Wrap-up & conclusions (including feedback from remote participants) – 2011
31 May 2011 | 17:00-18:00
Programme overview 2011
Wrap-up with reference to key messages that could be delivered to the IGF 2011
People
Key Participants
- Jasna Matic, State Secretary of the Digital Agenda, Serbia
- Thomas Hajnoczi, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Austria to the Council of Europe
- Frederic Riehl, Swiss Federal Office of Communication, Representatives from Sweden, and all stakeholdergroups (youth, business, civil society)
Co-moderators
- Lee Hibbard, Council of Europe
- Thomas Schneider, Swiss Federal Office of Communication
Transcript
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This text is being provided in a rough draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings.
>> Please take your seats.
Hello, please take your seats for the final session. The wrap up.
Frederic, please come up.
Frederic Donck
>> LEE HIBBARD: Okay.
Thank you very much, everybody.
Take your seats.
This is the wrap up. And it’s a wrap up with a few reflections from a few panelists, including the State Secretary, who was just seated, and reflections from you.
So, Thomas, did we have fluffy dialogue? Did we go further than current discussions in other spaces?.
>> THOMAS SCHNEIDER: Well, you shouldn’t ask me, you should ask the participants. But – I think since we are short on time. We might start with one person. We have one person from every stakeholder group on the panel and several others on the floor of course. And what we were trying to get is – ask some questions and get your feedback. And please be short. One minute. Make your three main points.
The questions are like what Lee said, is this just talking or more? Was the discussion substantive enough? Was the multi-stakeholder enough? Did you get answers to your questions? Lee, maybe there are other questions.
>> LEE HIBBARD: Will the messages provide inspiring input to the Internet Governance Forum in Nairobi in September and will it inspire other national and regional spaces?
So we would like to invite you with your take away, your feelings of responsibilities, what you gleaned from the substance of the discussions and what you think should be done next. So calls for action, next steps will be very important to think about. Thomas?
>> THOMAS SCHNEIDER: So we will start with government, because they are the most important stakeholder of all the stakeholders. It’s like all stakeholders are evil but governments are more – not evil, equal, but governments are mo equal. I’m joking. But we will start with the governments. We have one person on the floor, Frederick Weil from Switzerland.
>> AUDIENCE: (Off microphone)
(Laughter)
>> THOMAS SCHNEIDER: So what are you taking home from this EuroDIG, one minute, three points.
>> I will speak French. So we will have the translation on the wall.
It’s very short for me to speak, three minutes. This is too short for a government to express itself.
I would like to put a few questions to you which could be helpful and could be the subject of another discussion.
Items which I have taken up from other working groups. We heard that we don’t need the G8, especially for Internet Governance. We heard that it did not concern developing countries, that were excluded. And other types of stakeholders, such as young people.
Therefore, I believe that the G8 is not the right model with a top down approach, whereas we want to have a bottom up approach. So I’m not sure whether the conclusions of the G8 are relevant for our discussion today.
Google View, another item. We talked about the decision made by a tribunal asking to blur number plates of cars. What is interesting here is that we are talking about a stakeholder which we don’t really talk about very much. We talk about governments, universities, but we forgot to say that there are courts that hand down judgments in our field of Internet Governance, and it’s very difficult to include them in the dialogue because they are independent.
So the issue is how could we better take into account courts and applications, enforcement of courts auditions in a dialogue pertaining to Internet governance.
Another item on domain names, GTLDs, new domain names. Will it mean that there will be extension or duplication? I thought that was very good.
First and foremost we should take into account citizens and end-users before we multiply the number of domain names. It is not only a business issue, but it is also an issue that is pertaining to citizens and users.
Another item on domain names, we talk about entry fees to the tune of 185,000 dollars. We say that it is not a problem. It is part and parcel of an investment, and I’m not sure whether we can say to everybody that $185,000 is peanuts, and this amount can be amortized easily.
For charities, for instance, it is not the ideal solution and I don’t know how they will be in a position to make such a great investment. And the same applies to governments, to public entities, or developing countries.
So I think there is something else to think about. As regards SMEs now, they were very interesting thoughts. We realize that SMEs are not very vigilant as regards to their data and we should raise awareness amongst SMEs, which is very important.
And that takes me to the issue of liability and responsibilities of everybody in the issue of the data and what can be put on the Internet. Someone gave the example of the bank, saying that the bank cannot be held responsible when someone steals your money in the bank when you’ve just withdrawn some money from the cash machine.
So, everybody has to take responsibility. Thomas is looking at me, because he thinks I’m being too long. I wanted to dwell on very interesting matters, but last and not least multilingualism now. Someone said that it was very interesting to see that on the Internet 90 percent of the population uses 10 percent of the existing languages in the world, which goes to show that 90 percent of the languages are not used on the Internet, although they represent very few people. We talk about multilingualism a lot, but it doesn’t really transpire on the Internet. To be in a position to speak in your own language is also to think in your own language, and convey values and culture in your own language. And by the way, all that will be rather – my conclusion, otherwise I will be pulled off, but of course there will be other things to say.
>> MODERATOR: We give the floor to some other governments. Please be short. we have the Austrian government, where is he?
>> Right away from the spot, I have always said I have been in many conferences during my 15 years time involvement now in the media policy field. And I think EuroDIG as such is developing more and more. It has, to my mind, got the format of a real input of various stakeholder groups, and I just can recommend that although there is always some kind of, let’s say, negative touch when you see government representatives at a stakeholder forum, but I just can recommend my colleagues from other governments also to come here and to listen to that, what stakeholders say, because I think this format is really important because there is no other way than dealing with Information Society issues than listening to all relevant partners.
And therefore I regret a little bit that I’m not more oh that not more colleagues from other ministries here listening. Not so much taking the work or so, they have other possibilities, but listening. And after that, of course, also discussing it.
I liked very much the various views both from the traditional media side and especially also today from those who were called the new revolutioners of the 1960s and ’70s, but I think it’s exactly what we need. We all are a little bit sometimes very bored by boring conferences, and I’m sure that EuroDIG is not a boring conference and it’s worth to go again. Thank you.
(Applause)
>> THOMAS SCHNEIDER: That was really short. Let’s try the third government representative and see if he can make it shorter. But Klaasen from the Netherlands. Microphone over here, please.
>> BUT KLAASEN: With the microphone it will be more easy. Thank you. I work for the government indeed from the Netherlands. I think we are facing a lot of challenges in this fifth domain from cyber. And my concern is how we can benefit from the Internet, without suffering from all the cyberattacks and criminal activities. So thank you for your activity to be here, to participate in the panel this morning about cybersecurity. And I attended a lot of meetings and conference, and none of them have this unique spirit that I experienced today.
And it is because I think two things. The transparency, every word that I say is captured and published immediately. And the other is the multi-stakeholder approach. Everybody can join. And this is very good and very useful, because in a world, in a cyberworld, where there is no central authority, we need each other. We need each other to understand and to solve common problems.
So, therefore, it is very useful that we have A EuroDIG conference like this, that facilitates this discussion. So, thank you very much. And I’m looking forward to the next one.
>> THOMAS SCHNEIDER: Thank you very much. Maria, from Sweden, your three points, you’re here. Okay.
>> MARIA: Thank you very much. I’m from the Minister of Enterprise in Sweden. I agree of course with my other governmental colleagues that it’s great to be here of course. And I’m very thankful to the hosting country and secretariat for doing a great job. My reflections are actually – it’s obvious that EuroDIG has evolved. It’s a self-developing process, a bit like what we used to say about IGF. We see the number of participants have been raised. You have more young people here. You have hubs and so on, remote participation and so that is very very good.
And my other thing is that you see, actually, that the subjects or the issues that are brought up is actually like taking a temperature for the society. All of the emerging issues that were discussed in other fourms or discussed here, for instance, the Human Rights perspective, Freedom of Expression and so on.
And about the multi-stakeholder thing, I think it’s great that so many people from different sectors are here. And for instance, I’m very happy to have several ICANN Board Members here, and that is also being discussed, things that are being discussed in other forums can also be discussed here in this group.
That’s great. And of course I want to welcome you to Sweden next year. Thank you.
(Applause)
>> MODERATOR: Thank you.
>> LEE HIBBARD: Just one more. Just one more government here, which I’d like to bring in, Thomas, please, just quickly. From the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Albania. There is a microphone. You have one or two short reflection, just to give us. Thank you.
>> ALBANIA: I would like to thank you, first, for being a participant here in the fourth conference. It was the first time that Albania was a member, participant.
And regarding the EuroDIG, I mean that – I mean that the Internet is our life. So it’s a good thing to know what are we dealing and what are we doing? So I would take with me a good experience and all the challenges, all the panelists that were here, talked, and exchanged our opinion, it was a really good thing. Who is making it possible with multi-stakeholder and I’m looking forward for the fifth conference. And I’m really pleased to be here and thank the members thank the coordinator, Mr. Hibbard, who made it possible. And I’d really like to thank you all for being here. Thank you.
>> LEE HIBBARD: Thank you very much. We’re going to pass to some other –
(Applause)
>> LEE HIBBARD: Other perspectives, not just government, although it’s linked. And I want to take a Council of Europe perspective and I want to introduce ambassador Thomas Hajnoczi, who is an ambassador from Austria in the Council of Europe. Do you have a Council of Europe perspective.
>> THOMAS HAJNOCZI: First off, of course, it’s impressive that the vibrant multi-stakeholder dialogue and I think it’s particularly rich for me, due, to the active field participation I think that made it really particularly interesting.
What I take from here is six points.
First point is we have to do more to protect the freedom on the Internet. I was quite impressed by the video message of foreign minister Bildt and it coincides with the publication of the report of the UN special Rapporteur on the Freedom of Expression in Geneva and will be followed up. And I think we have to think in a more comprehensive way.
We have to see how – what happens in different international fora will rhyme and complement each other, and therefore I think it was very good that we had a very active participant here from the EU Commission and certainly looking forward, that the Council of Europe also has a very active voice in the EU digital assembly that will be held in June.
One of the key themes that came in, whatever the official theme was, is privacy rights and data protection. There is a real need obviously to deal more concisely with these issues, always in view of the new technological developments that are new challenges to be met. And in that regard I think it’s very good that the convention on data protection is now in the phase of adaptation.
And we also see now that countries outside of Europe want to join, for example, Uruguay came obviously with an application. And I think in all of these areas, it’s so por thapt that we have international common standards as far as possible, because otherwise of course the rights of the users are very Illusory.
That holds also true to a certain degree concerning cybercrime, where we see more and more identity theft, social media can be involved against it of course in these things. And here, too, perhaps we will at a certain stage need some adaptations. And it’s worthwhile to mention that the cybercrime convention is internationally so widely accepted, whether it’s from the Council of Europe as it is or not, it’s 100 countries that followed the convention in liberating their laws.
Here in the meeting, the words were awareness rising, empowerment of user, know your rights, and the – I think we have to do more on this issue.
I can only congratulate Internet rights and principles coalition for elaborating their principles. And I think that something on which we can build in the future, but my vision is that we could get something very easy to understand, short, practical user-friendly, list of rights. So, when you have a problem, what to do.
I’m thinking a little bit about the leaflets that are distributed at the airports, if your plane is late, you have a right to get money and so on.
That’s a project on which the Council of Europe will embark in the framework of its strategy. Because Lee’s coming. He is at the helm of the task force. There is a new development in the Council of Europe, it’s now a top priority, Internet Governance and the strategy for the next four users is under deliberation. Of course then the strategy will be launched at a major conference to which I all invite you, in Vienna on November 24 and 25. So it’s not only see you next year in Stockholm. We will see each other later this year in Vienna.
(Applause)
>> LEE HIBBARD: Now, I’d like to bring in our Serbian host and the State Secretary, if you may, to give us some reflections from a Serbian reflection.
>> JASNA MATIC: I was going to refrain and maybe as we close and I pass the chairmanship to the Swedes, I’ll make a couple of senses, but in the interest of time, I will at this point pass.
Andrea Glorioso of the European Commission, just one minute. If I give you a microphone. Please. Thank you.
>> ANDREA: I would like first of all to congratulate the organizers of this year’s EuroDIG, I’m not sure that everybody realizes on which budget they operated. And which wonderful result they are obtaining. So I’ll let you invite everybody to congratulate for the hard work that they did. In terms of –
(Applause)
In terms of result, and evolution or things that I’m taking home, it has been – there have been many interesting discussions, I got a lot of things to think about and what to do and whatnot to do, like in Brussels. One thing to be aware of is the breadth of the subject that we covered and the bottom up approach should be maintained. Sometimes the discussion was a bit unfocused, and that’s for EuroDIG to continue to strengthen its relevance. It’s something that we should collectively be aware of and work on. Thank you very much.
>> LEE HIBBARD: Thomas.
>> THOMAS SCHNEIDER: Next we have a business representative. Now business can prove that they are more efficient and can say the same thing in less time. Patrik, it’s yours.
>> PATRIK: Thank you very much. I also want to start by thanking the organizers for an excellent meeting. First of all, I think it’s important and good that Human Rights issues were discussed for real I think for the first time. But we’re not really there yet, because it was still one stakeholder group at the time. I think the different stakeholder groups, they recognize each other also more than before, in a very balanced way. It was also the case that we listened to each other, but I still think that we did not answer the questions that we asked each other, so there is more to do there.
Finally, I think it will be extremely difficult for us in Sweden to beat the quality of this meeting next year. But we will do the best we can and we will prove to you that we will succeed.
Thank you.
(Applause)
>> We havele Rolf Mayer from ccTLD, please.
>> So that’s all for my time, right?
I think – well, I’ll join the row of people who are complimenting the organizers. But I do it from the perspective of this is my third EuroDIG, and my most important take away, my conclusion is that the conference has really evolved into a European dialogue. Over the last few years I’ve not been overly happy from the contribution from European to the IGF. I’ve been trying to organize a national GF in the Netherlands, which is taking off this year. But I think this is – the big thing that this brings is that it’s a discussion from the European perspective, with most European stakeholders present, but quite a few people who are just as users, which I think is a very valuable addition.
And, personally, I’ve learned a few things again. For instance, in the discussion we had earlier here on IPR, in new media, there were some really outspoken positions, and it always helps me in understanding the different perspectives better. So I want to complement you with a good session here.
>> THOMAS SCHNEIDER: Thank you very much. Then we have – Theresa from Verizon. I got it right. Theresa. She is in the back. By the way, while the microphone is brought, you’re not supposed to say only positive things. Tell us what you didn’t like, what we can improve. And those who say positive things, you might reckon with the fact that we will ask you for money soon.
>> It’s not from Verizon. Is my first or second meeting and I found it inspiring and good and I appreciated the openness of conversations and the challenging of different views. I think that’s very very important as we either discussing complex Internet policy issues and as the Internet is a medium used over the different frameworks. I was in Geneva. I encourage everybody to participate and engage in that. And I also participated with the CSTD meetings looking at the working group for improvements around the IGF. It’s refreshing to be here and see the IGF activities. And that’s an important message to be heard. And so, again, the dialogues that are going on here, I hope very much will appear in the frameworks and workshops and events that are happening in Kenya, and I very much look forward to next year’s event and how that moves forward.
>> LEE HIBBARD: Now we will go to the youth for their perspective. You’ve been very vocal this time around. More and more. So thank you very much for that.
I’d like to pass the floor to Carolyn on behalf of youth. Please, you have the floor.
>> My name is Caroline. I’m a student. I just finished my Master’s in new media. And I’m not here as an expert. As I said before, I’m a nobody. I’m not here as an expert on business or governance or politics. I’m just a user of the Internet.
And before EuroDIG I came together with a bunch of other young people and we discussed our needs of the Internet under the new media summer school. And I was invited here to just discuss what we thought of this week and what our needs are, what what our conclusions are from these past days.
Three core messages. And I believe in a they touch on virtually all topics discussed in these days. The first one is this is our need, what we feel, what I feel. Internet users need to keep power and governance over our own personal data.
I heard a lot of conversations on this matter. But I would only like that you go back to your offices and don’t forget this point. Because it is very important. And we have had a lot of conversations why it’s so difficult to implement. But it remains a fundamental need.
So, what it comes down to, my fear is that I don’t want to apply for a job and get rejected just because my maybe future employer looked me up on the Internet and found some party picture which wasn’t professional and was – like totally out of context, just looked silly, and got a first bad impression. This is a real fear of mine. And a lot of people, a lot of friends of mine, and I think a lot of people can relate. But it’s a reality to us.
So, our second point, and this is the second of three, so I’m almost done, the Internet should remain an open and axis accessible place to all. This means that we should do our best to prevent censorship and promote net neutrality. This means safeguarding Freedom of Expression. This is so intertwined in everyday life that if you have a need to connect to the Internet, you should have the possibility.
Third is education. I had a lot of talks about education in the past two days with some of you, of course. And it comes down to this: We need to keep digital media literacy on the top of our agenda, yes. And this should be done through introducing digital literacy to our curricula. But also done by stimulating awareness. My mom taught me that to prevent something is better than to heal it. If we can make and embed proper use and proper presence on media, norm, embed it in our culture, then I think you can prevent a lot of things from happening in the future. So we have to understand how to use the media I have, to teach my children how to understand the media. So the third – that was the third point. Education.
So the first is protect our data. We have to have power over our own data. The second is open Internet and third is education. The way I see it, we are all in this together and I’m grateful that I got the feeling that I was treated as an equal stakeholder in the Internet.
So thanks everybody this week and the hosts of EuroDIG of course that you have approached us, youth, in an equal way. I wasn’t sure what to expect and I was very glad that happened.
So, I strongly feel that we can profit from your expertise, your vision, and your wisdom. But I also feel that the youth can help you guys profit from our every day experience online.
I’m almost done now.
I have two things to ask. First from the government officials. We have to ask from you that you help us protect the censorship and ensure the net neutrality. And keep promoting the digital literacy, also in education. And I would like to ask the business sector that they make it a standard to opt in instead of to opt out.
(Applause)
And on a very last remark, I’m already talking like a politician –
>> You should be working for the government.
(Applause)
You have a bright future.
>> CAROLINE: What I learned here is that there is hope. There is hope indeed. I feel there is hope for me as a year, there is hope for my children. But there is also hope for future victims of cybercrime. So I learned that you guys are not just wearing suits for people like me. Thank you for treating us equally. That was it.
>> LEE HIBBARD: Okay. We have a remote participant who wants to say something, quickly, the microphone to Vlada. Please. You’ve got 30 seconds.
>> It’s a remote space. It’s not me.
>> You have 140 characters.
>> We have 12 remote hubs and some just sent final messages. The Ukraine said we are participating in EuroDIG for the first time. For us, it was useful. We face the problems and issues of the modern Internet, next time we will prepare so our input will be more active.
German says we want to focus more on literacy as we think it’s a key point for the digital society. Starting with children and educating parents, and starting soon, because the time is running out.
One last comment comes from Tracy Hutchel, so from Trinidad. He says for me having followed remotely both events, I can say that EuroDIG was the polar opposite to the EG8. The participation in EuroDIG was excellent. Thank you.
(Applause)
>> LEE HIBBARD: Nasmat, you have one minute to give a few reflections.
>> Thank you. What I have to say that I also came here to listen. And I was very glad to contact lots of interviews with really substantial part of this audience. And that really helped me to understand the underlying issues that concern the Internet Governance.
And my intervention here is just to throw throw in two new ideas that I would love to see the EuroDIG talk about next year. The first one would be Internet and mobile. Mobile phones. I think we cannot continue to ignore that part that we – I think this is really a subject to go a bit more deeper into.
And the second one would be how can the EuroDIG contribute to – I mean, give concrete inputs in terms of developing countries, what kind of expertise can we give to developing countries, and how to – helping the Internet access and those are my two points. Thank you very much.
>> THOMAS SCHNEIDER: The answer to the question is through participating at the IGT and reaching – IGF and reaching out to other stakeholders. Lee, who is next? Do we have more time?
>> Civil society. My general remark would be that we got into details on many topics. But what is missing is the deep discussion on the basic. By that I mean balancing the values and conflicting interests that meet to align the needs. The stakeholder – multi-stakeholder forum needs to go deeper into this essential part of the discussion.
And, two topics I’d like to see more developed at the IGF are data protection on online, in particular in the common reform. I see the right of oblivion and right of independent need to be developed. And copyright. I think we face an unfair system that needs to be reformed quickly. And discussions here were good proof of that.
>> LEE HIBBARD: Thank you very much, Tatya. Ana you have the floor.
>> ANA: First I want to thank you EuroDIG – EuroDIG for its role in helping also the national fora. I come from Spain. We have an IGF forum there. And we are very aware of the role that EuroDIG has played and the way this has evolved. About the way EuroDIG has changed and improved throughout the different additions, I want to confirm that yes, I have seen that. I have seen increased participation. I’ve seen increase in multi-stakeholderism, more representation of private and governments, and civil society – bringing new joys from civil society, young elderly. This has been a great effort.
One thing I wanted to say is Caroline talked about what happens when people go back to their offices. And I want to remember that EuroDIG is a place for dialogue. But the whole point is that relevant actors are brought here and they need to take away the lessons, and act upon what they learned here or what they saw here or what was talked about in terms of what their responsibilities, capacities and areas of influence are.
There are other fora more result oriented. People who work here, listening to us and talking to us and debating the issues are also in the fora, so we need to see how that translates. And that’s important and that would be the biggest message I would like to bring today.
>> THOMAS SCHNEIDER: Thank you, Ana. We have Dixie from the IRP coalition.
>> DIXIE: Two things that brought it to life was the input from the youth and the Twitter role, which was useful. My take away is that it seems that everyone is in agreement that human rights should have a vital role in Internet Governance at least at a lip service level.
As Patrik said, there is a lot of work to do. And I’ve seen passionate debates on things likes blocking and filtering and regulation, and we heard about all sorts of initiatives. One in particular that I heard about today was the European core of Human Rights just came up with a publication regarding new technologies, and there is Frank LaRue’s report. The UNESCO just came out with a Freedom of Expression and freedom communications document.
And so my take away is that it’s really exciting time, and there are a lot of movements, trying to make Human Rights and Internet Governance a reality and I’m positive about that.
Thank you.
(Applause)
>> Thank you. We have Cacia.
She is done. Sorry.
Maybe one more. Civil society voice. The gentleman over there wanted to have the floor and then we should – microphone for the middle, please.
>> AUDIENCE: First of all, again, comments to the organizers, and the Diplo Foundation, they do magic with few resources, so again a bit of this. But I was following the Internet Governance discussion up until Athens, and since then I withdrew. So this is a bit of a snapshot of the – between. And I have to say the discussion hasn’t moved much from that time on.
So, I think it’s good also to remember how the discussion on Internet Governance came about and what were the expectations that were coming out from WSIS Geneva, Tunis, of the Internet Governance Forum. It wasn’t just – and this is part of that process. It was.just to discuss things. They had a bit more of a proactive role into the whole thing. So as we go on, and this is five, six, seven years after those things were happening and a lot of excitement at that time that was building up.
Let’s not forget that this was meant, the Internet Governance Forum and the whole process was meant as something a bit more than just a discussion on Internet and Internet Governance. Thanks.
>> LEE HIBBARD: Now we really have to close. But I want to return back to our Serbian friends and host. You’ve got one minute, sir, and then we really have to close. Thank you.
>> AUDIENCE: Okay. Thanks, Alexander.
>> ALEXANDER: We have to keep the openness and information flow. Of course we are happy about all the profitable new way of making money, considering openness and social communication.
And one thing I will take home with our computer clouds, they remind me that it’s important to defend the civil society from the companies strategies. We should not consider only the economic impact by stating that the big company have a more pragmatic approach, the data are the currency of our age. And they are holding the important personal information, too. They should be respected. When you respect the source and the platform, you can do it in the humane way.
And of course, don’t be afraid to pirate stuff on the Internet. The Internet is like masturbation. Everybody’s doing it, but no one wants to admit it.
(Applause)
>> LEE HIBBARD: We have 30 seconds for this gentleman. We are just squeezing one more in.
>> Surib. Big win everybody. Thank you.
>> Now we will give the floor to our excellent host and to address a few words.
>> Well, let me defend the aura that the governments have, and I’ll try to stick to the format and be rigid about it.
So point number one, I think multi-stakeholder consultation is necessary not just nor Internet Governance but for any arena that develops rapidly and in ways that nobody can envision. So, that has been something that our ministry has been following so far, and I’m sure this is the only answer to our future in many respects.
The second one, I can hear from all of you and all the people who have taken the floor right now that you have had great discussions about most – about many aspects that the Internet brings about. And the discussion was good, that you were all engaged, which I can see now because there are so many of you present right here.
And point number three, I hope that in addition to the discussions you also enjoyed Belgrade and being here. We certainly enjoyed hosting awful of you. And we hope to see you in Belgrade again on some other occasion. Thank you, all of you.
(Applause)
>> THOMAS SCHNEIDER: For the first time, we have a new innovative procedure to hand over the chairmanship of EuroDIG to the subsequent host. We didn’t have the time to practice this, but I think the two able men will work it out.
What is that written on that – Ah-ha.
>> We need to make music.
(Singing)
(Applause)
>> THOMAS SCHNEIDER: We only have one minute. So please, faster.
(Applause)
This is not the official handing over, as you see it, of the blue flag – of the famous blue flag, which is two days old or something like that. And to the next host. Sweden.
(Applause)
Anders, you’ve got the floor.
>> Thank you very much. Andrea, you’ve got the floor. And thank you to all organizers and participants in this big event.
I have attended all the four EuroDIGs, and the developments from year to year have been significant.
The topics have been extremely worthwhile and the forums and discussions as well. And the summing up artistry on the walls are impressive.
I have five takes away from my point of view. And I think this EuroDIG shows that the importance of the multi-stakeholder model, and it also shows the value of the youth participation. They are not children here, but maybe we could have that, even that next time, younger. Young youth or old children.
And the third one is that a new and emerging Internet services challenges all of us, governments, the business, of course, the industry and nongovernmental organisations, civil society, and also individuals.
And we – the fourth take away for me is about the promotional inclusion of all individuals to the Information Society. And a challenge that will – has to be dealt with seriously and must be discussed and exchange best practice even more.
And the fifth one is the necessity to assure Freedom of Expression and Human Rights. It will be a great pleasure for us in Sweden to host EuroDIG next year. And we haven’t fixed a date, but mid June is the idea. And that’s the time of the year when Stockholm shows a very good side. It’s sunlight all day more or less, nearly 24 hours a day.
So, we wish you all very welcome to Stockholm and thank you for a very good, very good conference.
(Applause)
>> LEE HIBBARD: Okay. Thank you. We will thank you to the people who were involved. It’s been you who have been involved. And we want to call the people who are part of the machine behind EuroDIG.
I’d like to call Sandra, if you can come up. We need to thank you.
(Applause)
>> Of course, also Wolf, please.
(Applause)
Come join us.
>> LEE HIBBARD: We have Vlada. Wolf. Bernard, if you’re around. Maria, if you’re here. Natasha, please.
(Applause)
Slobadan. Nicola. Please. Okay.
(Applause).
>> We should not forget Maja was involved in the beginning. And also Patrik, who was participating a lot. And our dear friend Yuliya who was also involved.
>> LEE HIBBARD: So this is who did it. Thank you. And it’s a wrap, I think, no? You’ve got things to say.
>> Two years ago we were very enthusiastic about organizing this. Two days ago we wished that we went straight as to Sweden. Two day after this, I think we will be happy because we had the opportunity and we used it in the best way. We are too tired to think about it currently.
I wish to thank the organizing team, the local organizing team, without whom this with not be possible. And to Misha and the technical team without whom this would not be possible on a technical level, ever. Thank you all.
(Applause)
>> THOMAS SCHNEIDER: And to finish, I cannot finish without a call to all of those who like EuroDIG who think this is a useful discussion, many of us were constantly e-mailing each other at 2 or 3 o’clock in the night. If you send out an e-mail to stakeholders, they all reached out two days before EuroDIG. Please help us finance the thing. Make it better. Reach the quality that you expect this organisation to provide. It’s a joint effort. There will be no EuroDIG if we don’t constantly try to live up to the expectation. This is a very important thing.
>> LEE HIBBARD: Thank you, Thomas.
(Applause)
And the interpreters who did a great job.
(Applause)
Have a nice evening. And see you in Sweden.
>> LEE HIBBARD: Thank you, have a nice stay in Belgrade. Thank you.