YBhg. Tan Sri Dr. Sharifah Zarah Syed Ahmad, Secretary General of Ministry of Communication and Multimedia Malaysia undertook a working visit to Geneva to attend the Twelfth Annual Meeting of the United Nations (UN) Internet Governance Forum (12th IGF) held from 18 to 21 December 2017.
YBhg. Tan Sri Dr. Sharifah Zarah Syed Ahmad participated in various sessions of the IGF including the thematic sessions on Digital inclusion for women: Scaling up our efforts, High Level Thematic Session 'Shaping Our Future Digital Global Governance' and High Level Thematic Session 'Impact Of Digitization on Politics, Public Trust & Democracy’. The 12th IGF closed with a call to ensure the inclusion of all and especially the under-represented - indigenous peoples and the unconnected - in Internet governance, and to protect and strengthen the unique global venue where everyone can freely put forward their views. It was also emphasised that the ideal future global digital governance should be value based, inclusive, open and transparent.
The 12th IGF was attended by more than 2,000 participants, including high-level government officials, civil society leaders, private sector representatives and academic and technical expert. The Forum discussed various topics related to internet governance ranging from the impact and influence of digitization on the economy, the media landscape and the political system, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, block chain technologies, big data, virtual reality and fake news, and their impact on public trust, democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression.
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