AGIP Re-elected to the IGF Advisory Group

AMMAN - Charles Sha’ban, Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP) Executive Director, was re-elected to the Advisory Group of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), following the renewal of its mandate.

According to the United Nations (UN), the mandate has been renewed in order to assist in preparations for the next meeting of the IGF, to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, November 6-9, 2012.

The 56-member Group will serve in their personal capacity. They have been chosen from governments, the private sector, civil society, academia and technical communities, representing all regions and stakeholder groups.

“This year, 33 new members were chosen. We are very proud at AGIP to be among the members representing the private sector worldwide and the only member representing the private sector in the Arab region,” Sha’ban said.

As part of its mandate, the Advisory Group has been asked to enhance the transparency of the preparatory process by ensuring a continuous flow of information between its members and the various interested groups. It has also been requested to make proposals on a suitable rotation among its members, based on recommendations from the various interested groups. Any decision on how to prepare subsequent meetings will be taken after the Baku meeting in an open, inclusive and transparent consultative process, taking into account the proposals of the Advisory Group.

The IGF is an outcome of the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which took place in 2005. In the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, governments asked the UN Secretary-General to convene a “new forum for policy dialogue” to discuss issues related to key elements of Internet governance and set out the Forum’s mandate.

To check the full list of the IGF Advisory Group members: http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/component/content/article/114-preparatory-process/941-mag-2012-