[IGFmaglist] Change of dates for IGF 2014

[Fiona Alexander]

Hi Markus

Yes I saw the sentence contained in Chengetai's Friday email and thought it might be useful to do a little more probing on what exactly that meant.  Does the secretariat has further details to share?  While sensitive to the experiences of last year and looking for planing certainty as I'm sure others are, I think it would be important to have all the facts prior to making a recommendation to UNDESA.  I agree whole heartedly with Patrick it's critical to get a host country agreement in place and all that goes along with it, but personally I don't find the inconvenience to vacation schedules all that compelling as a reason to oppose a date change.  Perhaps the issue at hand is urge and seek a solid host country agreement which I had thought was already in place given the secretariat site visit.

Fiona
________________________________________
From: Igfmaglist [igfmaglist-bounces at intgovforum.org] On Behalf Of Markus Kummer [kummer at isoc.org]
Sent: Monday, January 27, 2014 7:50 AM
To: MAG-public
Subject: Re: [IGFmaglist] Change of dates for IGF 2014

Dear all,

Many thanks for your feed-back so far.

In reaction to Fiona's question, I thought the email Chengetai sent out on Friday contained an explanation:  "The change of dates have been necessitated by the availability of a more cost-effective venue". In less diplomatic terms: they found a cheaper venue.

In response to Patrick's questions: the dates are usually determined and agreed between the Host Country and the UN, taking into account the views expressed by stakeholders. The dates proposed can be changed if both sides agree to do so — hence my suggestion to send a strong message to UNDESA not to do so.

The venue usually gets chosen in the process of evaluating the offer. The Secretariat has already been on mission to Turkey to check the venue.

The offer is usually based  on a commitment to cover the host-country costs; as well as a commitment to sign the HCA template.

I don't think that the MAG has the remit to open up an inquiry for an alternative host and see if there and compare offers, but it can encourage the UN to do so.

Best regards
Markus