The following are the outputs of the captioning taken during an IGF intervention. Although it is largely accurate, in some cases it may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
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>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Taking Stock session which is the second last session of this wonderful IGF 2025 meeting in Norway. I'm glad to see many of you. This taking stock session is that we look back at what we did this year or this cycle, and also this week, and we take note of what worked well, what didn't work so well and things we may need to look into and things we definitely need to keep for our next IGF meeting, which I'm sure all of us believe will happen.
First of all, let me just introduce our Chairs. So we have Ms. Carol Roach from the Bahamas, Under Secretary, Ministry of Grand Bahama, Chair IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group.
We also have Mr. Ole‑Martin Martinsen, Policy Director for Digitalization and Emerging Technologies in The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And then online, of course, we have Vint Cerf who is the Chair of the Leadership Panel. And just before I start, I think I will need to get it out of the way first is that I would really like to thank everybody that has been involved. It's been a really great, smooth working relationship with our Norwegian counterparts with the MAG, which it is the 20th anniversary of the MAG as well, so we had MAG members who were in WGIG, we had a great mix of dedicated people coming together to make this event a really great event. And I would also like to thank the interpreters which are often overlooked and do really great work. Thank you very much.
(Applause).
And, of course, our scribes that are, the transcription service has been really excellent, and quite frankly, I also want to mention specifically Medvind. We have never worked with such a great team. The technical side has been really smooth, and that is really much appreciated.
So with that I will give the floor to Carol to say a few words.
>> CAROL ROACH: Carol Roach, Under Secretary Ministry for Grand Bahama. Great. And I just want to add to what Chengetai said, everyone has worked hard to make this session good. Norway has been absolutely fabulous as well as the MAG. We cannot forget the MAG. They really came through. They worked long, hard hours. I'm in a different time zone, and when I wake up in the morning there is like 100 messages on the chat, so a round of applause for the MAG members. Thank you very much.
(Applause).
And, of course, the LP, and thanks to the participants for making this a very successful IGF forum. It's not the only. It's always just the beginning. Thank you.
>> OLE-MARTIN MARTINSEN: Well, I want to thank everyone for coming here, for coming to the IGF and coming to Norway and being a part of this. It's a great pleasure to host, hosting the IGF. It's a special thing to be a host for the IGF because you are not hosting an event. You are not showcasing. You are, of course, you are hosting the IGF, but also trying to create a space or a venue where people can meet and people can have good conversation and good real dialogue together.
And that's what we have been trying to do here. I hope the role as host has somehow contributed to it. And a second thing I wanted to say before we look back on the week, it's been an honour to host a true multistakeholder forum like this. And especially with everything that's going on in the world outside of this venue, because we really believe that these forums and these spaces, they matter. It's important.
It's meaningful, and it's important to look forward as we have been doing this week, and it's important to look back and learn, but we think also that's or I think, believe that it's also important to take the time to appreciate where we are right now, and what we are doing because this is meaningful and important and quite beautiful what we are doing here.
So thanks to everyone.
(Applause).
>> CAROL ROACH: Vint Cerf, over to you.
>> VINT CERF: Thanks very much. I gather everyone has had a good time in Norway. Speaking of which, I want to remind all of you that the Norwegians had a very key role to play in the pre-Internet period. In 1973 while some of us were working on the ARPANET, the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment housed one of the first nodes of the ARPANET outside of the United States at the Norwegian Defense Establishment.
And I'm thinking about my colleagues, Paul Spilling, Ingar, and Taug Bousnes. What would they think about the IGF 2025 in Norway? What a spectacular evolution this has been. Maybe revolution is the right word. I just want to observe two things. First of all, that the organisation of this meeting, credit of that goes to many, but especially the Secretariat, the Norwegian establishment that put all of this together. Their accessibility efforts were super appreciated by the Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability.
And, of course, the participants are what make this meeting so valuable and so memorable, particularly the participants from the Leadership Panel, the MAG and all of the other NRIs and interested parties who are here. This was a spectacularly good IGF, organized in record time which leads me to wonder whether we should do two of these a year now. I will leave that to you to consider for a moment, and let's come back now to our stock taking.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thanks very much, Vint, and I realize that I forgot, yes, we really do have to thank the community and the participants. You are what makes the IGF what it is. Thank you. Give yourself a hand.
(Applause).
So for this taking stock session, we are basically in a listening mode. We may respond to one or two, but basically we are taking notes. We are going to go back and see how we can implement, improve, et cetera, what you tell us. So we have a number of microphones, I think two. We have got, we are waiting for the lights to come on. Yes. We have one there, and we should have another one right there. Yes. So if you want to make an intervention, please stand behind any of those mics, and then we will alternate between the two.
And, please, don't feel shy. And please keep your interventions two minutes. And then I do know that some people may speak faster or slower than others. We will make a slight adjustment, but, please, around two minutes will be, well, let's keep it to two minutes and we will see how we go from there. Can you please identify yourself and state your stakeholder group. It will be interesting to know if this is your first time. If it is your first time, please let us know what you think as well. I will give you extra seconds for that. But, please, carry on.
So we will start from this end.
>> AUDIENCE: Hi, my name is Francis, and I'm part of youth DIG, the European youth IGF. And seeing as we are taking stock today, I wanted to say that I think initiatives like Youth DIG is something that works really well in the precursor to IGF. It means that the kind of engagement young people can have is so much more meaningful because we understand the background. We have formulated messages that come, that are youth led and youth driven and bottom up so we are developing these issues that are pertinent to us so that when we come to something like the IGF, we already have these opinions formed, ideas about possible policy solutions or where there is a difference between regulation and freedom on the Internet.
So I would say that I'm grateful to youth DIG. I'm very glad we also had the space this week to talk about these messages so that the youth dialogue has been incredibly meaningful at the IGF. So I would say moving forward this is my first IGF. Hopefully I come to more, but I would say that these initiatives are super important in maintaining a youth voice that is authentic, that is collaborative, and that means that this kind of involvement actually matters and isn't just a box ticking exercise.
I would also say what was very important at this IGF was that we had a dialogue where questions were encouraged by anyone who was attending, and I really appreciated it in panel discussions when it was reinforced that it's anyone who is listening who shall contribute because we all have something to say. And we all have different perspectives. And whether we know the technical side or not, whatever ideas might be or our questions or our concerns, they are listened to.
And as part of the messages from the youth, we particularly cared about content moderation, user controls, and also digital literacy. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much.
(Applause).
>> AUDIENCE: Yes, thank you Chengetai. My name is Wout de Natris from the board. I represent the Internet security and safety. We had the opportunity to present our new report on the socioeconomic implications of both quantum encryption. I think that is going to be the topic of 2026. I heard questions about quantum computing pop up in different sessions.
What we have identified is exactly what the implications are if we do not get this right before the so called quantum day, which is the day the first quantum computer actually works. We have a timeframe now to make sure that we have the security that we need in place.
So on the report you can find it on our website, DCIS3 coalition.org or on the IGF website soon at our D.C. page.
The second comment I want to make is on the Dynamic Coalitions. I think we have started to organize ourselves in a far more structured way into clusters where we identify common topics, and that is something that we can build on for 2026. I think that ‑‑ thank you.
I think that the Dynamic Coalitions are at the core of what multi‑stakeholderism is. Everybody can contribute, everybody can come up with ideas and bring them forward. Some do reports, others do meetings to explore future work, but we have impacts, and impacts would make the impact of the IGF bigger if we are better integrated into the program. And we have a suggestion that we are working on is to have some sort of a representation in the MAG. Not as a MAG member, but on an equal level so that we could integrate the program better with what we are doing. And I think that's what I want to say.
I have seven seconds. All of, Martin and all of your team, you did a great, great job. I want to commend you for it.
>> AUDIENCE: My name is Ole Jacobson. I want to say to Vint that Yngvar and Paul would be proud if they were here. I worked for them from 1973 all the way through '84. I went to high school in Lillestrøm. I'm the editor and publisher of the Internet Protocol Journal, and I have been involved in Internet technical stuff since those days.
And that first ARPANET connection in 1973 is what made it all possible for me. So thank you very much. About this event, it's all a bit bewildering to me. I haven't been to one before. But it's a good place to meet all sorts of interesting people. Thank you.
>> AUDIENCE: Hello. Good afternoon. My name is Sarah Kikeli Akunor. I'm a person with visual impairment. I'm part of the ISOC Ghana and a member of the Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability. I just want to suggest that most of the discussions that are going on, I'm not really seeing the disability perspectives to it because I have been to some of the sessions and sometimes I'm lost if there can be a person with disability in most of the sessions so that our perspectives can be brought on board, then our voices can also be heard.
And also, most of the sessions also do not have room for contributions and questions. So even if there is no disability perspective to it, maybe would want to contribute or ask questions but there is no room for that so I hope that the next IGF there is going to be something done about that. Thank you.
(Applause).
>> AUDIENCE: Hi, I'm Rina, member of the multistakeholder group. I wanted to start with thank you, Chengetai, Carol, Martin, Ole, the MAG, leadership, this well done. Thank you for bringing my childhood crush along to the IGF as well. I didn't get my good picture, but that's okay. It also takes a lot for the most country for taking all of the notes of the MAG from last year passed along things like bathroom, accessibility, and some of the points. We know we will never be perfect because there will be new demands and issues, but I did want to commend you guys on that.
And just two comments about the event itself. As much as I appreciate the sustainability tone, the name tags were made of, they were lacking indeed. They are a good point for accessibility, for newcomers to know who they are talking to and so on, and even though many of us went creative and had them on the phones, it took us through two to four days.
So that was one thing. And the last point was about the High Level Sessions. I think in one. I think one of them we still had the civil society perspective lacking on the session and I think this is the 20th anniversary of the IGF and we can no longer afford to leave any stakeholder outside or out of the discussions and so on. But having said that, again, thanks a lot and congrats on the event.
>> AUDIENCE: Thank you. Good afternoon. Poncelet Ileleji, Guamian IGF. I thank Chengetai, Carol, Ole‑Martin for a great organisation, and I wish to thank Anja who coordinates the NRIs for all of the brilliant sessions we had. One session is that during the Opening Ceremony, the role of the NRIs within this multistakeholder process bottom top has been very important and we should try to get one of the leading NRIs to speak during the Opening Ceremony. A good example it will have been good to have our Brazilian colleagues at the opening to share the perspectives of the great work NRIs are doing at local level. Thank you very much.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you.
>> AUDIENCE: Hello, my name is June Beg, cofounder of youth privacy organisation called Youth for Privacy. It's my first time at the IGF. Three points, first, in terms of accessibility of the meetings, whether it be on Zoom or having transcripts published, I think that was really amazing, and it allowed a lot of our participants, virtual participants to also take part, and on top of that, the accessibility of the panelists was also amazing. Everybody was willing to talk after the panels or during the panels and take questions. And that kind of really encouraged dialogue and collaboration.
But the third part that, which is related to that is since a lot of these meetings are on record and published online, I was wondering if the, it would be possible to also accommodate some closed sessions, some only in‑person only where we could fully talk about some of the topics that might be considered sensitive or express more personal opinions, so those kinds establishment of those meetings would be appreciated.
And I just also want to highlight the fact that as a young person, it's very hard to find funding for attending IGF, and the funding always is an issue for international conferences, and I want to highlight Korean Internet and Security Agency that funded my trip to IGF.
So there could be other funding sources not only from the IGF, from the national Governments to encourage young people like me and us to attend IGF in person. So above all, thank you very much for this first time here at IGF, and I hope I'm not too spoiled because of the quality of the Conference. I hope that the next one next year is also improved as well. Thank you very much.
(Applause).
>> AUDIENCE: Hello, everyone. I'm called Jalenta Rosa, I am fellow from the Dynamic Coalition of Accessibility and Disability. This is my second year attending IGF from Cameroon. I want to say that the sustainability of the accessibility of online tools and services and the empowerment of persons with disabilities still remains slow and is still a serious challenge. While I would plea to all stakeholders in the Internet system to play their part. We also want to say that the IGF continues to play its role in improving digital accessibility online for all persons with disabilities remain inclusive. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much.
>> AUDIENCE: My name is Jenna Fung, an eight time attendee at the IGF, at this time embarrassing to call myself a youth. How many years have we been talking about it? Too many years, and yet here we are still framing youth engagement primarily around capacity building as if young people haven't already proven the readiness to contribute meaningfully to policy efficacy at all. The presuming is youth participation in Internet Governance remains at best tokenistic and more often structurally excluded. Why?
Hosting a youth submit filled with top down speeches from leadership is not cross generational dialogue. Calling for youth inclusion while never inviting a single youth representative to speak on the Leadership Panel is not genuine co‑creation. Just because youth community aren't institutionalized in the traditional model without titles like chairperson stamped on our name cards doesn't mean we lack leadership. We lean differently. Have we not tried to claim our seat at the table? We have.
We built initiatives, create platforms, host discussion and shape narrative for youth and for the broader Internet Governance community. Go to talk to the youth leaders in your council region. We have done this while struggling with limited resources and support, and yet the system continues to set us up to fail much like how a forum when chronically underfunded is doomed to underperform by design.
Youth have long been cast into the role of the inexperienced as perceived by many other stakeholders as lacking the skills, capacity or knowledge to even be taken seriously. This perception alone has been enough to keep many of us on the sidelines, but to those in positions of power with titles, platform funding, decision making authorities, I urge you do not let your privilege cloud your judgment. Do not reflect accountability by blaming you for disengagement. Yes, we are digital natives. We didn't witness the birth of the IGF. Many of us weren't even born what the Internet took its first steps, but that didn't make our voices any less valid than any other people in this room.
This year, multi‑stakeholderism has taken centre stage. It's been powerful to watch diverse actors rally behind the ideology. Advocating for systematic change in world dominated by bilateral power structure. Yet, if you haven't used your institutional, generational or positional privilege, access and influence to structurally include youth even just within the IG ecosystem itself, then that, frankly, is a missed opportunity and a shame.
Before I close, I would like to direct my thanks to all of the senior leaders in the room, but today I want to thank every young person who worked tirelessly, often invisibly, often unpaid for all of the work that they have done and continue to do.
I'm sorry if my eight years of hard work didn't move the system enough for you, but I believe in our NextGen leader, Gen Z, gen alpha, even gen beta. If I ever make it to the seat at the centre of this room, I won't stay there. I will disassemble the stage and sit alongside each and every one of you because I believe in you and believe in what true multi‑stakeholderism should look like. This is where my voice concludes. I will pass the ‑‑
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: We have to observe the time for everybody as well. I have given you double the time. You can send us the statement and put it on the website.
(Applause).
I'm sorry about that but we have to be fair. If we give you four minutes we have to give everybody else four minutes and we will never end. Please.
>> AUDIENCE: Torsten Krause, I'm affiliated with the Digital Opportunities Foundation based in per Lynn, Germany and I would like to Ole Martin and the Government of Norway for hosting this well done IGF. I would like to thank all of the people of Norway which really welcomed us with open arms and warmly, thanks a lot for that. Also I would like to congratulate all of the Dynamic Coalition which is taking part in joint efforts for delivering four cluster sessions and one main session. I think that's an approach to further develop, and I would like to echo what Wout has said on that.
Thirdly, I appreciate that we had a second time High Level Session on child rights on the main stage after the IGF in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia last year. I think that's the place where child rights should take place. The issues around children and youth are too serious to discuss alone behind black curtains in a workshop.
So I would encourage us all to make a tradition out of it and see also child rights next year on the main stage. And it could be also a way to support and promote the potential outcomes of the WSIS+20 process as it described in the draft of the current element papers. I really appreciate how human rights and especially children's rights addressed already in this draft, but I would like to see that it's not just around protection of children, but it's also about provision and participation of children as Jenna pointed out already. And so I would like to see the whole balance and the full set of child rights reflected in the elements paper. Thank you so much.
>> KUNLE OLORUNDARE: I'm from the civil society, and as a matter of fact, I'm the President of Internet Society. First, I want to congratulate Chengetai, Ole‑Martin for and Carol for job well done. I think we had top notch sessions, going out and the cocktails and all of that, and I think we should give them a round of applause for that.
And apart from that, I would just want to talk about maybe the tokenization with respect to one particular event. I discovered that a lot of us were very interested in visiting that particular site for I think the Internet, that university, so to say, but unfortunately some of us could not because we didn't get a slot. So I think that is something to look at.
And secondly, I really want to mention the issue of timing with respect to let's say open forum. Since we don't really have enough time when it comes to open forum because we have to engage with people on site, and people online. So there is not enough time to engage the people online. So I think that's something to take a look at and review. I would say I think it's been a wonderful IGF, and thank you for a good job well done. Thank you.
Sorry. I'll just give it a six count and we will go to the next one. I stole that phrase from Lynn to give retribution.
>> ABDOU MFOPA: And I'm at the Internet Society Cameroon chapter. It's the first time for me traveling to an IGF. Why am I taking the floor? Well, we have been very inspired by Vinton. We are actually publishing a history of the Internet in Cameroon and we have been inspired by your work for doing that. One regret I would like to express when it comes to the organisation of the event. It took over two months to validate my registration to the IGF.
It would have been great to have an earlier confirmation, maybe a Committee could confirm earlier because when you don't have the financing to attend the IGF, it's very hard to get an invitation, and then it's, well, it's difficult when it takes so long.
I really hope you can take this into account. And we would like to have a Committee working on that specific question. As I said, it's the first time I participate. I really hope to have other opportunities.
This will allow me to bring this back to the Internet community in Cameroon, all of those innovations and youth participation is really a key question. I really think youth should participate in this kind of event. And what we need is training.
In our country, we have some youth who really want to participate, who want to know Internet Governance, but they need training for that.
(Applause).
>> VINICIUS FORTUNA: Thanks for the space for feedback. I appreciate that. My name is Vinicius, and I'm a software engineer I work on Internet access, resilience and privacy at jigsaw which is part of Google, hi, Vint.
I appreciate IGF, it was my first IGF, and I have several ideas and got inspired. And it's not going to be my last one so I am coming back. And but that's a software engineer I was kind of like surprised to not see other engineers here.
You see a lot of lawyers and policy people. Where are the product managers? Where are the engineers? Those are the people that build the technologies that we are all talking about here. And removing ITG at ICANN I didn't see engineers. It's important to bring them to the table because they can give insight on what is possible, what is not.
And also, come up with new ideas once they understand the real world problems. I also know that engineers don't really sometimes know about these issues or they don't care, they are focused on their problems. So we need to put incentives in places for both the individuals and the organisations to bring the builders to events like this. So that's my feedback. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Should we try the remote hub again? Let me put it this way. We will try the remote hub at the next speaker. We will have the next speaker first and then come to the remote hub.
>> BIBEK SILWAL: Bibek Silwal, Youth IGF Nepal. I want to thank the IGF Secretariat and the Government of Norway for the amazing discussions for how we can make the Internet better for tomorrow. I'm really excited to see youth participation being active in the discussions, but I have a concern from the Global South perspective. While we are sitting in this room discussing about how Internet better for tomorrow, there is still more than 2 billion people who are not connected to the Internet.
There is a spirit of digitalization. There was the pandemic where certain digitization happens people needed to connect to Internet to access any service, but during that time we were not able to bring them on board. So there are some hindrance why we are not able to bring them with us in this room. There has been more diversity.
So while we are moving forward with the discussion of AI governance, platform governance, we are moving forward with the WSIS principles, I think it is still intact to bring digital divide, how to connect the unconnected. We are talking about connectivity, but is it really meaningful? What about the affordability? What about the rural connectivity? And what about reliability and the Global South and the developing nations?
So this is my request to all of you, and the days to come we need to have a platform on how we can bring those other people and have more filled seats in the room. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much. Now, we are going to go online. Please. the remote hub.
>> Hello.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Yes, we can hear you.
>> INTERPRETER: The interpreters are awfully sorry but the sound will not allow for interpretation. We are awfully sorry for that.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much. Thank you. Please.
>> AUDIENCE: Greetings. I'm Sarai Faleupolu Tevita from Samoa, and I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the opportunity and the travel support given or granted to me to attend this 20th annual IGF in Norway. As a participant from the Pacific, Samoa, the Small Island States this support has been invaluable in my active participation like yesterday in this crucial meeting. I appreciate Chengetai, Carol, Ole‑Martin, Vint Cerf and everyone for this great opportunity. My taking steps for this global IGF as my first time participation is to continue sustainably ensure the robust representation from the SIDS. From the Pacific, so that we can maximize these opportunities.
It also is to highlight the unique challenges that we face. As you know, the SIDS geographically, economically, digitally, but being able to participate and attend this important event, it keeps me gives me another way and opportunity to share when I get back home that there is another world out here. We are not isolated. We are not left behind. We have to go with what is available, but give more advocating the opportunity from here.
We have heard the best practices, keep showcasing those best practices and share with us. And building more partnerships. Thank you for the opportunity that I managed to meet some incredible people that ISOC and Diplo, we have projects they are working with. So from the Pacific Islands chapter very appreciative for the opportunity. Thank you.
(Applause).
>> AUDIENCE: Utmanzai Khan from Pakistan, a practicing lawyer at high code and working for the digital rights in Pakistan. With the open mic I would like to appreciate and thank Norway for the facilitation because at the last IGF at the open mic I raised some concern regarding the visa for the Europe because from the Pakistan or the Asia, it's quite difficult to get Visa, but just because of the great facilitation from the Norway, more than 15 of my friends have gotten visa, so big clap for the Norway to the facilitation to the young guys.
And because for a country like Pakistan where 64% of the population belong to the young persons and I'm so grateful that more than 15 young guys from my province are here when in 2019 I made it to the first IGF, I believe I was the first or the second one from my province to the IGF. So I'm so happy to be accompanied by 15 young guys from my province. Thank you Norway.
With this I will also request the Secretariat to continue this wonderful form of discussion regarding the Internet because I believe this is to be the decision to be taken whether the IGF to be continued or not.
When it was started in 2006, how many people were on Internet? Now, today in 2025 how many increase has been made on the Internet usage? So I believe this forum is important. And to keep this digital globe safe and productive for everyone, I believe discussions and this forum need to be continued. Thank you, Norway. See you next time in some other part of the globe. Thank you, and see you next time. Thank you.
>> AUDIENCE: Hi, I'm Djikolmbaibet Kennedy from Chad I represent IGF Central Africa, and we have a contribution to make in IGF Central Africa's name. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, Distinguished Delegates, dear partners from the Internet Governance community. We are now at the end of hard working days. We have been very inspired and our delegation from Central Africa would really like to start by thanking all of the stakeholders who have contributed to the success of this 20th IGF here in Oslo.
We would like to start by thanking the Kingdom of Norway. Thank you for welcoming us and for warmly welcoming us here. Thank you to the United Nations, thanks to the Secretariat, and thank you to all partners, all organisations involved. We have Academia involved, and we have made this forum richer.
I really think now that our competencies have been strengthened. We have better digital services that are possible thanks to those discussions. We can now guarantee a certain transparency and what we need to do is to co‑construct the next years forward.
The digital world should not be a factor of domination. This should be a tool for social justice. I think Africa is ready now. We are ready to play our part. We all have a shared responsibility and we are willing to play our part. I'm sure that we can make Internet a public good for the best of the people in the years to come. Thank you very much.
>> AUDIENCE: My name is Aisha Klursheed. I'm advocating for women's rights. I'm so happy to share this this is first time IGF I'm attending. This platform has been an incredible source of global exposure and inspiration. For me it's more than opportunity. It's making a chance for young women in Pakistan where such chances are real. I'm committed to applying insights I have gained to empower more young women in my country working towards creating a safer and more inclusive digital space.
As all, assess to the Internet is a right that belongs to everyone. Thank you everybody, thank you, Norway, thank you, IGF, goodbye and see you next year.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: We will have the next speaker from the queue and we will go to the Ghana hub. So, please.
>> AUDIENCE: Good afternoon, Nigel Cassimire from the contribution telecommunications union. I wasn't going to speak but I was inspired by Sarai Faleupolu from the Pacific. And it made sense for me to endorse and thank the Secretariat for supporting our participation, travel support and so on, but also to identify the value and this was said by a previous speaker of the Dynamic Coalitions. There is the Dynamic Coalition on SIDS. And through that medium we in the Caribbean have been cooperating and working with the Pacific and also Indian Ocean states to share experiences and build our capacity and our capabilities in terms of Internet Governance.
So for the past two years we've had a problem getting space at the IGF for the DC SIDS meeting. I want to reemphasize the value of the Dynamic Coalitions, the DC SIDS in particular, and would urge the Secretariat to continue supporting them. I was also very pleased to hear the leadership team supporting the value of the NRIs. I think through the NRIs and things like the DCs is where the rubber meets the road between policy and implementation.
So that deserves the support. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much, Nigel. We will now go to the Ghana hub. Please go ahead. It seems you are muted. Yes.
>> GHANA HUB: Thank you very much for this opportunity. I'm Stephanie from IGF Ghana hub. I have this question and that is how can Internet Governance better support digital health infrastructure and equitable telemedicine in Developing Countries, especially for rural and underserved communities? Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you. If you could unmute, please.
>> GHANA HUB: I'm very grateful for the opportunity given. It has been an impact it willful meeting with the IGF from the 23rd. I have a suggestion to make. I would like to suggest that next time there be open opportunities for us to come in person for better understanding of the various topics discussed. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you. And can you please also send your comments in so that we have a clear record of them, thank you. Thank you very much. And thank you very much for participating from Ghana. Thank you. This way. Okay.
>> AUDIENCE: Hello, this is Jasmin Ko from Hong Kong. I truly appreciate and thankful for having this platform here and I think it's truly bottom up and multistakeholder driven because the music night and everything comes back and we have more toilets this year, third IGF here.
I also want to echo my colleague Jenna previously talking about the meaningful youth participation and its stroll in the strategic contribution to this IGF. So on top of consider request on considering youth in Leadership Panel I have more ambition to really urge your consideration to increase youth as really a standalone stakeholder group on the map as well. Because if it's really multistakeholder group, then seeing those youth have been putting effort on driving their own grassroots Committee and et cetera, that should be a serious consideration and discussion ongoing. Another thing coming from global youth community, I notice there are needs from Global South as well. I want to point it out because most of the funding, maybe it's controversial, but I notice that most of the funding exclude youth from Global North. So a person from that community, and even Global North community there are still poverty disparity as well. So not everyone is rich enough and affordable to coming here.
I myself this time I self‑fund myself to be here, and it's actually a lot of financial barriers here but I truly value my participation here that's why I make my effort here as well. Thank you very much for having me.
(Applause).
>> AUDIENCE: Tchonang Michel, I'm the Executive Secretary for the IGF and I would like to thank the United Nations, the Kingdom of Norway and everyone who was participated into the success of the IGF. The electronic participation is a silent crisis with environmental consequence is and societal consequences. Durability on the strategies needs to lean on changing the behaviors, especially starting from education.
We advocate for responsible waste management from the primary school. It is a strategic choice that we have to make in order to make an impact. So we need to seep this into young people's mind in order to have a multiplying effect with the parents, their family, and to ensure durability.
It is incredibly important to include digital governance in education. It will help bringing growth to the company. Also it will bring improvement in health and tomorrow starts today. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much. The queues are now closed so you three are the last people. I do see we have an online. We will go to the online after the next intervention here. Thank you.
>> AUDIENCE: Hello, everyone, it's Internet Society youth Ambassador for this year and I am coming from Nepal. This is my very first time attending IGF. While being here, listening to all of these sessions talking about AI, trust of the Internet and representing Nepal is some sort, I find misfit to be here in this discussion. In Nepal we still have half of our population out of Internet.
We are trying really hard to have a reliable Internet connectivity, trying our best to have laws that is more respecting to us rights of the people, freedom of people, but Government is working to make it more controlling. So all of this multi‑stakeholderism and coming from the Nepal, I do find somehow we need to work really hard in the Global South to make more open and transparent Internet, and for this opportunity I would really like to thank all of you for this big platform, and as I said, this is my very first time attending any IGF in person. My expectations are already really high. The Norway Government did a really good job. So thank you so much.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you. Okay. We really have to rush. So online quickly. We will just give it a shot. If it doesn't work, we will leave it. Okay. Next, please.
>> AUDIENCE: Dominique Hazael Massieux. This is my first IGF, and I want to extend my thanks this has been a fantastic week for getting new perspectives. If I had one suggestion for what I hope would be my next IGF, if there was more support for some GPT networking. There was proposal to get physical budget anything that could help meeting people you wouldn't expect out of the speakers. It is easy to identify speakers because they are on the panels but there are so many great people around here that would be harder to detect outside of the formal occasions. That would be my request to the organizers. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you. Last speaker. As quickly as you request.
>> ASIM ADEEL: No worries, thank you. Wow! What an eventful week. I'm really thankful, number one, is to Mr. Vinton, TCIP, and now IGF and we all have benefited. On the other hand, I would be very thankful to the Norwegian Government and the IGF organizers. It is such an information loaded and overloaded platform, and I wish it will continue. It was fourth of mine with some gaps and in the last I will just give my introduction, my name is Asim Adeel, I'm a consultant especially in the area for digital for development working for German development corporation. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much.
(Applause).
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you. We will go to the Chairs quickly for any final words. Carol, no? No? Vint, any final?
>> VINT CERF: I had to unmute. I took copious notes. I hope everyone else did. This was a super useful discussion. Thank you so much. I'm looking forward, of course, to next year in the hope that WSIS+20 will tell us that we should continue our work.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much, Vint He speaks for us all. Thank you.
(Applause).
Those of you who didn't make it, can you just please send your comments and we will post them on the website. Thank you.
>> ANNOUNCER: Please welcome to the stage the master of ceremony. Natalie Becker‑Aakervik, cofounder and storyteller at Thought Leader Global.
(Applause).
>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: Good afternoon, everyone! It is wonderful to be back here. Hello to our guests in the audience and to those joining us globally online. A warm welcome to you. Thank you to Mr. Chengetai Masango and his esteemed panel and to you our members of the audience for valuable contributions in really helping us take stop and reflect on the week that was and is coming to a close today, IGF 2025 proudly hosted by Norway.
I'm Natalie Becker‑Aakervik, and I will be your emcee for this session. So we trust you have enjoyed the week of engaging talks and meaningful connections, and if you remember we opened the grand artistic, opened IGF with a grand artistic performance on Tuesday. So at the end of the closing of the session we will send you off with a youthful hip‑hop show dance show that will boost your mood and energy even more. So do stay with us.
We will hear closing statements from different stakeholders, so I would like you to kindly take your seats if you haven't yet, ladies and gentlemen. If you have, without further ado please IGF Leadership Panel Vice Chair Maria Ressa.
(Applause).
>> MARIA RESSA: I like that the panel isn't like really high and we could stand. Thank you, thank you for being here today. As we close this remarkable gathering, it was fascinating to listen to the comments in the last panel. Please let us pause and remember why we are here. We are not just technologists, policymakers, journalists or advocates meeting in one of our world's most beautiful cities, we are guardians of humanities greatest information revolution since the printing press.
But here is what Gutenberg didn't have to worry about. His printing press couldn't be weaponized by authoritarian Governments, to silence dissent. His books weren't algorithmically able to spread hate. His readers weren't trapped in echo chambers to maximize engagement over truth. This is what we are dealing with. Yesterday on the stage I said that the greatest challenge to the world today is to prove that the international rules‑based order still exists. And that impunity will end in the real and virtual worlds because online violence is real world violence.
In the past few days we have heard urgent calls to action. We discussed the promise and peril of Artificial Intelligence which is neither artificial nor intelligent. We debated how to protect children online while preserving free expressions. We have wrestled with questions that would have seemed like science fiction just two decades ago.
But please let me be blunt. We are not moving fast enough. We are still moving too slow.
While we have been having important conversations, authoritarian leaders worldwide are using our platforms to rewrite reality. In my own country, in the Philippines, I have watched social media transform from a tool of liberation into a weapon of oppression. What happened to us is happening everywhere. From Myanmar to Ukraine, Brazil to Hungary, from the U.K. to the United States. This moment is existential, and that is why the work you do, what we do here matters. Not just for press freedom. You can throw that, though as someone who has been arrested and threatened for doing journalism, I can tell you that does matter deeply, but it's for our societies, for democracy. We faced three critical battles, one, the battle for truth.
When lies travel six times faster than facts, and that's a 2018 M.I.T. study. It's gotten significantly worse. When deep fakes make you unable to tell fact from fiction, truth from reality, right, this, when micro targeting can manipulate elections, we need to act. Platform accountability isn't censorship, far from it. It is safety. It is restoring democracy's immune system.
Two, the battle for human agency. Algorithms that amplify our worse impulses that reward outrage over empathy, that trap us in bubbles of our own biases, these are not inevitable. They are choices.
We can choose different values. We can design for human dignity.
Third, the battle for the future we want to live in. Will Artificial Intelligence augment human potential or replace human judgment? Will digital rights be universal or a privilege of the wealthy? Will the Internet serve humanity or will humanity serve the Internet?
Norway, you have shown us what's possible. Your commitment to transparency, your investment in digital literacy, your protection of press freedom, these aren't just Norwegian values, they are human values that the world desperately needs, but we cannot solve these challenges nation by nation, platform by platform, crisis by crisis.
The Internet we know knows no borders. This information knows no borders. Our response must know no borders as well.
I have seen what happens when we fail. I have watched democracy die in real time one viral lie at a time. But I have also seen what's possible when we act with courage and conviction.
Young people are leading climate action despite their Government's failures. Journalists are finding new ways to tell the truth despite unprecedented attacks. Citizens are demanding accountability despite powerful interests trying to silence them.
The future isn't written in code. It's written by the choices you in this room, by the choices we make, all of us together. So as we leave Oslo, please let's not just exchange our business cards and make our LinkedIn connections. Let's make commitments. Let's hold ourselves accountable. Let's remember that every algorithm reflects human values. Every platform policy shapes human behavior. Every governance decision impacts human lives.
The Internet belongs to all of us. You have seen that in the paper that the IGF has pushed out. It's on our website. Our Governments, our societies, the goodness of humanity, that also belongs to all of us. The future is being created now, and it will be a future we want if you fight for it.
Thank you for reminding us that another world is possible, and that together we can build it. Thank you.
(Applause).
>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: Thank you so much, Maria for sharing your contribution and your powerful message with us. Now, we would like to welcome bar Ron necessary Maggie Jones. The floor is yours.
>> MAGGIE JONES: Well, what inspirational speech, Maria, and a very, very hard act to follow, but Ministers, Excellencies and colleagues, let me begin my expressing my sincere thanks to our hosts, the Government of Norway and to the IGF Secretariat for their outstanding organisation and warm hospitality. This has been a forum of real substance, and it's been a privilege to be part of the United Kingdom taking part here.
Over the past days, have I been fortunate to meet so many thoughtful and committed stakeholders and I'm deeply grateful for the rich conversations I've had, conversations that have reinforced just how essential the Internet Governance Forum is to the future of digital cooperation.
The WSIS framework has delivered real results. It's helped connect billions, supported sustainable development, and provided a flexible enduring structure through the action lines. But we must now ensure it's ready for the future, and we must recognize that there is still a long way to go to get the unconnected connected.
The Global Digital Compact gives us a strong foundation. The WSIS+20 review is our opportunity to build on that.
To integrate, not duplicate, to align, not fragment. And the IGF must be central to that vision. A permanent mandate would allow for deeper engagement, longer term planning, and more inclusive participation. We also hope to see stronger recognition of National and Regional IGFs which are vital in surfacing local priorities and community voices in the important years to come.
So let's leave Lillestrøm today with renewed purpose. We encourage all of you here to engage in the WSIS elements paper and to participate through the WSIS ongoing consultations.
Let's continue to commit to a digital future that is open, secure, and inclusive. And let's ensure that the IGF continues to be the place where the future is shaped together. Thank you.
>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: Thank you so much, Baroness, for your contribution and for your message. Ladies and Gentlemen, without further ado, thank you so much for keeping within your four minute time slot. We appreciate it. We have a great program here and we want to so much hear the powerful closing messages and get to the hip‑hop show at the end.
So without further ado, I would like to introduce you to the Internet architecture board Chair member. His name is Mr. Dhody, please join us on stage.
>> DHRUV DHODY: Hello. Just a clarification, I'm not the Chair, I'm just a board member, but I'm from the Internet architecture board at the ITG which is the engineering task force. Thanks for giving me an opportunity to be a part of the closing remarks at in very successful IGF 2025 in Norway.
Congratulations to everyone working to make this event such a success. As part of the technical community which plays such a vital role in this multistakeholder model, we bring the expertise that keeps the Internet running, we provide the core Internet standards. We maintain the infrastructure. We provide grounding to the governance discussions to stay anchored in the real world engineering and operational realities. The ITF itself is a voluntary standard organisation that defines protocols for the Internet from the very, very beginning, and we have developed thousands of standards for nearly 40 years now. These standards allow how computers and networks to interact with each other.
This is how any device and any service can simply connect to the Internet and we get all of the benefits for it. We are doing it right now by sharing audio and video over the Internet using those core standards right now.
ITF is a bottom up open, diverse, and transparent organisation. We bring together people from across the Internet ecosystems. We have vendors, operators, civil society, Governments, and many more who all come together with a single vision that we need to develop the best technical standards and enable innovations for all.
The technical community which includes ITF, Internet Society, iCANN Canada, W3C, the various regional original registries, the IIRIs, the TLDs, domains and many more, we all have a common championing for open, transparent, inclusive, diverse participation and it's so good to see that the IGF has the same set of values and we have to work together to make sure that we continue to uphold them and defend them as we face challenges.
Having joined past IGF remotely and I have attended the regional and the national forums in forum, the APrIGF and India IGF in my case. This is my first in person global IGF, and I am so glad to make it on site. The most fun thing was, of course, the music night.
And it kind of give me the impression that IGF is about its community. And I'm so glad to be a part of it. Being here in person also clearly gives an idea that this is such an important forum for not just communication, but real collaboration, for us to find clear pathways, for us in technical community to be part of discussions in policy and similarly policy discussions coming in in technical spaces.
IGF is a very unique space. Here I get to brush shoulders with diplomats, regulators, digital right advocates, technical experts, Private Sector leaders, civil society, Academia, everybody engaging outside of their silos and trying to understand each other's perspective.
But we all share a common commitment to the Internet and its future. We all believe in its potential, we recognize that it's governance will continue to evolve, and we need to be all engaged in the process until the Internet reaches everyone everywhere.
This is why it would be of tremendous value if this forum gets a permanent mandate. Thank you.
(Applause).
>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: Thank you so much, Dhruv. Now, I would like to welcome a youth representative of digital inclusion practitioner with the Africa digital inclusion alliance, please join me in giving a very warm welcome to Jacqueline Jijide.
>> JACQUELINE JIJIDE: Good afternoon, distinct guests, fellow youth and champions of the digital world. My name is Jacqueline Jijide from Malawi, and I'm honored to speak before you today at the closing ceremony of my first ever global IGF. I'm here because I believe in the power and promise of this forum. A space made to welcome diverse voices, especially youth.
But this moment remains us that access and inclusion remain far from equal. Let me share my story. Because Malawi does not process Visas I had to travel 1800 miles to Pretoria South Africa. My journey took four days including a breakdown on the way. I arrived in Pretoria with soaring legs, exhausted and determined, determined to be here, determined to be heard. I'm not alone. A young man from Côte d'Ivoire, Isaac, it to travel to Ghana to apply for the visa. It was only granted after the IGF had already begun. He boarded a flight hoping to join us midway, but he arrived today.
Why do I share this? The IGF is one of the few spaces where stakeholders regardless of geography are meant to have a seat at the table. If participants from the Global South must overcome barriers to attend this, then it's a challenge. Within this bureaucratic barriers, I wish to recognize the support from the host country, Norway, and their Minister of Foreign Affairs for the great support provided during the Visa process.
I come here with a fire in my heart to fight for digital equity. I stand for millions of young people in Malawi and across Africa who is still left behind, still disconnected, still waiting to be seen and heard in the digital world. I met the Internet for the first time at university and that later introduction changed my life.
It gave me purpose to become a voice and a bridge for others. Today, I proudly serve as a digital inclusion practitioner and trainer having mentored 10,000 young learners across Africa and I'm an active member of Malawi IGF, and Ambassador on Internet Governance, the 2025 wisest champion. Shaping youth led Internet Governance advocacy across Africa. My work focuses on ensuring that youth especially in rural communities gain access and confidence to use the Internet safely and meaningfully.
I support 16 Government primary schools helping young learners develop digital literacy, explore online learning. Imagine futures where the Internet becomes a tool for empowerment, not exclusion.
Being here at IGF 2025 under the theme Building Digital Governance Together is a powerful reminder that grassroots work miracles. This platform has opened doors, strengthened networks and amplified voices like me and the voices of more youth who deserve to be supported and seen.
I'm deeply grateful to the UN IGF financial support that made it possible for me and youth delegates to be here. My heartfelt thanks goes to Malawi my member and to sell lean, and Victor of African digital inclusion alliance, all of who have helped me into the advocate I am today.
As I conclude, let me also quote from Myles Munroe who once said the greatest tragedy in life is not death, but a life without purpose. I believe every young person deserves to discover their purpose, and a safe, open and inclusive Internet can help them to do just that. So today I speak not just for myself, but for every young person who deems of being connected, included and empowered. Let us keep building digital governance together and let us make sure no one is left behind. Thank you all for listening.
(Applause).
>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: Jacqueline, for so powerfully reminding us as the Internet as a tool for empowerment and importantly as a reminder and linked to the goals of leaving no one behind.
Next we have the Chairman of the telecom authority in India who is going to be delivering a presentation a closing remark, please join me in giving a warm welcome to Mr. Anil Lahoti.
>> ANIL KUMAR LAHOTI: Good afternoon Ministers, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I'm not giving a presentation, I'm just sharing my thoughts. It is the first time that telecom regulatory authority of India has been invited to participate in the IGF. Thanks to this invitation and having come here in this beautiful City of Lillestrøm, we find that IGF is a very good forum where the technical community, the civil society, the industry, Government, regulators, and the international bodies all come together to discuss and debate the issues in the growth of the sector and the challenges being faced in its operation.
The forum provides a 360‑degree view on the subjects discussed from the point of view of almost all of the stakeholders involved or affected by the course that the policy or the development in the sector may take.
How important is it for a regulator from India to participate in this forum? India is home to 918 million Internet subscribers, second largest in the world.
The total traffic on Internet is of the order of 35,000 petabytes her month, which is rapidly growing.
It shows the aspirational and progressive citizen of the countries who are increasingly using the Internet for their day‑to‑day lives.
Today over 98% of India's population is covered by 4G mobile coverage, and many population is also like lie to get the coverage within next few months. India has also rolled out 5G network fastest in the world. India is also executing probably worlds' largest program of fiber connectivity to the villages called partnet.
Under this program, $5 billion have already been invested connecting over 214,000 cluster of villages. In the phase 3 of this program almost $16 billion has been planned to be invested with the objective of connecting remaining 50,000 villages and providing green connectivity to build redundancy in the fiber connectivity.
And also to eventually connect each of the more than 600,000 villages in the country with fiber. The high usage of Internet in India is significantly enabled by one of the lowest costs of data in the world, which is 0.11U.S. dollars per gigabyte.
In this expansion and penetration of Internet in the country, TRAI or TRAI has played a key role over the last 28 years or so. It follows multistakeholder consultative process in formulation of its policy recommendations and regulations.
This robust multistakeholder consultative process has enabled Trai to lay down policies and regulations that equitably take care of concerns of different stakeholders in the value chain while protecting the interest of the consumers as well as the industry.
We find IGF provides a right and very good platform to share best practices, exchange ideas, discuss solutions to emerging challenges, and debate, evaluate pros and cons of multiple viewpoints with multiple stakeholders from multiple countries across the world.
A wide range of issues have been discussed in multiple parallel sessions during this week which include issues related to access, Artificial Intelligence, privacy, emerging technology, digital public infrastructure, Human Rights, equality, safety, and security to name a few.
In such forums we can certainly learn from each other and to cite a few examples, India's story of digital public infrastructure unified payment interface, direct benefit transfer and the unique ID linked with mobile number and bank accounts are some things which many countries are already studying to address similar challenges being faced by them.
India executes over 640 million digital payment transactions per day which accounts for nearly half of the world's total number of digital financial transactions by number.
In the health sector, India has successfully implemented monitoring of complete vaccination program for each individual right from the start using Internet technology. Open network digital commerce is enabling democratization of E‑commerce with over 770,000 merchants already on board. These are just a few examples which can be shared by India with others while in this process learning from others.
For the future, again, to name a few, India is already working on its AI mission, which will enable home grown AI trained on local data. It has enacted a comprehensive modern digital Personal Data Protection Act to address privacy concerned.
As we prepare for the future, this forum provides opportunity to learn from other countries and stakeholders on challenges which remain unresolved or are arising afresh. And the multiple dimensions that need to be addressed.
I take this opportunity to thank UNDESA, and the Government of Norway to enable TRAI to participate in this very useful and productive event and for making the excellent arrangements for the forum dialogue. I also thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my views in this Closing Ceremony. Thank you very much.
(Applause).
>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: Thank you for your contribution and for your kind message as part of the closing remarks. I would like to welcome now justice Vice President of the court of Cassation of Egypt.
>> ADEL MAGED: Before I begin, allow me to express some feelings as a matter of fact. I really appreciate my colleague who preceded me in this podium because each one of them has spoken from his heart or her heart.
Ms. Maria Ressa, you know, I told you I remembered how many times I watched you on CNN, and I have, I know how did you suffer in your road to achieve justice for the press, how you suffered in your road to achieve freedom of expression, and I think you need another.
(Applause).
Let me also pass my gratitude to my sincere colleague and remarkable colleagues as IGF Secretariat who facilitated my participation in this distinguished international forum, particularly in the judicial engagement session. And this is what I am going to address.
It has been a truly enriching experience to hear from a wide range of stakeholders, especially those working at the forefront of the digital field, and to exchange perspectives on the legal frameworks needed to guide and regulate their work.
These discussions reveal a shared understanding in the digital age responsibilities and obligations do not rest solely on good governance. They also require justice and justice can only flourish where the rule of law prevails.
Throughout the forum, I participated in several sessions that addressed with colleagues from diverse background. The most effective modalities to combat misinformation, disinformation, cybercrimes, especially exploitation of children and hate speech.
There was a broad consensus that holding perpetrators accountable required well-crafted legislation implemented by judges, equipped with sufficient technological expertise. I firmly believe that the legal dimension and in particular the active engagement of the judiciary can meaningfully advance the overreaching goals of the IGF.
I, therefore, respectfully propose that the judiciary track which has already emerged as a promising and necessary component of the forum be expanded in both scope and depth in future editions. Judicial engagement should not remain peripheral, rather it must become a core pillar of the IGF deliberations promoting dialogue, capacity building, and the international cooperation.
A judiciary that is informed and empowered and actively engaged is essential to safeguarding fundamental freedoms in the age of algorithms.
Allow me to conclude by referring to a national initiative launched by His Excellency Abdel Fattah el‑Sisi in September 2004 titled, and I'm stretching it, putting emphasis on this, titled A New Beginning for Building the Egyptian Human. We need in this age new beginning to build every person, to build their capacities, the awareness of all people around the world.
The initiatives seeks to promote human development across all of the sectors in the Egyptian society. I believe that raising public awareness about the benefits and risks associated with digital technologies including Artificial Intelligence is an integral part of this vision. In my view, awareness is a cornerstone of human development in the AI era. Those bad actors who seek to undermine and divide communities often do not need physical weapons. They only need to target and manipulate people's awareness.
We still have a long road ahead, but the spirit of cooperation and shared commitment I witnessed throughout the forum gives me hope that digital technologies can be harnessed to serve the common good. Anchored in the principles of good governance and above all the rule of law.
Thank you all. Thank you.
(Applause).
>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: Thank you, justice, thank you so much for your contributions and thank you to of our speakers who have contributed the closing remarks for powerful messages, insights and calls to action. Now, as we move to the closing ceremony of the IGF 2025 I would like to hand over the floor and the word to host country Norway, join me in giving a warm welcome to the Minister of International development of Norway, Mr. Aukrust.
>> ASMUND AUKRUST: Excellencies, colleagues, dear delegates, an incredible week at the IGF at Lillestrøm has come to an end. And it's my big pleasure on behalf of the Norwegian Government and myself to thank all of you who have made this week possible. Over the past few days, there has been High‑Level Panels, deep dive workshops, and lively discussions.
We have covered everything from Internet Governance and cybersecurity to AI and the right of children and youth online. There has been a level of engagement and quality of this contribution has been so impressive.
We have had the privilege of hearing voices from all sectors, from all regions, and from all generations united by one common goal, breaking down silos and Building Digital Governance Together. Because we are here because we know that only working together we can ensure a digital future that remains open, safe, and sustainable.
What we want for the physical world is also what we want for the digital world, a world with the terms of respect, inclusion, and Human Rights for everyone. We are fighting inequalities. We must ensure digital inclusion. Investing in digital public goods is an important means to that end.
And I as a Minister for the international development will do my part in contributing to narrowing the digital divide between wealthy and poorer countries and between different groups in Developing Countries. I am, therefore, very pleased that there has been so high level participants from the Global South in this year's forum.
And I completely agree with the voices we heard from Jacqueline from Malawi earlier on in this session that there is so important with voices from the south, from the Global South on the table in this extremely important discussions.
And especially for the youth. So I would like to thank all of the youth and children's voices in this, at this, at IGF.
They have been so important in raising so many important questions, because we have as a goal to give all of the children safe and inclusive digital services. Therefore it's so important to also listening to the youth, not because they are the future, but because they are so important here and now.
I would like in the end to thank the UN for entrusting Norway in the opportunity to host this important gathering. Let me extend my gratitude to the IGF Secretariat, and the UNDESA for their work and very close collaboration we all had within the Norwegian Government. Let me also from the Government thank the whole Norwegian team, across ministries, agencies, and Private Sector who has made this forum come together in record time.
Looking ahead, I wish all of you the best, looking ahead, I wish all of you the best as discussion continues toward the World Summit on Information Society plus 20. This is a defining year for global Internet Governance. And the reflection from this week will no doubt shape the road to New York in December.
Lastly, to all of you who has joined us this past week in person and online, I want to give my sincere thanks. Thanks to all that have contributed to workshops, panels, in the village, in the hallway discussions, and also what I heard on the dancing music night.
And thanks also to everyone who helps to organize this important event and carry out this unforgettable week including the partner the event Bureau. The.
My last word is to again thank you all for coming to Norway and to Lillestrøm. I wish you all a safe travel back home. And we look forward to continuing the important conversation that we had here in Lillestrøm and in Norway. Because let's continue to work together to a better digital future for all. Thank you.
(Applause).
>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: Thank you Minister. We now welcome Li Junhua, United Nations Under Secretary‑General for Economic and Social Affairs to the stage. The floor is yours.
>> LI JUNHUA: Good afternoon, everyone, Excellencies, distinguished participants. As we conclude 20th meeting of the Internet Governance Forum I extend my heartfelt congratulations to all of you. On behalf of the United Nations I offer my profound gratitude to our host, the Government of Norway, and the team for your warm hospitality and leadership. By welcoming all of us to Lillestrøm, you marked a historical milestone, the 20th anniversary of the IGF. And first ever in Scandinavia.
What makes this a truly remarkable is that you delivered this entire process in under six months. A feat that no IGF host has ever faced before. Your exceptional dedication has set a powerful example of commitment to inclusive dialogue and multistakeholder cooperation.
Over the past several days, under the theme Building Digital Governance Together, over 6,000 participants connected online in addition to the 3,344 onsite delegates engaged in over 262 sessions. Tackling today's most pressing digital challenges and opportunities.
The collaborative spirit of the IGF was clearly amplified and augmented here in Lillestrøm over the past several days. The messages emerging from this forum are clear and bold, reflecting our shared aspirations and commitments.
First, the WSIS+20 review is our pivotal opportunity to shape a more inclusive, equitable and sustainable digital future. We must seize it. Second, data governance rooted in Human Rights is essential for AI leading to both innovation and fundamental freedoms, we must uphold it.
Third, ensuring safety and secure deployment of digital technologies is a shared responsibility for the global multistakeholder community. We must deliver it.
I remind all of you to consult the IGF messages from Norway for further calls to action. Indeed the WSIS+20 is the momentum to reflect on how far we have come since the Geneva and Tunis, and more importantly to envision digital governance beyond 2025.
As we look toward the UN General Assembly review of the IGF mandate in December, we have a critical opportunity to reaffirm and reenergize the IGF's role as a global home for inclusive dialogue and digital policies.
I appeal you, urge all of you to remain proactively engaged here and beyond Lillestrøm. The future of the IGF depends on your leadership, your energy, and your commitment. Let us carry the momentum from Lillestrøm forward to ensure a successful outcome for the WSIS+20 review, one that secures an open, safe, and inclusive digital future for all.
To everyone who participated online or on site, thank you for your visions and contributions. You made this year's IGF a resounding success. I look forward to continued cooperation in the months and years ahead. For those returning to your home, safe journey to all of you. To our host country, to our host team, thank you so much tusen takk.
>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: Thank you, Mr. Li Junhua. United Nations Secretary‑General for Economic and Social Affairs for those good wishes for those of you who have travels far and wide, of course, wonderful and pleasant safe travel back, but before we get there, we have some wonderful entertainment for you also, and also to thank you Minister, a big thank you to the organising teams who make everything happen behind the scenes.
The IGF team 2025 hosted by Norway, proudly, beautiful Norway. It's been an honour serving as your emcee and moderator this week on by half of Norway so thank you so much and thank you to you, the audience. Giving yourselves a warm round of applause, thank you to you, the audience for being engaged and engaging, for the questions you have asked, also for the online audience, so wonderful to have you in the house and watching and engaging. Also through your questions and contributions online we appreciated to make this a meaningful conversation and dialogue with actionable takeaways to continue the work.
We hope you have had enriching experiences here, made great connects that will take the work forward and been moved to action by what you have seen and heard. And also received the tools that you need for the journey.
We are reminded also of the importance of the current generation of experts and leaders working with and for the next generation of experts and leaders working towards and for a digital sustainable future. So in that spirit, let us close the meeting with a cultural performance the Nordic African live band from the opening is back, and this time with 20 young hip‑hop dancers from substance crew Oslo prepared by Norway. We invite you to enjoy the music and energy. Before we get there, here are highlights from the week. Thank you so much!
