IGF 2020 NRIs Collaborative Session: Digital economy: ‎trans-territorial ‎regulations and the ‎impact on digital ‎sovereignty

NRIs Collaborative Session: Digital economy: ‎trans-territorial‎regulations and the ‎impact on digital‎ sovereignty

Theme: Inclusion
Policy Questions: 

• What are the contemporary challenges for our economies in the digital age?
• Are countries ready to respond and align their practices with the global trends of digitalisation of the economy?
• What are the concrete examples of good practices of cooperation for improving our economies on regional levels?

Relevance to Theme and Internet Governance: 
New technologies are strongly impacting and changing our economies. On a daily basis, we face new customer culture and demand; new ways of trade and new regulations. However, not everyone is with the same conditions and the same demands. Countries have different priorities and challenges. This session will look at the specificities of digital economy priorities, challenges and good practices on a local level. It will learn from the examples of the multistakeholder communities in Albania, Bolivia, Chad, Panama and the South-Eastern European region.

Description: 
This session will focus on understanding what are the priorities and good practices on local levels on the digital economy. It will specifically look at the examples coming from the national IGFs of Albania, Bolivia, Chad, Panama and the South Eastern European region (SEEDIG).

The Bolivia IGF will bring challenges of unharmonised regulation of digital services inside of the country through a concrete example of Uber whose services are differently regulated in the bigger cities of Bolivia. The multistakeholder community of Panama will underline the challenges the banking system of Panama is facing related to the lack of digitalisation in this sector.

The issues related to building competitive digital economies are regularly discussed at the South Eastern European Dialogue on Internet Governance (SEEDIG). The region of South-Eastern Europe and the neighbouring area (SEE+) can boast with traditionally good engineering education and strong ICT industry. The key challenge is that the latter is largely based on an outsourcing business model, which is not sustainable and doesn’t really contribute to the development and economic competitiveness of the region itself. Respective policies are needed to identify and use the potential for innovation in the SEE+, as well as to support the development of an enabling entrepreneurial culture that allows start-ups to be less risk-averse and more open to international markets. Additionally, to support the growth of the digital economy across the SEE+ several common challenges need to be addressed at the country level, namely the brain drain, bureaucracy, economic and/or political instability, and the lack of financing opportunities. There is also a need to avoid or remove nationalistic policies such as those that impose unjustified restrictions on cross-border data flows.

When it comes to creating an enabling environment for the digital economy, putting in place legal frameworks is not enough. There is also a need for transparency and compliance with democratic principles when implementing such frameworks in order to give the private sector a sense of clarity and predictability. Moreover, regional cross-sector cooperation is needed to strengthen the digital business landscape in SEE+, to improve the regulatory frameworks, and to develop a strong regional digital market. SEEDIG can serve as a platform for such cooperation. At the same time, by achieving greater integration within the region, it would then be easier for the SEE+ countries to get stronger positions and become more competitive on the global digital market.

Further, speakers will focus on ways of effective digital cooperation on this matter by problematising the regional response toward policies on reducing roaming prices. Specifically, this matter will be discussed on the basis of the current practices of the Western Balkan (WB6) countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo); north Latin American countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru) and the northern, western and central parts of the African region (Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon).

Format of the Session: 
60-minutes interactive roundtable discussion with introductory remarks and open floor for questions and answers.

Expected Outcomes:
Understanding specific challenges and examples of good practices on local levels.

Discussion Facilitation: 
The moderator will follow the agreed set of policy and will allow for introductory, case study remarks by the NRIs speakers. This will be followed by engaging other present participants into developing an interactive discussion.

Online participation: 
A dedicated online moderator will be placed next to the onsite moderator. All participants will be using the online speaking queue to be treated equally in their requests for interventions. All input presentations will be made available at the IGF website and links will be shared via the online tool.

Co-Organizers and delegated speakers:

1. Albania IGF
2. Bolivia IGF
3. Chad IGF
4. Panama IGF
5. SEEDIG 

Moderators and Rapporteurs: Mr. Abdeldjalil Bachar Bong, Chad IGF; Ms. Anja Gengo, IGF Secretariat; Mr. Roberto Zambrana, Bolivia IGF

Connection to SDGs:

• GOAL 1: No Poverty

• GOAL 2: Zero Hunger

• GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-being

• GOAL 4: Quality Education

• GOAL 5: Gender Equality

• GOAL 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

• GOAL 7: Affordable and Clean Energy

• GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

• GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

• GOAL 10: Reduced Inequality

• GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

• GOAL 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

• GOAL 13: Climate Action

• GOAL 14: Life Below Water

• GOAL 15: Life on Land

• GOAL 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions

• GOAL 17: Partnerships to achieve the Goal