Key takeaways from the Internet Governance Forum 2022

The only forum allowing for an open and inclusive mutistakeholder discussion on Internet governance and digital policy matters, IGF was held this year in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 28 November to 2 December 2022, and welcomed over 5,000 participants from 170 countries, that engaged in more than 300 sessions.

Here are our key takeaways from the event:

Representation at the highest levels of international policy

Appointed to the newly formed IGF Leadership Panel earlier this year, ICC Chair Maria Fernanda Garza shared global business views at the highest levels of international policy. In discussions with the United Nations Secretary General (UN SG), António Guterres, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Under Secretary General (UN DESA USG), Li Junhua, fellow Panel members, and the IGF community across the week-long Forum, she emphasized the role of the Panel as an ambassador of the IGF.

Maria Fernanda Garza, ICC Chair and Member of the IGF Leadership Panel, said: ”The Panel will serve to strengthen the IGF and enhance its visibility, while at the same time working to ensure that it is a proactive actor in global policy conversations pertaining to digital matters.” 

Business input to the international policy agenda

ICC BASIS participates in the IGF since its inception to represent the common voice of the ICC-wide network of 45 million companies in over 130 countries. This year, business called on governments and the multistakeholder community to preserve an open, interconnected, interoperable and unfragmented internet that creates opportunity for everyone, everywhere, while ensuring a safe, secure and resilient online environment that fosters trust in the global digital economy and the global dataflows that underpin it.

To further emphasise these messages, ICC BASIS organised three workshops, on Building a safe and trustworthy digital world for all children, Towards Cyber Development Goals: Implementing Global Norms, and Trustworthy data flows: Building towards common principles. The sessions called for action to:

• ensure a safe and trustworthy environment for children engaging with new technologies and spending time online.
• foster multistakeholder cooperation through appropriate policy, legal and regulatory environments and responsible practices.
• agree and adopt Cyber Development Goals (CDGs) and mainstream cybersecurity into the development agenda.
• mobilise the UN Development System and stakeholders worldwide to achieve concrete goals through the CDGs.
• create principles for trusted government access that are based on international human rights law.
• create principles for trusted government access that lead to effective multilateral collaboration.

Forging partnerships with ICC BASIS

The value of IGF is encapsulated in its role to convene and forge partnerships across international fora. The ICC BASIS delegation used this opportunity to meet with key government delegations, international organisations and civil society partners, engaging in conversations and paving the way to close collaboration at a significant juncture in the global digital policy arena, as we look ahead of the High-level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development (SDG Summit), the deliberations on the Global Digital Compact at the Summit of the Future, and the forthcoming review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), WSIS+20 Review.

Gearing up to IGF 2023

The 18^th edition of IGF will be held in Kyoto, Japan from 8-12 October. ICC BASIS will be present as the voice of business within international fora.