Mr Chairman , Distinguished  Guests and Delegates.

Let me share with you the results of UNDP's work in Asia and Pacific in the area of Internet governance. UNDP Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (APDIP) has just concluded a very successful online forum on Internet governance priorities for the Asia-Pacific region which attracted 180 participants from 27 countries from the Asia-Pacific region ranging from Iran to Tonga.

It was done within the APDIP's Open Regional Dialogue on Internet Governance that seeks to facilitate Internet governance that is inclusive, effective and responsive to development concerns.

The initiative is supported by IDRC, ESCAP, APNIC, Diplo Foundation for which UNDP is very thankful. The participants of the forum would like to explicitly commend WGIG on their work, since it represents an essential first step to initiate such a dialogue.


The insights from the forum can be summarized as follows:

• Internet governance is far from abstract but affects Internet operation and use in various ways as evidenced by the many case-studies from the region
• many prejudices, misunderstandings and incomplete information, pointing at a lack of constructive dialogue between stakeholders
• many global problems also salient in the Asia-Pacific, i.e. domain name system something that people feel very strongly about. But in addition specific regional concerns  (e.g.
• Internationalized Domain Names) and different subregional challenges depending on different background conditions: e.g. bandwidth market a problem in pacific island countries but considered much less important in other subregions such as South-Asia

Thus the lessons as we understand them:

1. build trust and work towards practical solutions by fostering a dialogue that is linked to finding solutions to concrete issues rather than just trying to seek consensus on aloof principles that may be unlikely to emerge
2. Undertake more targetted research in the areas that are identified as priorities: compare experiences across countries, look carefully for applicable legal precedence from other industries, problem sets

To conclude, APDIP will continue building further on the results of this successful initiative and every one is invited to contribute.

The summary of the forum results that I have just outlined is available at the documentation desk outside this hall.

Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for the opportunity to speak about UNDP¹s work in the Internet Governance.