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<TITLE>Invitation: 2009 EA-IGF, 7-9 September 2009, Nairobi, Kenya</TITLE>
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<FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'><B>[reminder]: 2009 EA-IGF - <a href="http://www.eaigf.or.ke">http://www.eaigf.or.ke</a><BR>
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Dear Colleagues,<BR>
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The competitiveness of our economies is increasingly dependent on the Internet and therefore mainstreaming our region in the cyberspace is of paramount importance. The challenges to achieve the knowledge economy in our region have been identified as:<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><UL><LI><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'><B>Access to Broadband </B>(at the village, in schools, in banks, in manufacturing);
</SPAN></FONT><LI><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'><B>Cyber Security, Trust and Privacy </B>(for banks, for the government, for he individual user);
</SPAN></FONT><LI><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'><B>Policy, Legal and Regulatory Issues</B> (to make access to Internet available and affordable, to protect consumers);
</SPAN></FONT><LI><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'><B>Critical Internet Resources </B>(to ensure the stability, growth and security of the Internet);
</SPAN></FONT><LI><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'><B>Internet User and Consumer Protection</B> (to protect your online identity, to protect your personal data, to guarantee your right to communicate and to information and knowledge). <BR>
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To address these issues at the regional level <B>KICTANet,</B> <B>KENIC </B>and other participating organizations have brought together participants from the East Africa countries of Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. They will be joined by delegates from the international community including the United Kingdom (UK), Japan, the United States of America (USA) and Canada among others.<BR>
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The expected outcome of this will be a framework that ushers the region into the digital economy. The outcome will also be a negotiating platform during the fourth United Nations Internet Governance Forum <B>(UN IGF)</B> taking place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in November 2009, the African Information Society conference in Addis Ababa in January 2010 as well as set the stage for the 37th Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers <B>(ICANN)</B> meeting to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, in March 2010.<BR>
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This is to therefore invite you as key Internet stakeholder in the region to join the leaders to help formulate the strategy for the future of the Internet.<BR>
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Kindly visit the website www.eaigf.or.ke <<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U><a href="http://www.eaigf.or.ke">http://www.eaigf.or.ke</a></U></FONT>> to register for next week’s internet governance meeting: 7th - 9th September at the Jacaranda Hotel. <BR>
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Kind Regards,<BR>
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Vincent Ngundi<BR>
Administrative Manager<BR>
KENIC - The Kenya Network Information Centre<BR>
<a href="http://www.kenic.or.ke">http://www.kenic.or.ke</a><BR>
<a href="vincent@kenic.or.ke">vincent@kenic.or.ke</a><BR>
[T] +254 20 4450057/8<BR>
[C] +254 20 2398036<BR>
[M] +254 733 790073<BR>
[F] +254 20 4450087<BR>
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<I>“dot KE for Every Name in Kenya!”</I></B></SPAN></FONT>
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