India's IT Secretary appointed to IGF Leadership Panel

• 18 Aug 2022

Secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology Alkesh Kumar Sharma has been appointed to the inaugural Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Leadership Panel.

• He is among 10 eminent persons from around the world appointed by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
• The UN chief established the Panel to support and strengthen the IGF, an annual meeting to discuss public policy issues pertaining to the Internet.
• Panel members will address strategic and urgent issues and highlight Forum discussions, as well as possible follow-up actions, to promote greater impact and dissemination of IGF discussions, according to its Terms of Reference.
• The selected persons will serve a two-year term during the 2022-23 IGF cycles.
• The IGF is an outcome of the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society that took place in 2005.
• In the Tunis Agenda, Governments asked the Secretary-General to convene a “new forum for policy dialogue” to discuss issues related to key elements of Internet governance.
• The 17th edition of the Forum will take place from November 28 to December 2 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.