the United Nations, it's not part of the regular budget. There is a trust fund and the nature of the budget requests and that sort of thing. So there will be a number of outreach activities.
I know that Germans are still working as well and still quite interested in trying to see what we could do to draw attention. There is somebody who is not muted. So I think it's Maricela, if you could mute your or maybe the Secretariat can to see if there is some way to call kind of the need to support the IGF out at the high level leaders meeting. I know the German Government is looking at a number of different possibilities over the course of the year, anything from a challenge and a call for support, but we continue to see how we can advance this over the, over the IGF week there. Let me see if there is anything that either Chengetai, Wai Min by chat, I guess, or Rudolf want to add on the fundraising activities.
>> RUDOLF GRIDL: This is Rudolf. I just want to add that it will also be the aim of our Minister to encourage participants of the high level multistakeholder meeting to engage also financially in the IGF process in the future, and we hope that, I'm not sure because our parliamentary procedures are not over, but we hope that we will also be able to do so, and we, of course, want to carry this beyond day zero event, but that's exactly where all of these things that you mentioned, Lynn, come into the game. Thank you.
>> CHAIR: Thank you, Rudolf. As a number of people saying in the chat, we are just so appreciative of all of the different activities Germany is bringing forward.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: And the fundraising sessions are marked on the schedule on day one, I guess the Tuesday, so you can he see, and the room numbers are also marked.
>> CHAIR: Excellent, and we need to do a few more invites as a side note, Chengetai, and make sure we have the speakers lined up.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Yes.
>> CHAIR: Wai Min is saying he is able to speak and would like to make an intervention. Wai Min you have the floor.
>> Yes, thank you, this is Wai Min with DESA. Further to what you just mentioned, I would just like to confirm that we also have our financial colleagues from DESA who will join us in Berlin for this session. So in addition to the session, we understand that contributing to the IGF multistakeholder, multitrust fund is actually not the most straight forward. So we will also be engaging including the potential donors to get them to understand the mechanism of the funding.
So I'm requesting if any member happened to know that there is potential donor, but would like to know more about the administrative details, do reach out and let us know. Thanks.
>> CHAIR: Thank you Wai Min. That's a critical component of this session as well.
Not seeing any other requests for the floor, there is one additional update on the ad hoc Working Group. I'm sorry, the ad hoc Working Group on reporting, which was an effort, again, to pull in a number of good suggestions that were coming from the MAG members and from the community, and tie that into the kind of reporting activities that are in fact sort of overseen largely by DESA and the Secretariat, and this year have a significant support from Germany again as well.
So we have had a number of meetings and a number of sessions. We have tried to improve the kind of traditional reporting process we have had, which had a three stage template, which, you know, some period of time before the IGF itself, we asked people to focus on kind of the key messages or policy questions. So what are they attempting to advance with the session? There is another report that's filled out within the weeks before the IGF, one that's filled out theoretically the day of their session, so we get some quick reporting out that we can use for some of the daily reporting, and then approximately a week after the IGF, there is a fuller session report.
It's that series of activities that both help us to advance some of the key messages. It's also some of the activities, some of the information we will use to support some of the press and other communication outreaches, outreach activities as well.
So we are, we have just made I think some changes to sort of tighten that up. The German Government has enlisted Diplo a significant contribution to the reporting activities, and we are working with the Diplo people to, again, kind of leverage as much as possible a lot of their reporting activities, and at the same time make it clear that, you know, the IGF this year has these three main themes. There was a narrative associated with each theme. And we would really like to advance kind of the reporting kind of along that, those themes and sub themes.
So just kind of minor improvements, more about integration, trying to see if we can get the same Diplo Rapporteurs to follow the session so there is consistency in their reporting. A lot of this I would say is more administrative improvements, but we are hopeful to make a fairly substantive difference to the meeting. We are also looking at having three separate kind of epublications posted after the IGF, one on data governance, one on digital inclusion, one on security, stability, safety and resilience which would cover those major themes fully. And, again, build off the narratives and the policy questions and key messages that are developed as well.
So we will be looking to support that, a lot of various activities going on with respect to the press, both Germany again as well as the Secretariat are working. And we get a lot of support from the UN press engagement office as well.
But everything from trying to facilitate kind of any referrals they might be looking for, you know, if they are looking for somebody with a specific background or from a specific geography, the Secretariat is actually putting this referral help desk in place to help facilitate that. I think one of the kind of newer items we are doing is, as I mentioned earlier, in, well, we were going to do it in the scheduling app. We are communicating through the scheduling app but going to do it in a Google Doc, ask the question that basically looks at what the participants believe can be done to further advance these particular issues, and it's both a way to get a much broader perspective of what the IGF community thinks than the audience, the participant engagement time typically allows.
We are hopeful that it will really focus on sort of areas the IGF and its associated activities should consider, and we are doing both an open question plus a multiple choice. So people can identify whether or not, you know, it's a capacity building, for instance, whether or not this issue should be moved to another process or another institution, and, again, it's to try and do kind of the next future oriented steps which is what we were trying to do with the multiyear planning effort that we have had going for a few years, but also really encouraging everybody to participate, to express their opinion, and at the same time sort of focus on what is it we can do in the IGF ecosystem. And hopefully at the same time be as kind of concrete as possible.
So we will be promoting that survey result. We are going to ask the moderators and workshop organizers to help promote that as well, and see what we can, we can do to really get a discussion going with the community. We agreed on a call yesterday to make that public, which is why we will be doing it in some kind of combination of the Google Doc so that everybody can see the submissions and, again, should support the incoming MAG as well when they start to look at where the communities' interests are and what might the IGF do over the coming year.
Let me see if there are any comments or questions on that? I hope that was clear. I was trying to read from a bunch of really scratchy notes. I'm not sure it was all that clear. Then not seeing any requests for the floor, we will go to item 7, which is the kind of main session planning. We should, I guess that was, 7 was specifically the digital cooperation report. So if we move to 8, that would be on any updates on the thematic introductory sessions or the thematic concluding sessions?
>> SUSAN CHALMERS: Hi, sorry, Lynn, this is Susan Chalmers. I'm happy to provide an update on the digital inclusion session.
>> CHAIR: Excellent. Thank you.
>> SUSAN CHALMERS: Well, thank you, Chair. Hello, colleagues.
Paul Rowney and I have been working with folks on the digital inclusion list to organize our session. What we are focusing on right now is working with the moderators of each of these sub themed breakout groups, of which I believe there are five and the digital inclusion intro section to pick policy questions that were submitted by workshop organizers to create a short list for discussion.
The objective of the breakout group discussions is for each of the groups to identify policy questions that they feel are very pertinent to them, and that they intend to track throughout the week. So we have just been having separate calls with the volunteer moderators of each of these breakout discussions. And we will soon be sending out or developing a letter to send to, I'm sorry, finalizing a letter to send to all, with the help of the Secretariat, to send to all of the submitters of workshop proposals under the digital inclusion theme.
So that's my update. I'm happy to answer any questions.
>> CHAIR: Thank you, Susan. Any comments, questions for Susan?
Not seeing any. Is there none who can give us an update on one of the other main themes?
>> BEN WALLIS: Hi, Lynn, its Ben again and I can give an update for the data governance theme.
First, I picked up something Susan said earlier is that they are looking to send an invitation to the workshop organizers. We have actually been casting our net a little broader and also aiming to invite any organizers of day zero events, and of Open Forums and any other dynamic coalitions as well. So I'm thinking about we are writing to session organizers rather than workshop organizers. So the good news is that the head of the French data protection authority, Malo Dennis has agreed to be our scene setting speaker. The request, you asked if we have any requests for support, it's something I have said before, I know everyone is very busy with their day jobs and with responsibilities related to this IGF meeting, so I don't know how closely people have been able to follow the development of these introductory and closing sessions.
Very grateful to have had four volunteers to lead four of our six breakout sessions, and we are still looking for two more on cross border data and on data and sustainable development. I'm, I wrote to the Working Group list yesterday, and I have asked people to consider stepping forward this week. And if not, then it's something we can include in the invitation letter that goes out to all of the session organizers to see if anyone would volunteer who isn't a MAG member.
I had some questions thinking about the invitations and how we send them out that I put on the email to the data governance Working Group, but I think more generally questions for the whole of the MAG because they probably apply to all three of the thematic introductory and concluding sessions and it would be valuable to have a consistent approach across the three. So the first is kind of a question to the Secretariat, whether it's practical to send the invitation not just to organizers of relevant sessions, but also to all of the speakers in those sessions.
I don't know how practical that is. I don't even know if it's desirable, but I think that's something to consider. It might be more practical just to address it to session organizers. Of course, it's open to everyone, and everyone will see it on the schedule. I kind of leave that as one question. I wondered if there are any other ways that we want to promote the session. I think, again, it's something where we would aim to follow similar approaches with all three themes. I would be happy just limiting the awareness raising to the invitation that is sent out by the Secretariat, and the fact that we are in the schedule and that it's going to be of interest anyway.
I am, of course, open to views of other people. And one final request for clarification, do these introductory and concluding sessions require prereports and summary reports as per the reporting guidelines for all of the other sessions? And if so, I'm sorry that we haven't done a prereport. Yes, okay. I will stop there. Sorry for so many questions.
>> CHAIR: Thank you, Ben. Chengetai?
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: For the prereport question, yes, I would say yes. And for the for the session organized as, two session organizers, of course, yes, but to the panelists, I'm not, because I'm not too sure about that because the session organizer signed on that, so they know it was from us. From the panelists, I don't know. I mean, I will have to discuss with the team and, yes.
>> CHAIR: Presumably with the panelists, they have been getting other emails with respect to the session and logistics and arrangements, so this wouldn't come out of the, you know, clear blue, if you will, but.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Yes, that's true, but let's discuss, and then, I mean, we can get a resolution then very, very quickly. It's not something that's highly complicated.
>> CHAIR: Right. Thank you. We will leave it to you to get back to Ben and the others.
>> BEN WALLIS: And, Lynn, maybe a solution could be in the invitation letters we ask the session organizers to share this with their panelists and maybe without the Secretariat having to dip into various databases and reach out to people that they haven't already been directly in contact with.
>> CHAIR: Right, right. Are there any questions. Maria Paz is putting a question in the chat, but any other comments or questions for right. For Ben? Not seeing any requests. Do we have someone who can talk us through the safety, security, stability and resilience introductory session?
It's the middle of the night for Sylvia.
Is there anybody else that's working with Sylvia on that particular session that they can send us an update. And this is what they have submitted in the Zoom rooms, the Secretariat is actually showing a document, and this document is part of their prereport Chengetai or is it a document that was just sent in for this purpose?
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Luis, can you answer, please.
>> LUIS BOBO: Thank you, Chengetai. I think this is one of the documents that just to start this thematic session, (?) by these organizers, and then out of these documents, the sessions you will see that this is just a document that they published about the spectrum. So this is for this session, but we don't know how updated is this document.
>> CHAIR: Right. Thank you Luis. Thank you for jumping in. I know Sylvia was disappointed that the call was scheduled for this time frame because it was difficult for her to participate. We will follow up and get an update from her offline on this then.
Are there, is there someone who can speak to the concluding sessions for these, other in general across the three, if that's the way we have been moving forward, or individual reports. The on including sessions could be quite helpful in terms of supporting the seven minute high level update that we would give on the Friday afternoon as part of the closing session, but recognize, of course, that the timing is extremely tight as they will have just occurred.
Tomaya, is there anything you can share with the group with respect to where we think we are going across the three sessions? If there is not individual updates from each of the three main themes.
>> Hi, everyone. To be perfectly honest, the three groups are working as far as I know on the closing sessions as well. I haven't been working on the closing, and as I have been busy with some other IGF and non IGF related tasks so I wouldn't really be able to give an update on this one.
I'm sorry.
>> CHAIR: Thank you Tomaya, and apologies for putting you on the spot.
>> JUNE PARRIS: Hi, this is June Parris again. I want to follow up with what Tomaya said. Groups have been trying to follow this same sort of guideline hoping that those who do the opening will also do the closing sessions. The only problem, I think, is that we may not get the same groups attending the sessions since they may be busy doing other things. Yes, but we are trying to work together. We are trying to follow the same format at the moment, and we are meeting eventually and together to try to get this all sorted out.
>> CHAIR: Thank you, June. Chengetai, do you have a list of Kim, we don't have mailing lists set up for the, for instance, the concluding session, do we? Or are we using a mailing list from the original thematic Working Groups. What I would like to do is reach out to all of the individuals that are engaged in organising these concluding sessions, and seeing if there is anything we can do making sure we are still on track and that they are aware of, you know, this, the formal closing session and the requirement to report out.
And I'm not quite sure which distribution group to do that with, the original thematic Working Group or another?
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: I think the original thematic Working Group would be the best.
>> CHAIR: So can you and I talk about that later then to just make sure that we are giving them all of the appropriate kind of pieces of information they need.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Yes.
>> This is Maria Paz, I'm not able to ask for the floor. Can you hear me.
>> CHAIR: Yes, please, go ahead. We can hear you very well.
>> MARIA PAZ: I think the idea precisely we were happy working on as June just explained is like to try to mirror them. So I don't think that we will be a separate group for preparing the concluding session, but rather the idea is that the same group that's working in the introductory session can once the different speakers or coordinator of the Working Groups are identified, can confirm with them if they will be available for also participating in the concluding session or in case that's not possible, ask June to explain it by defining different ones, but I don't think that there will be like two separate groups for working on this, because also in terms of the short time that is still remaining, I think that it will be the most efficient way to address the organisation of the concluding session.
That's my view so far. And I don't know if someone else has a different perspective. Thanks.
>> CHAIR: Thank you, Maria. Very helpful comments. And I think that was what we had agreed as well. So maybe the only thing we need to do is to make sure that everyone aware of the fact that we are actually looking for sort of a brief report from the three main themed Working Groups on what transpired over the course of the week., and that that would be timed for early Friday afternoon.
And Lucien is saying the same for Internet Governance as well, so thank you Lucien. Any other comments or reflections on the thematic introductory or thematic concluding sessions? Not seeing any further requirements. Thank you to everybody and thank you for Tomaya, June and mare ria Paz for the comments here. Move to the penultimate item which is updates from the main sessions. What we want to do here is focus on any sort of substantive updates or any kind of requests for additional support or help from the MAG members.
So let's just go following the list that's actually in the Zoom room there. They are addressing violent extraneous content on that I know Sylvia is engaged in that, but is there someone else that can actually speak to it.
>> Hi, Lynn, can you hear me?
>> CHAIR: Yes, we can, Susan.
>> SUSAN CHALMERS: Great. So we have two outstanding invitations to the New Zealand Government and the German Government. So we are just waiting to hear back from those candidates. It's been kind of difficult to get letters issues through the system. So once we hear back, we will have our full multistakeholder panel confirmed, and it's really gearing up to be a very, a very interesting discussion. So I'm happy to explain the, kind of the layout of the panel and the questions if anybody is interested. But otherwise, we are on track.
>> CHAIR: Excellent. Thank you, Susan. It's sad that it's such a topical topic at the moment, but I look forward to the session. So thank you. If we go to I think the next one is the multidisciplinary framework.
>> BEN WALLIS: Hello, Lynn.
>> CHAIR: Hi Ben.
>> BEN WALLIS: So I have a substantive update. As the MAG knows from the email I sent a couple of weeks ago I outlined our speaker lineup, Fabrizio Hochschild from the UN Secretariat and from the Secretary General's office has agreed to be the moderator. And I think you probably know who he is, but this is the UN official that Lynn mentioned in relation to the main session on digital cooperation. He was driving the work of the high level panel and is now responsible for taking forward recommendations on digital cooperation.
So that's great. Maria Paz and I have had a discussion with Mr. Hochschild. He has some thoughts about finding ways to make the description of the panel a bit less technical, a bit less dry and described in a way that it can appeal to a broader audience. It's not about changing the speaker lineup or the objective of the session, which is to come away with a better appreciation of how and when more inclusive policy making approaches can help with Internet Governance and keeping pace with new technologies.
It's not about changing that, but it's rather about pitching the session in a way that maximizes the number of people that will attend and that will be exposed to or can contribute to the discussion. So Maria Paz and I have been working with Mr. Hocks child's office on a more catchy title, and a revised description for the session, and then we are hoping to get that finished up soon so that we can get back to the speakers and update the description on the website.
And we are finally, we are also looking to identify a Government speaker because we had a Colombian regulator lined up and they had to withdraw. So that's something else we are still working on, but otherwise we have, I think, seven speakers, and a moderator in place. Thanks.
>> CHAIR: Thank you, Ben. I know I had given you a few suggestions for some Government speakers. If you are still looking for some additional suggestions, let us know and we will continue combing the lists.
>> BEN WALLIS: Thank you. Yes, we have four names but what we want to do is agree with Mr. Hochschild and his office the description of the session before we invite a Government official so that they are being invited to come and speak to the updated description.
>> CHAIR: Good.
>> BEN WALLIS: I really appreciate your help with that and we have got the names you suggested on the list we are discussing with his office. Thanks.
>> CHAIR: Thanks. And Hanna and I had passed on the UAE possibility as well, so that's on Ben's list. Thank you.
Any questions? I think Hochschild's interest in this particular session I think just underlines the focus within the UN with respect to Internet Governance, multidisciplinary policy making which if you will recall was a term the Secretary General used in his comments last year as well. So they continue to be engaged and are anxious to really help move this forward.
The next main session
>> Veni: I can't do the chat because I'm on a tablet and it's not easy to ask formally for it.
>> CHAIR: Didn't see it, but you have the floor.
>> Thanks, just on the subject of this update, and I'm sorry for the background noise. I'm at a Conference and there are hundreds of people around. On that subject the more catchy phrase and the more kind of discussion that Ben was talking about, I just want to kind of express early warning that this is a very important topic and we should address it in a not so fashionable quote, unquote kind of way but in a way that is substantive and focus on the report and what is being said and what are the discussions and the outcomes and stuff like that. So, in other words, I'm just kind of expressing my warning that give what I hear at the UN about the report and the discussions wed have ting extra careful not to put people in a position that they are wondering what the session is about.
>> CHAIR: I think that's good advice, Veni, and as Ben said, this has long been kind of a current description on the multidisciplinary policy making, as both he and Maria Paz have said offline. I don't think it's substantially changing the context, I think Fabrizio was looking for more of a debate or discussion, and even less focused on the HLPDC report specifically. But Ben or Maria Paz, do you have anything else to add? Or any other comments, questions for Veni.
>> I just want to, this is my background standing time in the UN and I'm trying to be expert and foreign diplomatic so I beg your pardon, yours and everybody else's, you can acknowledge me as I want but if I talk too cautiously.
>> CHAIR: It's all helpful, Veni. Thank you. Ben or Maria Paz.
>> Maria Paz: Hi, this is Maria Paz.
>> CHAIR: You have the floor.
>> I would like to react to Veni's comment, we totally agree with that. We are have been working in a session in take way that this can be as much as possible very engaged in conversation that touch in different aspects. This is not the session that is dedicated exclusively though discuss their resolve and recommendation and the reaction to the report, but it's rather a conversation that we think that you will complement that because we as the original title of the session pointed out we want to focus on what it means to be multi disciplinary and multistakeholder participatory, and house the perspective on how that is evolved in the recent time and it will continue evolving looking at different issues about Internet Governance.
So we want to have this conversation because we think that it's really necessary to have it, you know, as Veni was describing, but we don't want to create the expectation that here is the place in which necessarily the reaction to the UN report will happen because there is a separate session for that and I think that the update for that is coming right after this one. Thanks.
>> CHAIR: Thank you Maria. Ben? Any final reflections?
>> BEN WALLIS: No, no. I'm happy to leave there. I'm glad Maria Paz got to share as well. I don't want it always to be me, but, yes, and Veni and I add a chance to talk here in Montreal as well, and I appreciate his perspective and glad he is chipping in. Thanks.
>> CHAIR: Right, and Veni put another comment in the chat room as well, which just says hopes that his, you know, his words were continue in account as a way to express the importance of all of these discussions taking place at the UN as well as around the HLPDC report, so I think that's good and he agrees with Maria Paz on what she said.
So if we move onto the next main session, free flow of data I think was the next one on the list. Is there someone who can speak to that? Just give it a slow count here. If they are not on the call, I appreciate this was a difficult time for the call. Then we will follow up offline.
>> CARLOS AFONSO: This is Carlos here.
>> CHAIR: Hello, Carlos.
>> CARLOS AFONSO: Cantor just sent to the list a copy of the draft, the latest version of the draft of the session. And it's interesting is it's there. I just read it.
>> CHAIR: Thank you. I hadn't seen that. Is he asking for any specific support or anything we should specifically
>> CARLOS AFONSO: I think he is in the process of defining the speakers and the discussants. Some are defined and the others are not. I think this is the point of discussion now.
>> CHAIR: All right. Well, why don't we all kind of commit to reading Cantors update offline, and if he is looking for additional support or suggestions for speakers fake a look at that and I will commit myself and the Secretariat to taking a look at it to see if there is anything we can do to help move it forward.
>> CARLOS AFONSO: That's fine. Yes.
>> CHAIR: Thank you for pointing that out, Carlos. I hadn't had a chance to see it yet. So thank you.
The next one is applying human rights in ethics in responsible data governance and AI.
>> Hi, Lynn, it's Lena. I'm not sure if Makesh is on the call. I quick update on this session, we are pretty well with the preparations, I would say. We have the moderators confirmed and most of the key participants.
I think we are possible waiting for the confirmation for the Government participant and we are also planning a call soon with all key participants and the moderators to discuss the content in the session, how it's going to work. And we are also planning a bit of a surprise for the AI session, but I don't want to disclose more just encouraging everyone to attend the session. It's going to be interesting. Thank you, Lynn.
>> CHAIR: Thank you, Serena. Any comments or questions from Serena? I'm assuming there is nothing specific you need from the MAG at this point, Serena.
>> No, no. We are good.
>> CHAIR: The next one is securing the interconnection of everything.
>> Hello, it’s Juliana.
>> CHAIR: You have the floor.
>> Thank you for the floor. Just giving some quick updates for the Internet of Things main session. This is, we are in a good progress because all of the speakers are confirmed for the ascending session, and we are waiting for the moderator from Japan. I just represent our group too many times for the colleagues, for the MAG members and the Secretariat for our input and submission either on developing on the speakers should be set. Thank you.
>> CHAIR: Thank you, Juliana. Any comments or questions? Again, I didn't hear any further request for further for of the MAG. The next main session is achieving the SDGs.
>> MIGUEL CANDIA: Hi, Lynn, I can help you with that.
>> CHAIR: Thank you. Miguel.
>> MIGUEL CANDIA: Thank you for giving me the floor. We have been together a while now so it's quite all right. With regards to the main session on the sustainable vet goals, we have had a very interesting set of news we have confirmed as moderator Ms. Doreen Bogdan Martin and one of the panelists one of the under Secretariat for DESA. Thanks you for the friends of DESA for helping us convincing him. We have five more panelists already confirmed and we are looking to confirm the last one because we were looking for seven and a moderator.
So as soon as we have the full roster fully confirmed, we are going to update the draft that is published and let everybody know in order for everybody to have the full scope of what we are trying to do.
With regard to the format, we tried to do it more, in a more dynamic way, so it's going to be the moderator setting the scenarios and proposing questions in three segments. Some speakers will speak in each. Some in others so we will have the views of everybody in different moments and situations.
That way we are trying to get more of the SDGs in the main session, and getting ready everybody to have a meaningful participation. We are in the tidy up week, so we expect to have both the panelists and moderator placed fully confirmed by the end of the week and let everybody know by next week about the full package that is the speakers and the format itself. So I hope that helps. That's all from me, Lynn, thank you.
>> CHAIR: Thank you, Miguel. Any comments or questions from Miguel, and likewise I didn't hear a specific request for the MAG so I'm sure you are confident and comfortable with how everything is going forward. Not seeing any requests for the floor then, I think the remaining two sessions were the NRI and the DC sessions, if that's correct. Is there anything more that Anja or Jutta or anyone wants to add with respect to those two sessions.
Anja says nothing to add. Thank you. I think Jutta covered the DCs earlier quite well. We are at the last Agenda Item, which is AOB., see if there is anything further from the Secretariat, DESA, I think Rudolf left from the host country, but anything further and any other business from any of the MAG members? So Chengetai, let me see if there is anything you would like to add?
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you, Lynn. Nothing from me. It's just except for the reminder of getting those prereports out, and it's also very important for the Sched to be updated. And, yes, I mean, even after the Secretariat will be a bit beyond on doing that as well, but if people could do that, that would be great. Apart from that, nothing from me. I don't know if Luis or Anja would have anything to say?
>> LUIS BOBO: Thank you, Chengetai, I don't have anything.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: I guess not. Thank you very much, Lynn.
>> CHAIR: Thank you. And thank you so very, very much to everybody in the Secretariat. I mean, you are just doing a tremendous job with yet again too few resources, but I mean, it's just a tremendous job, and a lot of good and new things happening with the preparations as well. So thank you. Wai Min has said he has nothing further to add and I think Rudolf had to leave the call a short time ago.
Let me see if there is any other comments or questions from MAG members or any other business in the last few minutes here. So as Chengetai said earlier, I know the expectation is this is our last MAG call before the IGF. Literally it is just around the corner now. Obviously we are all still very active on the mailing list. If anything comes up or there is additional support anyone requires don't hesitate to reach out either on the mailing list or obviously to myself or to the Secretariat.
I'm not sure. Let's see, Raquel has a question coming. Chengetai, Raquel is asking if there is an update on when the MAG Chair will be announced. Do you have an update?
>> Hi, Lynn, this is Wai Min of DESA. No updates unfortunately, but we are super optimistic of getting it out before the Berlin IGF. Thanks.
>> CHAIR: Thank you Wai Min. Okay. So I don't see any other updates. I know it's all with the Secretary General's office, so they are going through their own deliberations and things at the moment. Again, we have certainly gone out of our way to impress of importance of timely appointment of the MAG and the MAG Chair, and I think they are well aware of that so also doing everything they can and I think there is a nice forcing with the Secretary General coming to the IGF as well. So I'm very hopeful that that will be met.
Well, thank you, everybody. Thank you to everybody who is doing double duty here in the background with ICANN meetings and various other things. I see Maria Paz saying she has one last question. Maria, you have the floor. Maria, are you unmuted?
>> Sorry, Lynn. Can you hear me now?
>> CHAIR: Yes, we can hear you.
>> Maria Paz: It was something mentioned previously at the meeting because I was not able to connect from the beginning, but it's mainly for Jutta regarding the organisation of the High Level Meeting. I have received some questions from civil society organisations. They want to know about how the invitation for civil society representatives are being made for that meeting in day zero. I know that I have asked before for this and Jutta last time answered me that a participation will be pretty flexible for space to accommodate anybody who is interested, but I received this direct question and I provided already this answer and they want to know more about if there will be any specific invitation that has been sent out or will be sent out. Thank you.
>> CHAIR: Thank you Maria Paz, it's a very good question. Is Jutta still on the call.
>> JUTTA CROLL: Yes, I'm still here, and I will try to answer that question.
So Rudolf has said before that the list of speaking panelists from each of the stakeholder groups cannot be published yet because it's still not yet completely set. Some names are still moving around and some confirm and others to step in for those who cannot attend. That's the one side. That's those people who are invited to seek in the three groups on the three themes in different panels.
In addition, there will be sent out an invitation to civil society as well as to other stakeholder groups to take part in these sessions because as I said before, and Rudolf confirmed that it will be even more or larger rooms now because there is such a good response. So and we expect to be able to send out the information how the panelists will be set and how these groups will be set on day zero at the beginning of next week. We have a meeting in the ministry tomorrow, and I hope that we will be able to confirm then that it's possible to announce the structure of these panels and to send out an invitation to take part in these sessions at the beginning of next week. I hope this helps to answer your question.
>> CHAIR: Maria? Was that helpful in any follow up? She is saying yes, it was helpful. Thank you, Jutta. I know we are over time, but Mary just posted one quick question in the chat room, which is are there still speaking slots for the parliamentarian High Level Meeting, and I'm not too sure if you are talking about the high level leaders meeting on day zero or the parliamentarian meeting on Friday, Mary. If you can clarify.
The Friday parliamentarian meeting.
>> JUTTA CROLL: I don't think, if I may speak up, I don't think there is anyone on the call who can answer that question right now, Mary. I will try to get an answer for you when I have the meeting of the ministry tomorrow morning, and then maybe we can give you feedback or at least can give you the contact details of a person who can answer that question. I'm not in the position to do so.
>> CHAIR: That would be great. Thank you. Thank you, Jutta.
>> JUTTA CROLL: We will take that forward to the ministry.
>> CHAIR: Appreciate that and appreciate everything you are doing to make that set of activities there a success as well. We are over time, so let me just quickly again thank everybody for all of their support on this call, for making the call in the background of the ICANN meeting and, of course, for all of the work that everybody is doing in the background for this IGF. And I look forward to seeing you soon in Berlin. Thank you. (Concluded at.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much, Lynn, thank you, everybody.