Digital Cooperation

Intersessional project 2019 – ongoing

Project timeline

• March 2021
  Should the IGF+ be supported by a Multi-Stakeholder High Level Body (MHLB)? We invited European Stakeholder on 3rd March 2021, 9:00 UTC to a Consultation on paragraph 93(a) of the Roadmap for Digital Cooperation and here in particular on the first recommendation of a “strategic and empowered multi-stakeholder high-level body”.
• September 2020
  EuroDIG_update_on_Recommendation_5A/B_of_the_Report_of_the_UN_Secretary-General’s_High-level_Panel_on_Digital_Cooperation EuroDIG update on the coordinated multi-stakeholder consultations on how to implement Recommendation 5A/B, presented to the UN Secretary-General on 3 September 2020 as “Options for the Future of Global Digital Cooperation”.
• March — June 2020
  National and regional IGFs formed a task force and developed a survey to provide input on Recommendation 5A/B of the Report of the High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation.
  This survey focussed on the IGF Plus model that was one of the suggested architectures. All stakeholder, may they be individuals, organisation, governments, the industry or NRI coordinators, were invited to answer the survey.
  The results can be found here.
• July – November 2019
  Collating European views on the Report of the High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation: EuroDIG set up a commenting platform and conducted stakeholder consultations. The results were further discussed during the UN Internet Governance Forum in Berlin in November and summarised in a document.
• June 2019
  The UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation submitted its report “The Age of Digital Interdependence” on Monday 10 June 2019. The EuroDIG meeting in The Hague on 19 and 20 June 2019 was a first occasion to physically discuss the findings of the report.

Background

In July 2018, UN Secretary-General António Guterres established the High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation. Co-chaired by Melinda Gates and Jack Ma, the Panel consisted of 22 international experts from government, the private sector, academia, the technical community and civil society. Its goal was to identify good examples and propose modalities for working cooperatively across sectors, disciplines and borders to address challenges in the digital age. On 10 June 2019, the Panel submitted the report “The Age of Digital Interdependence” to the UN Secretary General. You find the report and further information on https://www.un.org/en/digital-cooperation-panel/.

The IGF, EuroDIG and other relevant platforms for inclusive multi-stakeholder dialogue have laid important ground for the work of the Panel and play a key role in discussing digital cooperation and governance. At its preparatory meeting in January 2019, the EuroDIG community decided to provide for a space to discuss and assess the HLP report and collate views from all stakeholders from all over Europe on the report and its recommendations.