ISPAI & NIXI Organized APrIGF 2014, SANOG 24th Edition and YIGF 2014 at the Hotel Crown Plaza, Greater Noida

Recognising the fact that Asia has the strongest growing demand for Internet addresses and exponentially increasing number of people in Asia are using the Internet with a much accelerated growth rate compared to North America and Europe, the Internet Service Provider Association of India (ISAPI) and National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) organized the prestigious Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF) 2014, it was organized for the first time in India with the objectives to raise awareness and encourage participation from relevant stakeholders around the region on Internet governance issues, as well as to foster multi-lateral, multi-stakeholder discussion about issues pertinent to the Internet in Asia. This nine day conference was inaugurated by chief guest Dr. Gulshan Rai, Director General (ICERT) Department of Electronics and Information Technology; with the Keynote speakers Mr. Yoshinobu Matsuzaki, Senior Engineer, Internet Initiative Japan & Mr. Udit Mehrotra, Director, Citycom Networks.The APRIGF 2014 will see simultaneous conduct of the SANOG 24th Edition and Youth Internet Governance Forum (YIGF) 2014 at the Hotel Crown Plaza, Greater Noida. While APRIGF 2014 and SANOG are scheduled to be conducted from August 01-09, 2014, the YIGF 2014 will be conducted between 03-06 August, 2014 at the same venue.

According to Mr. Rajesh Chharia, President, ISPAI, “We are extremely happy and delighted to host the Prestigious APRIGF 2014 first time in India along with SANOG 24th Edition and YIGF 2014. The Event serves as a platform for discussion, exchange and collaboration at a regional level, and also where possible to aggregate national IGF discussions, ultimately advance the Internet governance development in the Asia Pacific region.”

The South Asian Network Operators Group [SANOG], a non-profit forum for Data Network Operators in South Asia, is bringing the 24th edition of SANOG, primarily a technical, operational conference that also will showcase papers from academic researchers related to operational issues and internet related policy issues from policy makers. “ISPAI have taken the responsibility of hosting SANOG every year in different different part of our country, to bring youth and technical at par with best International expertise by workshop and tutorials during the session.  ISPAI will also launch INNOG (India Network Operators Group) during the event so that we should be covering Rural India for Skill Development, so that Rural Indian youth should also get opportunity of IT Skill and accordingly employment,” added Mr. Chharia.

The main theme of APRIGF 2014 is “Internet to Equinet – An Equitable Internet for the Next Billion”, and sub themes includes topics like, Principles and Roadmap for Internet Governance, Enhanced Cooperation & the Multi-stakeholder model, Globalisation of ICANN and the IANA function, Regional perspectives and differences in Internet Governance, Cross-border issues in the Asia Pacific region, Interaction of self-regulation and cybercrime, Issues for Small Island Developing States, Supporting linguistic diversity, Internet access: Last mile and Mobile, Internet access for remote communities: the First Mile, Internet’s role in disaster response and management, Consumer Protection for users of global Internet services, Reconciliation & sharing of best practices in the Justice Sector, Internet business in the Asia Pacific region, Virtual goods and virtual currencies, Policies supporting IPv6 adoption, Internet for socio-economic development.

Another major attraction for youth, a majority Internet user group, is the YIGF 2014. To make sure that their voices are heard and they are empowered to take part in the decision making process related to Internet Governace and Policy making, YIGF is dedicated to raise the awareness among Youth regarding Internet governance and encourage the young generation to participate in the policy discussion. Inspired by United Nation’s Internet Governance Forum, the Youth IGF takes the same multi-stakeholders’ approach as the global IGF. YIGF is usually a 3-day-2 nights camp which participants are assigned a role as one of the interest group such as government, private sectors and NGOs. During the camp, they are encouraged to think from a new standpoint. Based on equality, YIGF provides an open platform for young generation to express and interchange their ideas and own thoughts on Internet governance freely. It also serves as a preparation camp for them to understand various Internet issues and open their door to the international policy discussion.Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF) www.aprigf.asia — has been held annually since initiated in 2010 in Hong Kong. DotAsia has played an important role in bringing together the different stakeholders in the region to spearhead this regional event, and continues to provide secretariat support to coordinate the efforts. The APrIGF serves as a platform for aggregating IGF related discussions and collaborations at the regional level, which ultimately advances the Internet governance development in Asia Pacific.