Dear colleagues and friends,

Like many of you, the RIPE NCC team is heading to the 2025 Internet Governance Forum (IGF) next week, which will take place in Lillestrøm, Norway, from June 23 to 27. This IGF is particularly significant, taking place ahead of the twenty-year review of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS+20). 

 

Under the IGF’s theme of Building Digital Governance Together, the RIPE NCC is to take part in and support a wide range of sessions and workshops that reflect our commitment to open, resilient, and inclusive digital governance. Our engagements include:

• Day Zero Welcome Session: Building Digital Governance Together – Hans Petter Holen will join the opening session to set the tone for the IGF's 20th edition.
• Day 0 Workshop #161: Preparing Your Internet to Power the Digital of Tomorrow – Organised by RIPE NCC, this session will bring together regulators, regional Internet bodies, and development organisations to discuss how to strengthen infrastructure readiness.
• Day 1 Workshop #96: Empowering the Global Internet Standards Testing Community – Alena Muravska will contribute to a discussion on how to reinforce Internet standards deployment globally.
• Day 1 Roundtable: Economic Costs of Network-Level Blocking – Hisham Ibrahim is to contribute to this critical policy debate co-hosted by Cloudflare and Analysys Mason.
• Day 1 NRI Session: Community Networks and Local Connectivity – Chafic Chaya will speak as a representative of the Lebanon IGF and RIPE NCC, sharing insights on community-led connectivity solutions.
• Day 2 Open Forum #72: Digital Governance Reimagined – Bridging Youth Ambitions with Policy Vision – Vahan Hovsepyn will speak alongside MEPs, youth leaders, and other stakeholders. The session will explore digital trust, infrastructure resilience, and Europe’s strategic digital sovereignty. 
• Day 3 Open Forum: Digital Cooperation in the Arab Region – Chafic Chaya joins other regional experts to advance the Arab perspective on WSIS+20, digital cooperation, and the GDC.
• Day 3 Main Session: Impact of the IGF in the Information Society – Hans Petter Holen will take part in the main stage session exploring the IGF’s long-term relevance and its future amid the WSIS+20 review. 

Through these sessions, we continue to strengthen technical coordination, champion multistakeholder dialogue, and bring the operational realities of Internet infrastructure into global policy debates.

We encourage and welcome you to join us at the RIPE NCC sessions throughout the week. Our team looks forward to engaging with you onsite, and don’t forget to visit the NRO booth for more insights and conversations!

Best Regards,

Chafic Chaya