[Chapter-delegates] Report - Inet Qatar, 27 November, Doha, The Rise of the Arab Information Society

[Constance Bommelaer]

Dear Members,

The Internet Society (Dr. Dawit Bekele, Regional Bureau Director for 
Africa, and Ms. Constance Bommelaer, Director of Public Policy) 
organized, in partnership with ictQATAR, the first Inet conference in 
the Gulf region on 27 November, in Doha. Supported by ictQATAR, Carnegie 
Mellon University Qatar,'T4me' and 'I love Qatar', the event gathered 
around 300 participants to discuss ”The Rise of the Arab Information 
Society”: http://www.internetsociety.org/events/inet-qatar

In their opening remarks, Dr. Hessa, Al Jaber, Secretary General, 
Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology, ictQATAR, 
and Ms. Walda Roseman, Chief Operating Officer at the Internet Society, 
recognized this event as a milestone in fostering the Internet community 
in the region.

Discussions began with an overview of the state of the Internet in the 
Arab region. As demonstrated by Professor William Dutton from the Oxford 
Internet Institute, we have seen in the past years tremendous 
developments of the Internet in this part of the world. The development 
of the physical infrastructure has given birth to new trends in the 
region with regards to multilingualism, but also security, privacy or 
freedom. Panelists emphasized how timely and critical it is to address 
these issues to ensure the Internet’s development is for everyone - and 
allows progress “Towards an inclusive Information Society”.

The conference continued with a reflection on how and why the Internet 
is such a strategic resource for “Spurring Innovation and Economic 
growth”. Many stakeholders and business entities believe it is the 
Openness of the Internet - an open architecture, based on open 
development standards processes – that is the cause of this success. 
Taylor Reynolds, Senior Economist at the OECD, demonstrated that 
policies that preserve this openness contribute to a sustainable 
economic growth.

The last session was the occasion of a frank dialogue on current 
“Internet Policy Challenges and the Way Forward” between policymakers 
(Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of Lebanon, Kuwait Information 
Technology) and representatives of the business (Microsoft, Verizon and 
Samena Telecommunications Council) and the technical communities (Ripe 
NCC and ISOC). A series of international and regional conferences 
currently shed light on the different possible policy frameworks – 
different models – that can be chosen. The 2012 ITU World Conference on 
International Telecommunications, the OECD High-Level meeting on 
Cyber-Security planned for 2013, the 8th Internet Governance Forum also 
planned for 2013 – and many other tracks of discussions and negotiations 
with a constant and unchanged question: How should Internet-related 
public policies be developed? – What is a multi-stakeholder model? What 
kind of added value does it bring to the development of the Internet?

Finally, and because our attempt was to discuss the foundations of 
tomorrow’s information society, it seemed more than legitimate to 
involve the next generation of policy and industry leaders in Inet 
Qatar’s discussions. We had the privilege of hearing students from 
Education City and their professors – Professor John Laprise from 
Northwestern university, Professors George White and Daniel Phelps from 
Carnegie Mellon – interact with the panelists and share their views on 
the rise of the Arab information society.

Side-meetings
-------------

Inet Qatar was preceded by the first Middle Eastern and Northern African 
Chapters’ Workshop, held on 26 November. Chapter representatives from 
the following Middle Eastern and Northern African Chapters participated 
in the workshop:

-	Lebanon Chapter
-	Palestine Chapter
-	Bahrein Chapter
-	United Arab Emirates Chapter
-	Qatar Chapter
-	Morocco Chapter
-	Tunisia Chapter
-	Egypt Chapter (in rejuvenation)

In addition to the chapter representatives, Damian Radcliffe, Internet & 
Society Manager of ictQATAR and other staff members of the Internet 
Society participated in the meeting chaired by Ms. Walda Roseman. The 
workshop was organized by Ms. Christine Saegesser Baethge, Senior 
Manager, Chapter Development-Africa and the Middle East of the Internet 
Society, with the generous support of ictQATAR.

The chapters’ representatives had the opportunity to discuss our common 
strategic planning, the various activities of the Internet Society and 
the chapters as well as the tools available for chapters. The workshop 
was an opportunity to share experiences between the chapters and 
Internet Society staff members present at the meeting. The participants 
appreciated the Internet Society’s interest in this increasingly 
important region and urged for an increased presence of the Internet 
Society in the Middle East and Northern Africa for increased 
collaboration to strengthen the region. We would like to thank ictQATAR 
who has made this workshop possible by sponsoring the venue, catering 
and half of the chapters’ representatives.

Inet Qatar was also followed by a half day Briefing Session on Internet 
Governance with ictQATAR managers. Internet-related policy and 
governance issues at the global and the regional levels were discussed 
with representatives from the technical community including Ms. Theresa 
Swinehart, Member of the Board of ISOC, Ms. Sofie Maddens, Senior 
Director of Global Services at ISOC, and Mr. Paul Rendek, Director of 
External Affairs at Ripe NCC.

These events in the Middle East are the first of a series in the region 
where the Internet Society is looking forward to developing its presence 
and outreach in close cooperation with Mr. Fadel Al Enazi, Chairman of 
ISOC Qatar.


Best regards,

-- 
Constance Bommelaer
Director, Public Policy
The Internet Society
www.isoc.org