Welcome Ceremony ICANN Meeting - Paris Monday, 23 June 2008 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH: Bonjour. Je tien à saluer tout le monde ici à la 32eme réunion internationale et publique de l'ICANN. Il est approprié que nous soyons réunis ici à Paris. La France, déjà leader sur Internet, prendra un rôle formel à partir du mois prochain quand elle assumera la présidence de l'UE. Je sais que notre invité spécial ici aujourd'hui, le ministre Eric Besson, secrétaire d'Etat chargé de la prospective, de l'évaluation des politiques publiques et du développement de l'économie numérique, auprès du Premier ministre, saisira cette opportunite. Je presenterai plus en details le ministre Besson quand je l'inviterai a s'adresser à vous dans quelques instants. Avant de le faire, je tiens à remercier et a vous presenter un des compatrotes du ministre, notre collègue a l'IANN M. Jean Jacques Subrenat. De temps en temps, l'ICANN a le plaisir de tenir une réunion dans le pays d'un de ses membres de conseil d'administration, et cela signifie toujours que nous avons aperçu plus pousse dela communauté que nous visitons, Jean-Jacques a été d'une aide précieuse pour une grande partie de l'organisation de la réunion, informant le conseil d'administration et le personnel de l'environmement local, des questions et de points d'intérêts, ce qui signifie que nous tirons le meilleur parti de notre temps dans cette merveilleuse ville. Merci, Jean-Jacques. [ Applause ] >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH: Comme vous pouvez le dire maintenant, je ne suis pas un locuteur natif du français, donc je vais revenir à ma langue maternelle - le nouveau zelandais! [ Laughter ] (English translation) >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH: Good morning. I want to welcome everyone here to ICANN's 32nd international public meeting. It's fitting that we are gathered here in Paris. France, already a leader on Internet issues, will take a formal role starting next month when it assumes the E.U. presidency next month. I know that our special guest here today, Minister Eric Besson, France's secrétaire d'Etat chargé de la Prospective, de l'Évaluation de politiques publiques et du Développement de l'économie numérique, auprès du Premier Minister, is going to seize that opportunity. I shall provide a more detailed introduction to Minister Besson when I invite him to address you in a few moments. Before I do that, I should like to introduce and thank one of the Minister's countrymen, our colleague on the ICANN board, Mr. Jean-Jacques Subrenat. From time to time ICANN has the pleasure of having a meeting in the country of one of its board members, and that always means we have some extra insight into the community we are visiting. Jean-Jacques has been invaluable in assisting much of the organizing of the meeting, informing the board and staff of local conditions, special issues, and items of interest, all of which will mean we get the most out of our time in this wonderful city. Thank you, Jean-Jacques. [ Applause ] >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH: As you can tell by now, I am not a native French speaker, so I will revert to speaking in my native language - New Zealandish! [ Laughter ] >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH: Alors! En anglais. I mentioned that France would make the most of the E.U. presidency. Some of that will continue to be national in nature. Minister, like your efforts to extend the broadband to all French citizens by the year 2012, and to use the Internet to modernize public services and generate an increased share of GDP. Europe and the world will be watching the ministerial conference on the future of the Internet you're organizing in October in Nice. And we're all looking forward to the report you will be taking to the European Council on November the 22nd. So welcome, Minister. I also want to welcome Fiona Alexander, the associate add administrator of the office of international affairs at the national telecommunications & information administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. ICANN has a contractual relationship with the Department of Commerce to coordinate some of the technical aspects of the Domain Name System, and we are grateful to Fiona for her attendance and her interest. And we will, of course, this afternoon be having a workshop that discusses potential changes to ICANN to increase confidence in us as an institution in the lead up to the conclusion of that other agreement we have with the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Joint Project Agreement, scheduled to expire in September next year. Let me also acknowledge with pleasure Daniel Dardailler and Sébastien Bachollet from our hosts, L'Association pour la Gouvernance de l'Internet en France, en Europe et dans le Monde. And I want to welcome each and every one of you here today. This 32nd ICANN meeting is one of the largest we've held. As the CEO announced in his report, we have well over 1400 registrations, making it one of the largest ever. And it's excellent and appropriate to have such a large turnout, because this year is a pivotal one for the single, global, interoperable Internet. We are in the middle of two of our most exciting projects that when we launch in the coming year, will be among the biggest changes to the Internet since its inception. The first is the introduction of internationalized top-level domains. That work by so many in the Internet community to bring the different scripts of the world to Internet addresses and domain names has been a huge effort and is reaching culmination. Minister, it will mean that we see the accent grave, the accent aigu, the Cèdille and the Circonflexe available for the domain names. But those characters are a small part of the big picture, as we move from 37 characters available today to encompass the 100,000 or so characters from Arabic, from Chinese, from Greek, from Hebrew and from all the languages of the world. So imagine the potential of this. Imagine, for example, that you speak only Japanese. No longer will you have to type in a domain name that has part Roman characters to reach a page of Japanese content. This is the equivalent of opening up new territory in the virtual world. New addresses that are familiar to people and will assist them to explore in ways they may have felt restricted from doing in the past. Now, going hand in hand with Internationalized Domain Names is the introduction of new generic top-level domains. People are already talking about their ideas for new extensions when that application process opens. We anticipate that will be in the first quarter of 2009, subject, of course, to the community input, much of which is going to take place at this meeting in Paris. Now, taken together, Internationalized Domain Names and the process for new, possibly thousands of generic top-level domains will change the face of the Domain Name System forever. It will also effect significantly the operation of the Internet. And all of this is possible because of the single, global, interoperable Internet. Just think for a moment how this works in practice. No matter where you plug in in the world, everything works the same. No matter where you are, you can communicate with someone. Down the street, on the other side of urination, or even on the other side of the globe. And what we call the ICANN model, the bottom-up multistakeholder process, is the one that develops the policies that guides that Internet operation. Those policies are created in a way as unique as the Internet itself, through a global conversation. And this meeting in Paris is an important part of that conversation. We are close to completing the original vision of the structure and form of ICANN. We are ready to move on to the next phase, and we are calling that transition. And we want the next 15 months that will establish the final requirements for that transition, because this model is unique, and because it's working, and we want it to continue achieving what it has achieved. Governments, the private sector, the technical community, businesses, academia and civil society all come together in the ICANN model to collaborate on the policies that ensure the Internet operates the same for you and me, no matter where we are in the world. That multistakeholder consensus model has stood the test of time over the past decade, and those of us who have been with it for that entire time know that there have been tempestuous times in which this model has been properly and thoroughly tested. And we expect to continue to rely on it as the foundation for the continuing evolution of the Internet. Many of the people who are part of that conversation are here today, and I would like to welcome you back, old friends, to continue that conversation that we began in 1998 and 1999. To newcomers to the debate, joining us here in Paris, a very special welcome. ICANN values and needs your input, and I hope you will also profit from the exchange. And finally, at this meeting we are introducing an innovation we call the Business Access Agenda. This is a parallel series of events that focus on explaining to business leaders the issues in ICANN's work, and giving them the opportunity to participate in key discussions. So those of you who are here to take part in these discussions, I welcome you. ICANN wants to hear your thoughts and share your insights. We are gathered here in one of the world's great cities, La Ville lumière, the City of Light. With the important issues being discussed, with the potential to reach out and affect the entire world, Paris for the next week is the center of the Internet. Thank you for your attendance, and I now welcome Minister Besson and invite him to speak to us. Let me explain that Minister Besson is the Minister of state to the Prime Minister of France, responsible for forward planning, assessment of public policies, and development of the digital economy. Minister Besson had a distinguished career in business before entering politics, with an interest in business creation and entrepreneurship, which is ideal preparation for him to lead his brand-new portfolio. So ladies and gentlemen, please well join me in welcoming Minister Besson. Minister Besson. [ Applause ] >>MINISTER BESSON: Thank you for the opportunity not to speak in English. Can you all hear me? I can see that there are people who have been beckoning to me. Can you hear me? Very well. Let me welcome you all, and a special word of welcome goes out to the two young ladies who are in the front row and who are going to be translating the future of Internet. I have an 11-year-old daughter, and I can fully gauge what a chore this is. One of them represents the old economy. She's using pen and paper. And the other one is using modern technology. So -- [ Applause ] Anyway, it's a great pleasure for me to welcome you for the first time in France to Paris for this 32nd public meeting of ICANN. My words of welcome go out to the members of the board of directors and, in particular, to its president, Peter Dengate Thrush, to the whole ICANN team, and, in particular, its CEO, Paul Twomey, as well as the people in charge of the different committees that make up this original organization. I'd like to welcome the president of the GAC, Janis Karklins, who we have the pleasure of having as ambassador of Latvia to Paris. I'd also like to warmly welcome the sponsors who have made it possible for this event to take place in the best possible conditions. Finally, I'd like to welcome all of you who have come from the four corners of the earth and who belong to an extreme diversity of organizations, of entities, of public commercial organizations, from the technical sector, and civil society. You are ICANN. I hope that this busy week will make it possible for to you make progress on the different subjects on your agenda. I'd like to thank all of those who have contributed through the Agifem, an association that brings together major French stakeholders in technology information, such as the AFNIC, the Internet Society France, and the W3C. This is the first time that ICANN has been held in Paris. And that spurred the organization of several other meetings on different subjects and will contribute to the digital economy convention, a process launched by the prime minister on May 29th in which I am in charge of. That broad consultation will, at the end of July, lead to an ambitious development plan for the digital economy in France. I am delighted that this meeting is being held on the EVE of the French presidency of the European Union. This meeting will give an opportunity for France to express its commitment, as well as Europe's commitment, to crucial subjects for the future of Internet, which, for France, is one of its priorities. During the French presidency, the European ministers in charge of the information society will be asked to take part in a conference on the 6th and 7th of October, 2008, in Nice on the Internet of the future. That ministerial conference will make it possible for us to come up with common ideas which will take the form of draft conclusions that the French presidency will submit to the European Union council on November 27th, 2008. The subjects that you will discuss might seem to be technical. Nonetheless, they have a direct impact on the daily life of an increasing number of inhabitants of our planet. The functioning of the Internet as we know it would be impossible without the current domain name system. The exceptional social and economic value of the Web is essentially due to the universal nature of this naming and addressing system. That bespeaks the importance of international coordination for the management of these common resources, and, therefore, the considerable responsibility that rests with ICANN as the agency in charge of managing this mission of the public global interest. ICANN has been around for around ten years, and in that time, the Internet has undergone a major qualitative change. It is now a vital infrastructure for the entire planet, and, therefore, the issues have developed accordingly. Today, Internet is at a turning point in its history. More than a billion people are connected, and that number will double within the next five years. That growth will only be possible and will only be beneficial to all if the number of available addresses is increased substantially and if other languages are recognized on the Web. This ICANN meeting has many subjects on its agenda, but I can see four main ones. In each case, the question is how to adapt the technical and institutional means to the stunning development of Internet and to prepare for its universalization for the coming decade. Now, those four subjects are: One, the migration from IPv4 to IPv6. Secondly, the diversification of generic domain names, gTLDs. Thirdly, the evolution toward domain names in non-Latin characters. And, finally, the institutional transition which should take place at the end of 2009 under the present Joint Project Agreement. On each of these subjects, I will emphasize less the technical aspects than the political issues and those of general issue. Indeed, the replies brought to these four questions will structure the future of ICANN for a long time to come, as well as the naming system as a whole. One, the migration between IPv4 and IPv6. Let me begin by which might seem to be the most technical subject. I.P. addresses are a common global resource which might have at first seemed to be virtually unlimited. But, in fact, became a victim of its own success, and now the Internet is facing a potential scarcity in IPv4 addresses. The technical solution is the rampup of IPv6. IPv6 will promote the appearance of innovative Internet applications, those that require networking of a great number of simple devices. To give you an example, the management of street lighting or intelligent buildings, smart buildings might be improved. And Internet can serve to connect at a low cost and reliably wireless sensors that will be integrated to domestic devices. For many reasons, the adoption is slower than possible, and, therefore, the two protocols will coexist for a long time to come. Above and beyond the technical aspects, this is a political issue for all of us: In the short term, the companies and public administrations might be tempted to stay with the old system and just limit their needs. But then we would not be in a good position to take advantage of the new Internet technologies, and we might end up facing a major crisis once the IPv4 addresses are exhausted. So, therefore, we have to optimize the collective management of a common resource which has become scarce, and, on the other hand, we must introduce cooperative mechanisms to encourage stakeholders to act in a way that's beneficial to the entire community, even if they don't derive an immediate direct benefit from it. A coordinated, just, and fair allotment of the remaining pool of IPv4 addresses throughout the world is indispensable. Using a secondary market mechanism would penalize the developing countries and might give undue income to the initial proprietors. Moreover, closer cooperation between all the stakeholders is indispensable to ensure a gradual rampup of IPv6, taking account of the fact that the two systems will coexist for several years to come. Therefore, I call upon concerted action so that all the stakeholders will be ready for the transition and all the Internauts may use the latest innovations Internet has to offer. France's objective is that in 2010, 25% of the public administration of the companies and of the individuals should use IPv6. I'm delighted that the transition to IPv6, therefore, is going to be taken up this week in several workshops. The second major issue is the transition toward a more diversified naming system and introduction of new gTLDs. The number of gTLDs was at first limited, as we all know. Since the year 2000, ICANN has carried out several experiments in order to introduce new gTLDs. However, the general policy to introduce new gTLDs has lagged behind because of the complexity of the problem. It is very difficult to draft new rules applicable -- new single rules applicable to such diversified situations. So, therefore, different modalities for the purely commercial value of these and others that are more for community are of general interest and should therefore be considered. The main message is the following: The development of domain names must optimize the creation of economic value, but also social value for the entire community, and especially for the end users. The introduction of new gTLDs should also be implemented gradually, in a clear and differentiated way, and in the interest of all. The process is under way, and I hope that progress will be made this week in Paris. The third issue is the transition toward domain names with non-Latin characters. That's the third transition, and perhaps one of the most important. The internationalization of Internet is accelerating. And the existence of multilingual domain names is essential in order to allow everyone to access Internet in his or her own language. Moreover, the access to the network is a useful tool for development in the poorest parts of our planet. In that context, the rapid introduction of domain names in non-Latin characters is becoming a moral imperative as well as a political necessity, and an issue of practical use for its users. This is crucial in order to preserve the integrity of the essential functions of the Internet while allowing for linguistic diversification that its users are asking for. Above and beyond the technical challenge, it is a major symbolic issue. This is bound up with the very credibility of ICANN as a really global agency. The world community is expecting a lot of this process and is observing ICANN. I will hardly surprise you when I say that France is particularly attached to the promotion of cultural diversity and therefore gives utmost importance to this issue. The Paris meeting gives us an opportunity to reaffirm our objective of internationalization. Mr. President, I see that you have neglected the glass of water, so allow me to use it. Anyway, an agreement this week on a simplified procedure for the introduction of ccTLDs will be a significant step forward in that direction. It will enable the stakeholders to announce their intention to introduce ccTLDs and to take advantage of the considerable work already accomplished. I also note with interest that different meetings have been set up, informal meetings between the different territories that share the same script. This is a prelude to the creation of script communities, which will make it possible for the domain name system to be managed on a distributed basis and according to a principle of subsidiarity closer to the communities concerned. This is a subject in which reinforced cooperation should come to the fore, especially with the OECD, UNESCO, and ITU, the meeting with the IGF in Hyderabad at the end of the year will devote one of its sections to the question of multilingualism. And I hope that progress in ICANN will make it possible to report significant developments. Finally, the institutional transition. You know that on 30th September 2009, that is the deadline for the JPA between ICANN and the American department of trade. It is, therefore, a temporal timeline to achieve what's been called the transition of ICANN ever since the 1998 white paper. But a transition is not an end point. The transition of ICANN, therefore, is not simply a matter of implementing the JPA. There must be a new institutional phase for this pioneer in Internet governance. A transition toward what? In my opinion, ICANN should be made viable in the long term. It should adapt to an environment which is considerably changed since its founding. It should be capable of treating new problems linked to the rapid development of Internet and to the different transitions that I have sketched out. This requires substantial change, and it can't simply amount to accomplishing the agreement underway. And all of this should be placed in a broader perspective. ICANN is an original experience. It's a pioneer. It's one of the very first laboratories for this governance known as multistakeholder which was mentioned, for example, in the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis in 2005. In the course of its first ten years, ICANN has gradually set up several structures which organize the participation of various categories of stakeholders. It has created and developed its own processes for consultation and for policy-making. The transition by the end of 2009 will give it an opportunity to turn a new page, to draw conclusions from the first ten years, and to make ICANN an even more accomplished organization of multistakeholders, bringing together the technical community, the users, the private sector, but also governments, to discuss matters of general interest and of public policy. Changes in internal functioning should, in my opinion, play a greater role in our reflection over the transition. But this new step, which a member of the board of directors called a constitutional moment for the organization, cannot be successful unless the post JPA architecture is considered to be a progress over the current framework, and not considered the victory of one community over another. That will be our shared responsibility in the consultations to be held over the next months. One final point on this road map. I am delighted that the consultation process launched in Paris this week is open-ended and very inclusive, as we wished for. It is utmost importance that beyond the ICANN community, it should reach out to the other stakeholders that aren't part of our community yet. The participants should be kept regularly informed of the progress made on the reflection and on the action taken on their comments. The organization of multistakeholder regional consultations and cooperation with other organizations will contribute to a great extent to achieving these objectives. The expert group to be set up can also facilitate the organization of these meetings. In that context, France, which, as you know, will take up the presidency of the European Union as of July 1st, and which has many international organizations and structures, is willing to facilitate the organization of such a meeting for the European stakeholders, in cooperation with its partners. France, finally, would like to take advantage of its presidency of the European Union to language a European-wide reflection on the evolution of Internet, and, in particular, on its governance. It's in this perspective that the European ministers in charge of the information society and electronic communication will be invited to take part in a conference in Nice on October 6th and 7th, devoted to the political and technological issues of the Internet of the future. That ministerial conference will make it possible for us to think these issues over together and to draft conclusions that the French presidency will submit to the council of the European Union on December -- sorry, on November 27th, 2008. Ladies and gentlemen, the issues of Internet governance followed on the mandate that the president of the republic and the prime minister gave me, so, therefore, I will be very attentive to your proceedings, particularly via the representative of the French government and the representative of the GAC, our special delegate for the French society, Bertrand De La Chapelle. This is an opportunity for me to show the importance that we give these issues and take a constructive part in future debates. I congratulate all the French holders -- AFNIC, the operators, the registrars, and different associations -- that have taken part for several years in these international processes. And I'd like to encourage them actively to contribute to these discussions, as well as to the reflection undertaken in France. The coming months will be important for ICANN, and I hope that the Paris meeting will give the necessary impetus to go through the different important stages in treating the four major subjects that I sketched out. So I wish you an excellent week in France, and a very pleasant stay in Paris. France was eliminated from the Euro football match, so there are no longer any good matches to watch on television. Therefore, all your evenings will be free. I would like to apologize to the two young ladies who I mentioned in my introductory remarks. I know that I have been very long. Thank you all for your kind attention. [ Applause ] >>PAUL TWOMEY: Thank you, minister. That was an excellent speech. I no longer have any role in this meeting. You've outlined to all these people in this room what they have to do over the next five days. I'm going home for holidays. Minister, I think your grasp of details is very impressive. And I think -- I'm excited to see what's going to come out of your processes in July for the digital economy in France, if there's a minister leading this who has such a grasp of the details of the underlying infrastructure that supports the digital economy. May I congratulate you on your leadership in calling for the transition to IPv6. This is really an essential issue and very important. And as I think you have pointed out, there can be a tendency for network operators and others to think it's okay, I have IPv4, I'm looking after my customer. The point is, my customer uses my network to talk to somebody else's network, to talk to somebody else's customer. And if they move to V6 and I stay on V4, there's a problem. So I think especially for those parts of the world, like in Europe and in North America and other places where people have had a lot of V4 experience early, it's important now that we do keep sending this message of the importance of transition to V6. So I congratulate you on the leadership that you're showing here in France. Your points on new gTLDs and IDNs, I think, are right on the mark. And we appreciate your thoughts. Your discussion about institutional frameworks also, I think, is timely, and we appreciate your sharing your thoughts and engagement on that. The process you point out that we are running here at least in the ICANN part of that is an open one, a transparent one, it has been going for some time. This is our 32nd meeting. And I can tell you, minister, that the first meeting was very different to the 32nd one. So the changes -- even in the way in which the international meetings work -- has been very significant. And as you and your partners in Europe have these discussions, please note that we, as ICANN and this community of global, technical, and business experts and civil society perspectives, stand ready to give you advice, thoughts, balance, reactions -- knowing these people, undoubtedly criticism -- all sorts of opportunity to be partners in that sort of thinking, because that's what we're also looking for. We're looking for partners to help us think through what the future looks like. So, minister, thank you very much for an excellent speech. It sets a fine tone for our opening. So.... [ Applause ] >>PAUL TWOMEY: May I also introduce Sébastien Bachollet, who is the CEO of Agifem, a long-term ICANN friend and participants, to say some words. And may I also say thank you to Sébastien and his colleagues for all the great work they have done in putting together and hosting this meeting. [ Applause ] >>SÉBASTIEN BACHOLLET: Mr. Minister, Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen Ambassadors, members of the Board of Directors of ICANN, dear friends and participants, I would like on behalf of the French organizing committee to welcome you to France. And in particular, to Paris. The members of AGIFEM and AFNIC, EuroDNS, INDOM, Internet FR, Internet Society of France, W3C are delighted to welcome you. I am convinced that all of the authorities who supported the Paris candidacy will join as well. We hope that the working conditions extended to you will suit you, despite the record number of participants that have registered. And we hope that this will make it possible for you to make progress on all the issues on your agenda, which the Minister just mentioned, which Paul Twomey sketched out. I am certain that along with Bertrand de la Chapelle, and (saying name), who is a member of the council of the ccNSO and myself for the individual users will be delighted to take part in the discussions and to continue to work on what's being done in ICANN. I'm quite certain that this 30-second meeting on the eve of the ten-year anniversary of the ICANN will be an excellent opportunity for everyone to trade contact details and many other things as well. There will be events at the arch this evening and also at the Paris city hall, and these will be further opportunities to network. I should finally like to thank all of the sponsors for this event. There are a large number of them. I will not be able to list them individually. But without their contribution, we would not have been able to enjoy such favorable conditions for our meeting. And once again, as a participant in ICANN's work since 2001 and on behalf of all users I would like to welcome you to Paris and a very productive meeting. >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH: Thank you very much, Sébastien. Thanks to your wonderful team as well. We are very, very happy to be here in Paris. Ladies and gentlemen, Minister Besson and his excellent speech reminded us of the important work that we have to do. And the time has now come for you and for us to begin that work. I invite you to take your places now in the various seminars, working groups, workshops, and other things that are such a feature of the ICANN environment. Thank you for coming and sharing this opening ceremony. Good Luck with our work. I look forward to catching up with all of you personally in the open forums and the workshops, the galas, the dinners, the arguments, the conversations in the corridors, and all the things that make an ICANN meeting so fantastic. Let's get to work. Thank you. [ Applause ] >>PAUL TWOMEY: So sorry, if I might just remind or advise people, the Minister has to move on. We also had participating in this opening ceremony remotely was Viviane Reding, the European Commissioner for Information Society, and Viviane has shared a video which we will now be playing. I would like to put on the record a thank you to her for her support and participation. Unfortunately, with timing, we will have to let the Minister move on, but we will now have that video. (Video playing) >>COMMISSIONER VIVIANE REDING: Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to welcome the ICANN community back to Europe after your meetings in the U.S. and India. Your meeting in Paris takes place at a time where France is about to take over the European Union council presidency for the next six months. The Internet is at an exciting juncture in its history. Even in its relatively short history, there are many important lessons for us to learn and things to remember. The first is that a key to the Internet's success has been the guiding principles of open architecture, end-to-end connectivity, interoperability. The intelligence in the networks has been at the edges, rather than in the networks themselves. The neutral nature of the Internet has enabled a virtual tidal wave of creativity, innovation from all those who wish to issue their content services or applications. Faced with new challenges, such as a transition to IPv6, the growth of machine-to-machine applications, and the growth in overall Internet traffic, I trust that policymakers, regulators and private companies worldwide, all those that shape the future of the Internet, can continue to build on these positive dynamics. The European Commission has already indicated its intention to monitor closely any attempts to call into question the open nature of the Internet, because it believes that the next generation of Internet users have the right to enjoy the same net freedoms that exist today. The achievements to date are very significant, but the challenges that lay ahead are equally important. Today there are over 1 billion Internet users. Our ambition has to be to include the many more billions of world citizens who currently do not have access to this amazing technology. Another important public policy challenge is related to the increased link with real world objects, which necessitates another in-depth consideration of privacy issues. Respect for privacy and data protection is considered in Europe as of paramount importance to ensure the rights of Internet users. In addition, respect for intellectual property rights needs to be properly incorporated in any approach. A third issue, which I have been addressing last week at the OECD ministerial in Seoul is the ability to communicate in one's own language. I am particularly excited about the imminent deployment about Internationalized Domain Names, an activity that has been keeping ICANN busy for some time now. Each country will, of course, need to decide for itself what it wants to do with its own country code top-level domain, which scripts to introduce, and when. For our part, we will inform ICANN in due course when we have made these decisions for .EU. I know that we can then rely on the ICANN board to ensure the smooth entry of the new Internationalized Domain Names into the root zone file. I very much hope that noticeable achievements will be available for the IGF meeting in December in Hyderabad. In its first ten years, ICANN has proved to be a very important member of the Internet governance community. I am confident that further progress on the internationalization of ICANN itself can be made as we move forward. As World Summit on the Information Society made clear, governments must be able to participate on an equal footing to carry out their roles and their responsibilities in the international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet. I believe that all governments share a common interest in ensuring the continuing stability and growth of the Internet. This will help us identify a mutually acceptable path to achieve this common aim. We also need to recall that the current agreement between ICANN and the U.S. government ends next year. We now have the opportunity to reconsider how best to prepare for a post-MOU ICANN. The key to success, I believe, will be to formulate a mechanism of accountability for ICANN. This must be acceptable to everyone in the international community. This includes governments who represent the interests of many of the billion or so Internet users who cannot participate directly themselves in ICANN activities. I wish all of you a very good and efficient meeting in Paris. (Video ends) [ Applause ]