Dear ICG Members,
ICANN has carefully considered the requests that have come in through the mailing list on the topic of travel and/or lodging support for members traveling to attend the ICG’s face-to-face meeting in Istanbul
on 6 September who also wish to attend the IGF in Istanbul that immediately precedes the ICG meeting, as a way to maximize opportunities of engagement with stakeholders from various communities.
To this end and in accordance with our travel policy, for any ICG traveler, we will extend their arrival date in Istanbul to 31 August instead of 5 September. This travel date extension is for airfare only,
and in the event the fare extended to include attendance at the IGF is higher than the fare for the travel to the ICG alone, the individual traveler would be responsible for that additional fare. We understand that these additional fares are likely to be minimal,
if any.
While ICANN is able to support ICG members who wish to extend the dates on their airfare to allow for travel to the IGF, we are unfortunately not in a position to provide any rooming accommodations or to cover
any other expenses incurred outside of the dates for the ICG’s face-to-face meeting (approved dates: 5-7 September) as that will have considerable budgetary implications and does not fall within ICANN’s standard business practice.
The composition of the ICG allows for it to effectively maximize the ability of its members to be in attendance at various events where outreach would occur. It was also our understanding that a number of ICG members would
be in Istanbul at the IGF as part of their other duties and thus envisioned that a delegation of ICG members would be conducting outreach in this context. Not having all members of the ICG present at any one event should not impede the group’s outreach efforts.
We hope you will take the above into consideration and thank you for your understanding.
Best regards
Alice