Taking Stock and Looking Forward – on the desirability of the continuation of the Forum

Disclaimer – blog starts mid-China’s speech (was stuck in a queue to get my mobile/camera)

[11:37:51] main session right now: China speaking on the future of IGF
[11:37:51] just pointed out IGF shortcomings
[11:38:33] "without doing any reform to the igf, it is not necessary to give a five-year extension"
[11:39:31] *some* people clapped
[11:43:54] UNESCO rep next
[11:44:44] we look forward to continue to play an imp role in the hopefully extended period for IGF
[11:45:34] now listing unesco's mandate
[11:45:57] incl freedom of expression, access, accessibility and many more priority areas
[11:46:28] unesco strongly supports that igf should maintain forum character also in the future
[11:46:54] unesco preparing major agreements of cooperation with a number of org like icann
[11:47:29] next: masanobu katoh, fujitsu, japan
[11:48:45] we found igf process v. imp and useful. igf does not hold decision making power... open dialogues undoubtedly influenced future policy
[11:48:58] in support of igf's next mandate
[11:49:28] mention of cloud computing as new opportunity
[11:49:38] but reasonable broadband access needed
[11:50:29] in conclusion: igf has accomplished many new things, but many new issues coming in the future which we need to discuss in future igf meetings
[11:50:33] next: ICANN
[11:50:44] many thank yous
[11:51:30] technology through time
[11:51:40] (4K yrs ago, tv, internet)
[11:51:59] (email, publishing with web, skype phone calls, video and now social media)
[11:52:08] who is leading the way? Youth
[11:53:13] had a chance to ask youth. their comment: so many different persepctives, rich debate, what they can get out of the system; tremendous responsibility that youth feel; friendship among other participants
[11:53:44] we would like to see this continue... so yes to the future, yes to the youth and yes to the internet
[11:54:23] next: saudi arabia, abdullah al-darrab
[11:55:06] (scribes not receiving eng trans)
[11:55:14] speech stopped
[11:55:24] resumed
[11:56:03] we have to be very open and very frank. each one of us should accept ideas of others and opinions of others v. frankly
[11:56:10] no doubt that igf has achieved a lot
[11:56:51] stakeholders that represent govts, civil society and others differ in opinion of course
[11:57:07] participation of stakeholders from developing countries is very limited
[11:57:44] such participation does not reflect true interest of all stakeholders
[11:58:07] again, this forum should be arm that helps enhance cooperation
[11:58:40] which did not start until now, and it should start with another part other that the path of igf
[11:58:55] if we assess it from this point of view, results are not encouraging
[11:59:09] gap is getting bigger
[11:59:20] without undermining achievements
[11:59:35] at 2:30, bill graham, isoc