The Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) is pleased to invite you to join its on-line Caribbean Internet Governance Forum (CIGF) which has been established to engage stakeholders in the development of appropriate policies and structures for Internet governance (IG) in the Caribbean. The CTU's work in this regard is being undertaken at the request of the CARICOM Secretariat which has lead responsibility for the coordination of policy matters related to information and communications technology (ICT) in the region.

This on-line CIGF facilitates the CTU's multi-stakeholder approach to the development of regional IG policy, drawing on the expertise and experiences of policy makers, regulators, service providers, content providers, consumer groups, academia, professionals, end users and other Internet interest groups in the region e.g. the Caribbean Internet Forum (CIF), the Caribbean ICT Virtual Community (CIVIC), CARICOM's Regional ICT Steering Committee et al to:

* Share knowledge and develop expertise in IG in the Caribbean
* Identify and review key IG focus areas and resource priorities for the Caribbean
* Develop regional consensus and formulate Caribbean positions on IG issues to influence international IG developments
* Promote efficient and effective local administration of Caribbean IG resources
* Develop an appropriate framework for ongoing regional coordination of IG to promote development and greater use of the Internet in the Caribbean.
* Initiate and implement IG and Internet development projects for the Caribbean.

This on-line CIGF is a convenient vehicle for collaboration on the selected IG focus issues and, in particular, for collating comments on and facilitating further development of the draft Caribbean IG policy framework posted thereon. This document itself contains background information on recent IG policy development efforts in the region as well as statements of proposed vision, mission and specific policy initiatives towards developing a Caribbean information society. The forum also provides access to relevant reference materials to better inform contributors' commentaries.

Internet Governance is basically the control and operation of the Internet. It is the way in which governments and companies govern the infrastructure (cables, computers, etc.) of the Internet since no one person / entity owns it. The Internet Corporation for Assigning Names and Numbers (ICANN) plays a very important role in governing the Internet by providing domain names.

According to the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) in its report in July 2005, "Internet governance is the development and application by Governments, the private sector and civil society, in their respective roles, of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programmes that shape the evolution and use of the Internet."