Dear IGF Secretariat,

I would like to take the opportunity to make the following comments with respect to the draft programme outline.

It is pleasing to note that some effort has been made to consider the issues (logistics and otherwise) around IGF 2006, and I would think all concerned look forward to continued improvement for the 2007 and future meetings.

With reference to the draft programme outline, I offer the following for your consideration:

- Under 2, Basic Meeting Structure
"Participation will follow the format used at the inaugural meeting and all entities and persons with proven expertise and experience in matters related to Internet governance may apply to register as participants."

I am not sure this is warranted as a "requirement" (that is what is sounds like on first reading). Whilst participants with Internet governance expertise and experience should be a welcome and important factor, and will perhaps will form the majority of participants, you should not exclude those who do not have these specifics; there very well may be some who have limited expertise but would be keen to contribute and highlight issues, particularly those from the developing world and under-served communities, and precluding them would be going against some of the advertised IGF principles and philosophies.

- Under 3 a, Main Sessions
Good to see number of panellists being reduced to 6 from the gargantuan IGF 2006 numbers. It would be beneficial to allow a relatively large portion of the allocated time to audience interaction. May I suggest at least 40 minutes for this to be meaningful and subject to tight control by the moderator with respect to panel as well as audience participation. I would also like to see the Session panellists to be geographically, culturally and institutionally diverse and not representative of only one particular "gang". If you are discussing developing world issues, then panellists must include those from such regions, and there should be diversity in the regions represented.

- Under 3 b, Reporting Back
Sessions are scheduled for 60 minutes, but each person/organisation reporting back must be allocated a finite time and this time needs to be controlled such that all intending to report back get equal opportunity and no one person/organisation "hogs" the session.

- For the Access theme
There should be some sessions to highlight issues and challenges, and to clearly define these in the Internet availability and IGF context. There appears to be too much general "we should", "we could" type sessions, but equally important, if not more so, is to gain an understanding of what the exact challenges and issues are, instead of making or relying on assumptions by "experts" or otherwise. The only real way to learn is to hear from people who are from, and live, in regions and communities which face the challenges, and then determine how Internet Governance impacts, or reacts, to these, and what is the way forward.

- For the Programme schedule
It would be good to see slightly more stagger between the themed speed dialogue and themed workshop sessions, as the speed dialogues could potentially be an important part of the overall deliberations. I do also realise that this may not necessarily be possible due to time constraints.

- Registration process
On a side note, it is important that the registration process for the November 2007 event begins at least 3 - 4 months in advance to allow some of the potential participants, particularly from the developing world, to obtain the multitude of visas and approvals that will be necessary to travel to the venue. Some transit countries dictate a 1 month processing time for visas, and I know of some cases where a participant will need to obtain at least 3 sets of visas to get to the meeting venue. If you do not allow sufficient time for this, you will effectively by precluding a large number of potential participants by default.

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Kind regards,

Rajnesh D. Singh

Co-ordinator, Dynamic Coalition on Access and Connectivity for Remote, Rural and Dispersed Communities www.pacificit.org/dc
Chairman, Pacific Islands Chapter, Internet Society  www.picisoc.org
President, IPv6 Forum Pacific Islands  www.ipv6forumpacific.org
Director, Pacific Internet Technology Centre  www.pacificit.org

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