Pacific Fellowship reports from the APRIGF

Some of Fellows who were sponsored to attend the APRIGF, Vanuatu

You may recall in a previous post, that several Pacific participants attended the Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum which was held in Port Vila, Vanuatu in mid August. The theme of the event was : Empowering communities within Asia Pacific to build an Affordable, Inclusive, Open and Sustainable Internet

Several Pacific participants attended as Fellows, who were sponsored to attend this event by a group of regional and international sponsors who made it possible for them to attend. They were:

• APNIC (Asia Pacific Network Information Centre) is a Regional Internet Registry (RIR) which distributes IP addresses to ISPs so that people can connect to the internet.
• ISOC (The Internet Society) has a mission that is “to promote the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world”. The provide leadership in developing policy about major issues related to the internet.
• ICANN (The Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers) is responsible for coordinating the maintaining the various databases related to domain names and IP addresses, as well as ensuring that the network is stable and secure.

Here are some reports that have come in already from the Fellows on their attendance and what they got out of what was for some, their first IGF.

Kenneth Katafono, Fiji

Stanley Osao, Papua New Guinea

Etuate Cocker, New Zealand

John Chand, Fiji

Gunela Astbrink, Australia