Paris, France 14 November 2018: The thirteenth Annual Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was hosted by the Government of France at the Headquarters of UNESCO in Paris from 12 to 14 November 2018 under an overarching theme of “The Internet of Trust.”

The African Union Commission delegation to the event was led by H.E. Dr. Amani Abou-Zeid, Commissioner of Infrastructure and Energy, who highlighted during the High Level Panel the AUC continental activities for promoting digitalization and bridging the digital divide on the continent while underscoring the launch of a new Digital Africa initiative under the Policy and Regulation Initiative for Digital Africa (PRIDA).

The AUC organized the “African Union Open Forum” on the 13th of November with the aim of raising awareness of the AUC’s efforts in Internet Governance sphere, fighting Cyber-crimes and promoting Digital Africa through past and current initiatives that the AUC has been undertaking.

The AUC delegation also participated as speakers in a number of sessions through the course of the meeting highlighting common African positions reached during AU organs’ meetings as well as the deliberations of the African IGF that took place in Khartoum, Sudan from 4 – 6 November 2018.

On the margins of the Conference, the AU Commissioner held several bilateral meetings with the members of the UN High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation, the EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, and Ministers attending the Forum and highlighted the need for an increased cooperation among all actors in the digital space, including governments, private sector, research centres and civil society to forge new inclusive approaches to overcome the digital divide and leverage innovative solutions that can increase trust on the Internet.

The event gathered more than 3,000 participants drawn from government, private sector, academia, research institutions, technical community, civil society organizations, media, and other stakeholders from all over the World.

Note to the Editors
The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) serves to bring people together from various stakeholder groups as equals, in discussions on public policy issues relating to the Internet. While there is no negotiated outcome, the IGF informs and inspires those with policy-making power in both the public and private sectors. At their annual meeting delegates discuss, exchange information and share good practices with each other. The IGF facilitates a common understanding of how to maximize Internet opportunities and address risks and challenges that arise.

In the resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on 16 December 2015, (70/125) 'Outcome document of the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society', the existing mandate of the IGF as set out in paragraphs 72 to 78 of the Tunis Agenda was extended for another 10 years.
Learn more at: https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/content/igf-2018-0

For further information contact
Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: dic@africa-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

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