At the first Internet Governance Forum next week in Athens, ICC's Business Action to Support the Information Society (BASIS) and the Canadian government are hosting a workshop on how to increase awareness and skill development to ensure the information society becomes more inclusive.

Focused on experiences at the national, regional and international levels, the workshop entitled "Building human and institutional capacity for meaningful participation in Internet Governance issues" will consider how to increase involvement, particularly from developing countries.

"Informed participation by government, civil society, business and technical experts from both developing and developed countries is essential," said ICC Secretary General Guy Sebban. "More people need to be prepared to contribute their expertise and perspectives on these issues otherwise important considerations are sure to be overlooked."

"We have invited leading experts from four continents to discuss the challenges faced by different stakeholders and to share what options exist for bringing more people into Internet governance debates," said Industry Canada's Director of International Telecommunications Policy, Bill Graham. "We expect a rich exchange and hope to see some useful partnerships develop from this dialogue."

With a special focus on network and information security matters, the workshop will consider the following questions:

How could interested parties participate in Internet governance issues such as security? 

 

What challenges are faced by different parties (business, governments, civil society and technical experts) who participate in Internet governance processes and issues?

Do training programmes or partnership initiatives exist? Can they be replicated?

How could successful initiatives be implemented to address the challenges faced by institutions?

Panelists in this workshop include:

• David Appasamy, Chief Communications Officer, Sify Limited, India
• Raul Echeberria, Executive Director, Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry, Uruguay
• His Excellency Masood Khan, Ambassador of Pakistan and Permanent Representative to the UN, Geneva
• Art Reilly, Senior Director, Strategic Technology Policy, Cisco Systems, United States
• Richard Simpson, Director General, Electronic Commerce, Industry Canada
• David Souter, Managing Director, ICT Development Associates, United Kingdom

The workshop will take place at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) on Wednesday, 1 November 2006, 17.30-19.00,  Workshop I room, Divani Apollon Palace, Athens Greece.