Hello everyone,
Thank you, Carlos, for initiating this and to all for the valuable insights shared.
Building on the draft’s emphasis on continuity and value, I believe it’s critical that the IGF evolves in response to today’s shifting geopolitical landscape. As Nick and Jason have noted, the IGF risks marginalization unless it delivers clearer value to a broader range of states—particularly beyond the Western-aligned community.
While soft diplomacy may appear diminished in an era of rising digital sovereignty and geopolitical rivalry, the IGF remains a rare, neutral platform where dialogue across political divides is still possible. Its relevance now lies not only in consensus-building but also in its capacity to offer early insights, coordinate like-minded coalitions, and defend open Internet norms.
To sustain this role, the IGF should strengthen institutional linkages with initiatives such as the Global Digital Compact and the SDG review, and explore outcome-oriented tracks that inform—but do not replace—normative processes.
Echoing Jimson’s point on financial sustainability, we should actively pursue predictable, diversified funding models, potentially drawing on contributions from the technical community.
Ultimately, the IGF must serve as a strategic bridge—from dialogue to action—within the broader digital governance and development ecosystem. For reference, Olivier and I discussed this theme at EuroDIG in our session From Talk to Action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1aahhpmNj4&t=943s
Cheers,
Pari
I'm keen on that too. And hello from a sunny winter in QLD, Australia!Dumb newbie question - Why not get rid of the 'eurovision' grand finale IGF and work on localised and regional outputs and merge into the annual WSIS forum? A bit late to the whiteboard, but I've only just realised WSIS still runs beyond 10 year reviews!Also I may have cut off the rest of the mailing list.Kiki_______________________________________________On Tue, 20 May 2025, 4:35 am Carlos Reyes via wsis20, <wsis20@icann.org> wrote:_______________________________________________Thank you, Jimson and Nick.
Hi all,
Following up on this discussion, please let us know if there are any comments or suggestions to build out in “The IGF We Want” paper, so that we can incorporate it into a next iteration.
Best,
Carlos
Carlos Reyes
Senior Policy Director
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
Washington, D.C. Engagement Center
From: "Ashton-Hart, Nick" <nashtonhart@apcoworldwide.com>
Date: Thursday, May 8, 2025 at 5:46 PM
To: "Jimson Olufuye, PhD." <jolufuye@kontemporary.net.ng>, Carlos Reyes <carlos.reyes@icann.org>
Cc: Kiki Fong Lim via wsis20 <wsis20@icann.org>
Subject: [Ext] Re: [wsis20] Re: Share Your Thoughts: The IGF We Want
Some good ideas.
What I would put to you all though is we really need governments to add the IGF into the UN budget. That hasn’t happened because too many of them still don’t see enough of a value-add to going. Some of that is because the IGF is in the way of their political objectives vis a vis control of the Internet, but that doesn’t cover them all.
It seems to me this year is a good moment to ask ourselves – and some of them – what a more valuable IGF would consist of for them other than making it a negotiating forum.
Book time to meet with me here [outlook.office.com]
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