T

he government has decided to go ahead with the 8th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Nusa Dua, Bali, in October after previously announcing the meeting would be canceled due to a lack of funds.

'€œWe invited many stakeholders to discuss the 8th IGF last Monday,'€ the Communication and Information Ministry spokesperson Gatot Dewa Broto told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

He said that the discussion '€” attended by representatives from the Indonesian Internet Service Provider Association (APJII), Indonesian ICT Watch, Indonesian CSOs Network for Internet Governance (ID-CONFIG), Indonesia Internet Domain Registry (PANDI), and Dutch NGO Hivos '€” resulted in the decision that Indonesia would still host for the forum.

'€œWe solved the lack of funding issues we faced a week ago,'€ he said.

He said the government would now focus on the Host Country Agreement to be signed by the United Nations.

'€œThe Foreign Ministry is checking the agreement draft before it is sent to the United Nations for its signature,'€ he said.

The chairman of APJII, Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, said that dozens of international Internet communities, including the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the giant search engine company Google, had supported and encouraged Indonesia to be the host for the forum.

'€œWe tightened belts and trimmed the budget from Rp. 22 billion (US$ 2.1 million) to Rp. 17.5 billion. International Internet communities helped by donating more than 50 percent,'€ he told the Post.

Meanwhile, activist with Indonesian ICT Watch, Donny Budi Utoyo said the local committee had been preparing for the international scale forum.

'€œPreparations have been going well, including workshops materials and participant facilitation. Now, we are just waiting for the Host Country Agreement, '€œhe said.

Donny said that the 8th IGF, which will be held from Oct. 22 to 25 at Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center, would consist of 150 workshops with thematic issues, such as cyber security, human rights, business, Internet privacy, child protection as well as Internet for development.

'€œFor Indonesia, this forum is going to be interesting. It will be beneficial for the general public, the private sector and the government to sit together and discuss how to ensure good Internet governance,'€ he said.

The IGF is an annual forum for policy dialogue on Internet governance, which brings together stakeholders, including governments, the private sector, civil society and NGOs as well as academic communities from all around the world, to foster an equal, open and inclusive environment on Internet governance. (tam)