Distinguished delegates,
Members of the IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group,
It is a pleasure to address you on behalf of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
I also take this opportunity to acknowledge your hard work as you begin your second in-person meeting of the year and continue planning for the 18th IGF.
You have put forward a rich agenda for the IGF that reflects the central place of digital issues in our lives.
The eight subthemes of the programme are well aligned with ongoing discussions at UN Headquarters on the Global Digital Compact. They include addressing persistent digital divides, AI’s rapid impacts, data governance and trust, and global digital cooperation.
We must meet stakeholders’ expectations on these urgent issues.
We have a responsibility to ensure that digital transformation is people-centred, equitable, secure, and in line with the development aspirations of the global community.
Every day, we see advances in artificial intelligence and other technologies that are a cause for both hope and concern.
With its more than 150 national, regional and youth IGF initiatives, as well as the specialised expertise embodied in intersessional activities like Policy Networks, Best Practice Forums, and Dynamic Coalitions, the IGF can bring meaningful capacity building measures and recommendations to the table.
This is a complex task that must be carried out across the world.
We know the IGF 2023 agenda is of strong public interest because stakeholders have responded to it in record numbers.
An impressive 800 session proposals were received for the meeting. 400 of these were for workshops, twice the number of previous years.
It will be challenging, but also rewarding, to review these, make the selections and deliver a dynamic programme.
Last year in Ethiopia, we witnessed high quality discussions that were captured in the Addis Ababa IGF Messages.
I have no doubt that this year you will build on that work and design a programme that results in further actionable and forward-looking messages.
As you know, events on the horizon are shaping global digital governance.
The ministerial meeting on Our Common Agenda, and the SDG Summit will both take place this September, with the Summit of the Future to be held in 2024, and the General Assembly review of the WSIS+20 in 2025.
The IGF meeting in Kyoto will be an opportunity to highlight the essential role of the IGF and its multistakeholder contributions to those events and their follow-up processes.
To the stakeholders here today for the open consultations, I would also like to recognise your tireless commitment to the IGF.
The IGF is a space created with and for you. We can only make progress toward Kyoto with your contributions.
At a time of unprecedented technological acceleration, we need all your voices and expertise to outline a vision for the “Internet We Want” and the world needs. We count on your continued engagement.
To the IGF donor community, I want to take this opportunity to thank you. Your contributions allow us to provide effective services to the IGF and its intersessional work and enhance capacity-building in developing countries.
Thank you all and I wish you a productive meeting.