Opening Session (ECOSOC Chamber)

The meeting will begin with a opening statement by the United Nations Secretary-General. The President of ECOSOC, the parent body of the United Nations ICT Task Force, will make a statement.
Dr. Vinton Cerf, one of the inventors of the Internet, will make a statement.
The Chairman of the Task Force will introduce the rules of procedure and of time management of the Forum. He will stress that the Forum is intended to be as interactive and participatory as possible, so time limits will be strictly enforced by Chairs. Participants will be encouraged to frame their interventions as contributions to a live dialogue, rather than make prepared statements.
There will be no speakers lists. The audio feed of the plenary Sessions will be broadcast live on the Web and also archived.
Those participants who had not already done so, will be encouraged to indicate their preference for an afternoon Break-out session to members of the Secretariat of the ICT Task Force by submitting a form received with their registration package.

Session I: Setting the Stage: Issues and Institutions (ECOSOC Chamber)

The Session is intended to set the stage for the subsequent discussions by presenting to the participants, in a condensed format, the origins of the mandate on Internet governance that was addressed to the Secretary-General, highlighting the relevant activities held elsewhere, and by summarizing the "prior art" background on substantive issues that the Global Forum is to deliberate on.
The Chair, Mr. Jose-Antonio Ocampo, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations for Economic and Social Affairs, will make a brief introduction. The Moderator, Mr. Nitin Desai, Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on WSIS, will introduce the speakers and invite them to make their brief statements (from their seats).
Mr. Kummer, Switzerland's e-Envoy, will describe the range of Internet governance issues as formulated by the Geneva phase of the World Summit on the Information Society. Representatives of the organizations that have recently had their own meetings on Internet governance - the International Chamber of Commerce (Mr. Richard McCormick, the Honorary Chairman), International Telecommunications Union and ICANN - will brief the Forum on these meetings. These briefings are intended to help inform the participants about the broad spectrum of events and activities on Internet governance. This information will be further complemented by presentation of the outcomes of the on-line forum on Internet governance organized by the WSIS-on-line platform (Mr. Bertrand de la Chapelle).
To help frame the substantive discussion, Dr. William Drake ( International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development) will share with the Forum what he called "baseline propositions on Internet governance".
Time permitting, the Moderator will entertain brief comments from the floor on the topics addressed by Session I.

Session II: Stakeholders Baseline: Accumulated Concerns, Perspectives, and Exploring how We Can Co-operate (ECOSOC Chamber)

This Session is designed to facilitate an open interactive discussion among stakeholders. The Chair, Mr. Brendan Tuohy, Secretary-General of the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources of Ireland, member of the Bureau of the ICT Task Force, will make a brief introductory statement. The discussion will be moderated by Mr. Rodolfo Castillo-Lopez, Executive Director of the Agency for the Development of the Information Society, Bolivia and member of the ICT Task Force.
There will be no speakers list. Participants who wish to take the floor may indicate this by addressing a written message to the Chair of the Session or by raising their hand during the discussion. The Moderator will lead the discussion and recognize speakers.

Session III: Guiding Principles: A Checklist for Internet Governance (ECOSOC Chamber)

This Session will address baseline principles that should serve as guidelines for whatever governance mechanism will eventually emerge. The Provisional Agenda identifies some elements of such principles. Participants will be invited to comment on the principles and their substance, and to advance their additions or corrections to that tentative list.
Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Chairman and CEO of TAGO and Vice-Chairman of the United Nations ICT Task Force, will chair the meeting. The discussion will be moderated by Mr. Srinivasan Ramakrishnan, Executive Director, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (India).
There will be no speakers list. Participants who wish to take the floor may indicate this by addressing a written message to the Chair of the Session or by raising their hand during the discussion. The Moderator will lead the discussion and recognize speakers.

WORKING LUNCH (West Terrace, Delegates Dining Room, 4th floor)

All registered participants of the Global Forum are invited.
A representative of the Government of Tunisia will make a brief statement on the preparatory process for the Tunis phase of the Summit.
The Chairs and Moderators of the five Break-out sessions will initiate mutual introductions and preliminary discussions with the participants who intend to attend their Break-out sessions.

Break-out Sessions 1-5 (Room designation will be communicated to participants on Thursday 25 March)

The areas of focus and the names of Chairs, Moderators and Rapporteus of the Break-out sessions are contained in the Provisional Agenda of the Global Forum.
The goals of the breakout sessions are to identify areas of agreement and ways to bridge non-agreement in different areas of Internet governance, as well as to identify areas that merit further discussion. Inter-relationships among the relevant issues will also need to be addressed. All groups will be invited also to bring up any issues that the participants may feel are not adequately addressed at the present. Particular attention will be paid by all groups to the development dimension of all issues to be addressed.
Thematic similarities between Groups 1-2 and 3-4 are intentional. The objective is to facilitate as participatory and interactive character of discussion as possible which is only possible in relatively small groups.
Please note that, depending on a number of participants who would register their preference for a particular Break-out session, there may be a need for a last-minute change in room designation and/or the distribution of the areas of focus among the Sessions.

Session IV: The Way Ahead (ECOSOC Chamber)

The Session will be chaired by Mr. Jose-Maria Figueres, Chairman of the United Nations ICT Task Force.
Mr. Mark Furrer, Director-General of the Federal Office of Communications, Switzerland, will make a brief statement.
The Moderators of the five Break-out Sessions will present to the Plenary Session the outcomes of deliberations at their respective groups.
In the subsequent interactive discussion, participants will be invited to focus on the areas where commonalities of interests, positions and approaches were identified; and 2) a set of issues that would merit a continuation of the discussions at subsequent meetings, including meetings of the United Nations ICT Task Force, its Working Groups and Regional Nodes.
Dr. Robert Kahn, one of the pioneers of Internet, will make a statement.

Closing Session (ECOSOC Chamber)

The Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ms. Louise Frechette, will make a statement on the results of the Global Forum.
The Chairman of the United Nations ICT Task Force will make a closing statement.

Background documentation for all Sessions is available here: http://www.unicttaskforce.org/sixthmeeting/background.html

Global Forum on Internet Governance |