[WG-Strategy] Update: WSIS+20 HLE IGF session

[Chris Buckridge]

Dear colleagues, 

As noted on yesterday’s WG-Strategy, the work to develop and deliver an IGF-themed session at the WSIS+20 High-Level Event can now be considered closed. Thank you to all that attended the session in Geneva (and online) last week, and particularly those who made interventions (both from the stage and from the floor). 

You can find the outcome document prepared by Bruna and myself here: 
https://www.itu.int/net4/wsis/forum/2025/Files/View/DOC/59da7e425762f01188b8005056a84dbd/outcomedocument_session_265_igf-wsis.pdf

Additional information on the session can be found here: 
https://www.itu.int/net4/wsis/forum/2025/Agenda/Session/265

Best, regards, 
Chris

> On 20 Jun 2025, at 12:09, Chris Buckridge <chrisbuckridge at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Dear colleagues, , 
> 
> This is an update on the session proposal that this group developed for the WSIS+20 High-Level Event in Geneva. 
> 
> The session as it was accepted and appeared in earlier versions of the HLE schedule was entitled, 'High-Level Dialogue: The Internet Governance Forum at 20: Collaboration to Achieve the WSIS Goals”. It now appears in the official schedule as 'Celebrating 20 Years of Multistakeholder Engagement: WSIS Forum, IGF, and the Road Ahead’:
> https://www.itu.int/net4/wsis/forum/2025/Agenda/Session/265
> 
> The session takes place Tuesday, 8 July from 15:15–16:15 (UTC+2) in Plenary Room C at the Palexpo. 
> 
> The session is a high-level dialogue, and we will be cooperating with the ITU to finalise the planning - Tomas Lamanauskas (ITU Deputy Secretary-General) has committed as a speaker, and the European Commission has asked for Thibaut Kleiner to be a speaker. Our priority will be to ensure that the IGF is fully and strongly represented in the session, via the selection of moderator, additional speakers, and framing of the discussion. 
> 
> My intention is to work with a small group from the WG-Strategy to progress this planning and finalise the session. I would ask that anyone interested in contributing to this work send me an email, and I will endeavour to find time for a discussion early in the coming week. We can then provide an update to the full Working Group on Thursday, 26 June, as part of the planned meeting. 
> 
> Keen to hear your thoughts on this way forward. 
> 
> Cheers, 
> Chris
> 
> PS. As a reminder, this was the text of our original submission: 
> 
>> The Internet Governance Forum stands as a key outcome of the original WSIS discussions and the Tunis Agenda. For two decades it has fostered multistakeholder collaboration towards the goals of WSIS, leveraging the expertise and experience of participants from around the world through a range of innovative events and initiatives. From the outset, it has foregrounded essential themes relating to the Internet, its operations, and relevant policy issues. From cybersecurity, meaningful access, and connectivity, to data privacy, human rights online, and gender, the IGF has provided venues to engage on topics which impact the Internet and our collective use of it.
>> 
>> Building on the 20th global IGF event in Norway (two weeks prior to the WSIS+20 High-Level Event), this session will showcase the practical impact of the IGF - an ecosystem of annual events, intersessional work streams, and national, regional and youth initiatives (NRIs) - and how best to evolve and enhance this impact going forward. 
>> 
>> This session will blend audio-visual elements, reflecting twenty years of IGF and its links to the WSIS ideals and Action Lines, with a highly interactive session, incorporating perspectives from the IGF Leadership Panel and MAG, senior government representatives of past IGF host countries, representatives from NRIs and the network of IGF Dynamic Coalitions, and other relevant stakeholders. The session will seek to involve all participants via online tools (e.g. Mentimeter), breakout discussions, and prepared questions to draw out community perspectives on the value of the IGF and aspirations for its continuing evolution, beyond WSIS+20.  
>> 
>> We anticipate this being a 90-minute session, and hope to have access to a larger physical space to engage widely with WSIS+20 HLE participants, and to showcase the important linkage between the IGF and the WSIS Forum (and this year the WSIS+20 High-Level Event), as complementary spaces in which the work of the World Summit on the Information Society is carried out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

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