[Chapter-delegates] ICANN Day 3

[Franck Martin]

Well the opening of ICANN was smashing with many references to the
Pacific Islands, especially to the Forum ICT ministerial meeting and to
the past PacINET in Kiribati. From the transcript and from Vint Cerf:


I ALSO WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE MINISTER LABAN'S WORK, PARTICULARLY WITH THE
PACIFIC ISLAND MINISTERS WHO WILL BE MEETING HERE. IT IS A SPECIAL
PLEASURE FOR ME TO ATTEND PART OF THAT MEETING, HAVING SPENT SOME TIME
VISITING THE OTHER PACIFIC ISLANDS, AS SOME OF YOU, I'VE TOLD BEFORE, I
VISITED KIRIBATI AND FIJI LAST YEAR, AND THE SENSE I HAD WAS ONE OF
GREAT NEED FOR BETTER ACCESS TO INTERNET TO COMMUNICATIONS FACILITIES,
AND CONNECTIVITY TO THE REST OF THE WORLD. NOTHING COULD BE MORE
IMPORTANT NOT ONLY FOR ECONOMIC REASONS, BUT ALSO TO BRING THOSE
CULTURES AND SOCIETIES CLOSER TO THE REST OF THE WORLD FROM THE MIDST OF
THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

SO I LOOK FORWARD TO CHALLENGING THE MINISTERS WHO ARE MEETING HERE WITH
THE IDEA THAT COOPERATING TOGETHER, THEY MAY BE ABLE TO CREATE FAR
BETTER COMMUNICATION ASSETS FOR EACH OF THOSE ISLAND COUNTRIES THAN
WORKING INDEPENDENTLY, BY ACTUALLY AGGREGATING THEIR REQUIREMENTS AND
DEMANDING FAR BETTER AND HIGHER CAPACITY INTERNET SERVICES THAT COULD BE
DISTRIBUTED BY SATELLITE, AND POSSIBLY ALSO BY CABLE, UNDERSEA CABLE, TO
THOSE COUNTRIES.


It is pleasing to note that PICISOC has come such a long way since its
humble beginnings. Things got a bit scary for a while over the ISOC
membership fee issue, and there were some reservations on holding
PacINET in Kiribati due to its remoteness. But this was surely the point
of it all - taking the PICISOC/PacINET mana to where it is needed. I am
glad I kept PICISOC running in the interim period, organised elections
for a new Board and this culminated in Vint attending PacINET in
Kiribati and the resulting impression we have made on him for the
Pacific's needs. I think Rajnesh Singh as the new Chairman kept the
direction steady and we are here today talking to ICANN and others of
influence and hopefully the Pacific and its people will gain a lot from
this in the not too distant future.

In the opening speech there were remarks by David Cunliffe, New Zealand
minister for IT about the Forum ICT Meeting, parallel to ICANN and the
great opportunity for Pacific Islands to meet the ICANN people and
participate in the Internet Community.

We, PICISOC, then had an ISOC meeting with ISOC-AU, ISOC-FR, MISOC
(Morocco), and Lynn StAmour President/CEO of ISOC. We spoked about
PacINET 2006 in Samoa and how can chapters and mainly ISOC could help.
Rajnesh should follow up in formally requesting assistance from ISOC. To
be noted ISOC-FR is organising also a yearly conference EGENI which I
have attended before. We then spoke about several matters, should ISOC
do an MOU with ICANN, what is the involvement of ISOC in the Internet
Governance Forum (IGF), how IGF is important for the Pacific Islands...

In Summary, the IGF issues should first be tackled at the local level
and therefore the role of chapters by encompassing as many stakeholders
as possible provide a good avenue for having debate on these issues and
inform governments. ISOC-AU spoke about their experience of having many
organisations as members and getting them to debate issues, therefore
informing stakeholders.

In the afternoon, I attended the GAC. It was a join meeting, closed and
then open, with the ICANN board. ICANN has listed as top priority to
ensure the GAC is able to function correctly and are ready to provide
any assistance that the GAC may wish. The subject of dot xxx was
discussed and most likely the subject will be raised at board level at
the next ICANN meeting, for the moment, ICANN is waiting for final
submissions on the process, if any.

It was amusing to see all the people rush to the GAC meeting when it
opened its door. It reminded me this lingerie ad I saw in town: “Rule no
54: keep the mystery”. Attending GAC is somehow tedious as most of the
focus is on procedures and rules on the functioning of GAC, while ICANN
decision issues are done by the members of GAC outside the formal
meeting via workgroups, papers and direct submissions to ICANN board.

This is about it for today....

-- 
Franck Martin
ICT Specialist
franck at sopac.org
SOPAC, Fiji
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