The first face-to-face Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Open Consultation and MAG Meeting of 2019 has just concluded in Geneva. The community and the Multistakeholder Advisory Group (IGF-MAG) reviewed activities across the IGF ecosystem and began advancing plans for IGF 2019 and associated intersessional activities.
Planning for 2019 is well advanced having begun last November immediately following the Secretary-General’s announcement of the MAG, reflecting the MAG’s deep appreciation for the timely appointment.
The French Government’s efforts to ensure a successful IGF 2018 were noted with great appreciation, in particular, the efforts of Ambassador Martinon who along with his team worked tirelessly to make IGF 2018 a success.
Dr. Daniela Brönstrup, Deputy Director General German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy was warmly welcomed as the Honorary Host Country Co-Chair and was present throughout the meeting.
Particular attention was paid by the MAG to advancing improvements across the IGF ecosystem. Traditional review processes such as the CSTD WG on IGF Improvements were noted, along with the many suggestions coming from the annual IGF Taking Stock activities, the IGF Retreat organized by DESA in 2016, and of course more recent suggestions such as those from the UN Secretary-General Guterres’ speech and Pres. Macron’s speech, both at IGF 2018, as well as comments from the European Commission’s High Level on Internet Governance (HLIG) to name only a few.
Building on improvements put in place last year the MAG redoubled their efforts to deliver a cohesive, focused programme of work, including Best Practice Forums (BPFs) and the programme of the Annual Meeting, while expressly signaling interest in greater collaboration between the Dynamic Coalitions (DCs), and National, Regional and Youth IGF Initiatives (NRIs) as key activities in the IGF ecosystem.
After much deliberation, the MAG decided to focus on three Main themes this year 1) Cybersecurity & Safety, 2) Inclusion, and 3) Data Governance (final names to be agreed over the coming weeks but the categories are expected to remain the same). These themes are supported by the results of the recent community Call for Issues, and it is hoped will create a programme that will help advance the most consequential areas, and for which we will need everyone’s support.
The MAG will create a short narrative (or shared reference) for each of the themes above and using information from the ‘Call for Issues’ as well as other strategic input suggest some policy areas that the community will be invited to address in their workshop submissions. It is believed that these shared references will launch work – distributed and global - that combined will make a substantial contribution and help advance the most challenging issues.
These changes are part of the MAG’s efforts to step up activities in light of developments in many areas: Artificial Intelligence, Data, Trust, IoT, Cybersecurity, etc., and many of these areas will be captured in the Themes above. The MAG and the IGF secretariat are working to finalize the process and the ‘Call for Workshops’ and we will be back soon with more information. In the meantime, please send us your suggestions/questions and together we look forward to having the most impactful year yet.
Lynn St.Amour
IGF-MAG Chair