Portugal to have an active voice in Internet Governance at the UN General Assembly
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The FCT, as the entity responsible for public policies for the Information Society in Portugal, and ANACOM, as the government's advisor in the field of communications, made up the Portuguese delegation led by Portugal's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Álvaro Mendonça e Moura.
In 2005, the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society reiterated the benefits that Information and Communication Technologies bring to citizens' lives and committed itself to developing mechanisms to combat digital divides.
Ten years on, representatives from more than 190 nations are meeting again to discuss the impact of these actions on the economic and social development of countries. It was concluded that, despite the progress that the digital world has made in the last decade - there are now more infrastructures and higher levels of digital literacy among the population - inequalities in the distribution of opportunities for access to technological knowledge have increased. We therefore need to tackle the digital divide that continues to divide countries, regions and generations.
The importance of the Internet for general development and the challenges posed by the use of ICTs were other aspects highlighted on the agenda of this meeting of nations, which culminated in the renewal for another 10 years of the mandate of the IGF Forum (Internet Governance Forum) - the multistakeholder platform that promotes the discussion of policies on the governance of the network.
Portugal, through the FCT, has played an active role in the Information Society movement. In addition to participating in the discussion of proposals, accompanying the various European and international fora and cooperating with world governments in the implementation of measures, since 2009 Portugal has been a member of the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development, the high-level advisory body on science and technology policies.
In this sense, Ambassador Álvaro Mendonça e Moura demonstrated that in terms of Internet governance Portugal is aligned with the WSIS recommendations to keep the Internet free, open, interoperable, stable, secure and trustworthy, citizen-centered, inclusive and development-oriented, based on respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
The Portuguese diplomat's speech on the second day of the High Level Meeting recalled that the World Wide Web was developed in one of the largest research laboratories contributing most to the free and collective dissemination of knowledge, science and technology - CERN.
Álvaro Mendonça e Moura stresses that "a joint effort is needed to ensure that, in the future, all people can benefit from the potential of the Information Society to improve their quality of life and develop their skills. We believe that this vision will only become a reality through a multistakeholder model."
In the end, Portugal's representative reaffirmed that "the discussion of public policies for the Information Society must involve the broad participation of the various stakeholders and, for these reasons, Portugal supports the renewal of the Internet Governance Forum's mandate for another 10 years."