I'm happy to jump in. Hello, everyone. It's a great pleasure and an honor for me to joining you for the 21 tt IGF. I am marcus Kumar, I'm the chair of the AGF support Association. And I'm see that I was allotted 20 minutes for my address. I don't think I will talk that long. But I would be happy to engage in a dialogue with you and answer questions. Should you have any? You Chairman, you have already alluded to that we live in difficult times and that we have learned how to make use of the internet during the pandemic. COVID-19 has shown the importance of the internet as a backbone of our digital world. Without the internet, it would have been much worse. The IGF support association is here to support the IGF in all forms, including all the national and regional ag F's. Over the past years, our focus has shifted more and more towards supporting the national and regional IGF. The global debate is important, but we have seen that good internet governance begins to toe at the national level, you can have a real impact when you talk directly to policymakers. The program of this year's TT IGF is very well thought through and timely it addresses the big questions of how to cope in difficult times. It addresses economic, cultural, and social issues. cybersecurity is a matter of concern, and digital education and digital entrepreneurship have come to the fore as important issues. One of the key issues, however, remains the multi stakeholder approach. Let me take a step back and look at the beginning of the internet and the origins of the multi stakeholder approach. The internet, as we all known was developed as a government funded technology in the US that the US government took a hands off approach. The idea then was that the scientists knew best how to drive the development of the technology. The internet to begin with was confined to a circle of insiders, mainly scientists and academics. It took off in the 1990s. With the deployment of the World Wide Web. The 90s was a time of hope. It was marked by the end of the Cold War and the triumph of liberal democracies and market economists. The Washington Consensus dominated the economic debate based on the belief in the benefits of globalization, free trade and market forces. The End of History The title of the famous book by Francis Fukuyama summed up the prevailing mood, the internet community so a new topia emerging. Two famous statements are typical for the cyber libertarian philosophy. We reject kings presidents and voting, we believe in rough consensus and running code. That was David Clark, who in 1992, summed up the approach of the engineers in the Internet Engineering Task Force. Or a few years later, in 1996, john Perry Barlow issued a declaration of the dependence of cyberspace. And they quote, governments of the industrial world, you were a giants of flesh and steel. I come from cyberspace, the new home of mind, on behalf of future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us, you have no sovereignty where we gather.
That may sound somewhat naive, looking back from today, and governments did not disappear. But however, in those days, to a large extent, they shared the hands on approach of United States. 1998 was a key year in 98, the OECD and the World Trade Organization held ministerial conferences. They both made the consent conscious decision not to regulate e commerce. The feeling then was that what that it would be important to let the technology evolve and early regulation might start For its development, also in 98, that US government set up ICANN to administer the Domain Name System. Again, the feeling was that this important activity should not be government led, it was supposed to be private sector led instead. However, there was a counter trend still in 1998, the ICU the International Telecommunication Union, for the plenipotentiary meeting that called for holding the World Summit on the Information Society. In other words, to bring in the information society and the new technologies into the sphere of governments. The World Summit on the Information Society or VCs, as it's known by its acronym, in 2003, and five confirmed that existing arrangements have worked well, but also said that there was room for improvement. Enhanced cooperation was the code word for this. Most importantly, however, this is validated the multi stakeholder approach and created the IGF why governments through the UN confirmed the multi stakeholder approach. They no longer share the optimism of the 1990s 2001 911 marked the end of that optimism. In 2008, the financial crisis crisis led to heavy government interventions in financial markets and system, the notion of too big to fail came up and to justify the saving of private actors. And then brings us to the Trump administration, which marked an end of the Washington Consensus and the belief in the benefits of globalization and free trade. Also, regulation of the internet was no longer taboo. The European Union imposed the GDPR general directive for data privacy. And also there are increased calls for regulation, Microsoft in 2017, called for a Geneva digital convention. That was a real paradigm shift. Until then, the private sectors mantra was, we know best how to deal with the problems. Now, major economic player called for government intervention, also face increased pressure on big tech. We noticed the recent developments on Facebook and Twitter. And there's also forecasts that with the new Biden administration, the pressure on big tech will increase from the US government. And finally, this brings me back to our current pandemic COVID-19. Again, governments have shown their power and irrelevance they imposed sometimes drastic measures to protect their population with stringent restrictions on personal freedoms. By we have to accept the authority and responsibility of governments. It is also important to defend the multi stakeholder approach. And here, I welcome very much that you have this as a first agenda item on your program. Only decisions that have been developed in a multi stakeholder dialogue will be sustainable in the long run. In this spirit, I wish you a successful multi stakeholder dialogue. And thank you for your attention. And I would be happy to answer any questions you may have and to engage in a dialogue. Thank you.
Good morning to everyone at the Trinidad and Tobago national IGA for 2021. Thank you for inviting me. It's an honor to be part of such a distinguished opening panel
this year starting with more uncertainty about the spread of the virus about access to vaccines and above the longer term economic and social impact. And we were hoping to start the end this way but but this is how it is And we will and can respond. There's also certainty in some respects. And we know that being able to communicate of digital networks is vital that it's locally, regionally and globally the way in which the world is responding to this crisis. And then This, in turn highlights the importance of access to the Internet of skills to use it effectively, of collaboration and digital development, entrepreneurship and innovation, and of security, in other words, all the topics that you are addressing in the next two days. But it also really put policy governance strategy and regulation front and center. And being able to work together with multiple stakeholders to think about policy to think about regulation and guidelines, whether they are soft or hard rules, creates a kind of map that we need at a time like this, a map that can guide collaboration between stakeholders, that that can guide new investments that can guide intrapreneurship and can guide investment in education, and implementation of initiatives collaboratively in this area. And if we work together to build this map, it will be a better map. And that is why your national IGF is so significant, the work that you do in the next two days, but also what comes out of it and the ongoing collaboration. I think Finally, I just also want to urge you to keep in mind the importance of the internet to be an equalizer that it can bridge the gaps between those who have, and those who don't. But that will only happen if the strategies and policies that we make and implement, consciously take this into account. I know this is of great concern to you. And I look to you to continue this. And through that to to provide a model that others and in developing countries and throughout the world can build on. So wishing you very well over the next two days. I look forward to your response to the IGF multi stakeholder advisory group call for issues and that we should address at the global IGF 2021. And the deadline for this call is 31 January. Please send in your thoughts collectively or individually. And I really look forward to hearing your voices at the Global Forum in December. Be at virtually or in person. Goodbye and have a good national ag
