On 2 December at 10.30 starts the 6th Georgian Internet Governance Forum GeoIGF 2020. The event will take place online and will last for two days. During the forum 9 Plenary sessions will be organised addressing current challenges in the field of internet in Georgia.

The forum will be opened by Akaki Saghirashvili - Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development; Göran Marby - CEO and President of the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers); Merab Katamаdze – Commissioner of the Communications Commission; Londa Toloraia – the State Inspector; Natalia Voutova - Head of the Council of Europe Office in Georgia; Jane Coffin - Senior Vice President of Internet Society (ISOC); Chris Buckridge - Head of External Relations at RIPE NCC.

GeoIGF2020 will be attended by up to 200 participants from governmental, non-governmental, private and international organisations. The forum will have international experts as well as representatives of Georgian stakeholders in the filed of internet governance.

Topics to be discussed at GeoIGF2020 include  Gigabit society and Georgia; Freedom of expression and the internet; Artificial intelligence and personal data protection; The Child code and internet; Georgian top level domain.ge-zone challenges; Information security ecosystem of Georgia and existing challenges; Covid19 and rights of digital citizens and media literacy; Georgia and cyber readiness; COVID-19 and online learning challenge.

The Forum will host the ceremony of signature of MoU between the Communications Commission and ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers).

GeoIGF is an annual conference, which has been established in 2015 with the support of the Council of Europe. As of today the forum brings together 30 member-organisations. The forum is hosted by Internet Society Georgia (ISOC Georgia), Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia and the Communications Commission.

GeoIGF2020 is organised by Small and Medium Telecom Operators’ Association of Georgia with the support of the Council of Europe, Internet Society (ISOC), ICANN and RIPE NCC. The forum facilitates cooperatoin, coordination and dialogue among main stakeholders aimed at approximation of their respective policies in the field of internet governance.

GeoIGF2020 is an open forum free for participants. The event will be streamed online. Participants who would like to engage in Q&A should register by 1 December.