Global Commission on Internet Governance issues a statement of support in advance of ITU meeting

News Release

October 15, 2014

The Global Commission on Internet Governance has concluded its meeting, hosted by the Maekyung Media Group, in Seoul, South Korea.

Chaired by former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, the Commission makes the following statement in advance of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) plenipotentiary meeting to be held October 20 – November 7, 2014 in Bussan, South Korea:

  • Effective Internet governance lies in inclusive models in which the ITU has an important input to make to the multi-stakeholder governance of the Internet;
  • The Global Commission on Internet Governance strongly supports the ITU's unique role in promoting and improving access to telecommunication technologies and services across the globe, as well as performing critical technical functions such as standards setting and spectrum management;
  • The Commission hopes the meeting will allow a focus on shared global concerns relevant to that role;
  • The Commission looks forward to hearing the outcome of the ITU’s consideration of the need to move towards greater transparency and openness to the wider Internet community;
  • The Commission would welcome an opportunity to meet with the ITU leadership to discuss these issues.

 “A most productive meeting on a most important global issue," says Carl Bildt, Chair of the Global Commission on Internet Governance."I am pleased that the ITU Plenipotentiary meeting will be held in Bussan, South Korea, and want to communicate the above thoughts to them."

The Global Commission is a two-year initiative launched in January 2014 by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and Chatham House, and will produce a comprehensive stand on the future of multi-stakeholder Internet governance.

The next meeting of the Global Commission on Internet Governance will be held in Ottawa, Canada, from November 24 to 25, 2014. Over the course of the Commission, a series of research papers will be issued and publicly posted on its open website www.ourinternet.org.

Members of the Global Commission on Internet Governance in attendance in Seoul included:

  • Carl Bildt
  • Gordon Smith
  • Pablo Bello
  • Pascal Cagni
  • Moez Chakchouk
  • Dae-Whan Chang
  • Michael Chertoff
  • Anriette Esterhuysen
  • Dorothy Gordon
  • Dame Wendy Hall
  • Fen Osler Hampson
  • Patricia Lewis
  • Sir David Omand
  • Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi
  • Nii Quaynor
  • Latha Reddy
  • Tobby Simon
  • Paul Twomey
  • Pindar Wong

For more information on the Global Commission on Internet Governance, including its twenty-nine commissioners and thirty-five research advisers, please visit: www.ourinternet.org. Follow the Commission on Twitter @OurInternetGCIG.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Kevin Dias, Communications Specialist, CIGI 
Tel: 519.885.2444, ext. 7238, Email: [email protected]

The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) is an independent, non-partisan think tank on international governance. Led by experienced practitioners and distinguished academics, CIGI supports research, forms networks, advances policy debate and generates ideas for multilateral governance improvements. Conducting an active agenda of research, events and publications, CIGI’s interdisciplinary work includes collaboration with policy, business and academic communities around the world. CIGI was founded in 2001 by Jim Balsillie, then co-CEO of Research In Motion (BlackBerry), and collaborates with and gratefully acknowledges support from a number of strategic partners, in particular the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario. For more information, please visit www.cigionline.org.

Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, is based in London. Chatham House’s mission is to be a world-leading source of independent analysis, informed debate and influential ideas on how to build a prosperous and secure world for all. The institute: engages governments, the private sector, civil society and its members in open debates and confidential discussions about significant developments in international affairs; produces independent and rigorous analysis of critical global, regional and country-specific challenges and opportunities; and offers new ideas to decision-makers and -shapers on how these could best be tackled from the near- to the long-term. For more information, please visit www.chathamhouse.org.

-30-

The opinions expressed in this article/multimedia are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of CIGI or its Board of Directors.