Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of THISDAY
By Collins Edomaruse
Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of THISDAY, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, has been invited along with global media, technology, internet and digital leaders to a forum of the Group of Eight nations, tagged “The Internet: Accelerating Growth”, scheduled to hold in Paris, France, from May 24 to 25, 2011.
The initiative, a brainchild of Monsieur Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France and the current President of the Group of Eight – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – will place the Internet and the digital ecosystem on the agenda of the G8 Summit.
According to the letter of invitation sent to Obaigbena by Maurice Lévy, Chairman of the e-G8 Forum and Chairman/ CEO of Publicis Group, “This will mark the very first time that information technology formally takes a place on the agenda of a summit of heads of state – a recognition of how critically important these sectors are to sustaining and accelerating global economic growth.
“In order to provide G8 political leaders with fresh ideas, President Sarkozy has asked me to coordinate the organization of the e-G8 Forum to take place in Paris on May 24 and 25. This will be a unique gathering of the world’s top Internet and digital leaders, not only from across the G8 nations, but further afield. Through our debates and discussions at the e-G8, we can and we must bring our reflections, ideas and experiences directly to the G8 leaders.”
Lévy said Obaigbena was being invited to the “historic event” because “it is vitally important that your voice be heard during the Forum. Only a true diversity of opinion can guarantee a good outcome.”
Discussions at the two-day Forum are expected to be a mixture of plenary sessions and in-depth workshops where a wide variety of themes will be addressed, including:
• The Internet as key driver for economic growth
• The emergence of global digital citizenship
• The digital technologies of the future
• How best to promote innovation clusters
• The mobile revolution and its impact on commerce, media and advertising
• Privacy and IP protection
Sarkozy, who will deliver the opening keynote address on May 24, is convening the extraordinary invitation-only meeting of the best and the brightest technology leaders from the G8 and the rest of the world.
His wish, according to the website of G8, “is to include in the Summit agenda the possibilities opened up by the Internet and to enable the e-G8 Forum to contribute their viewpoint and reflections to the discussions of the Heads of State”.
The e-G8 Forum will precede the G8 Heads of State and Government Summit in Deauville on May 26-27.
The stakeholders in the digital economy are free to choose their topics, agenda, content and conclusions which will be submitted to the discussion of the Heads of State.
The forum will discuss the reach and impact of the Internet, fast-evolving technology and the roll-out of broadband across the world have been huge contributors to economic growth, job creation, education and empowerment in the last decade - and this digital ecosystem will be critically important in accelerating global growth in coming years, the organisers said.
Participation is strictly by personal invitation only, as the e-G8 Forum’s explicit goal is to gather leading global players of the digital ecosystem.
This high-level community includes CEOs, technologists, entrepreneurs, and industry experts.
The forum will include discussions on economic growth, social issues such as human rights, intellectual property protection and privacy, and the Internet of the future.
The organisers said ideas from the e-G8 Forum would be presented at the G8 Summit, for the first time giving a voice to leading companies investing in technology and the future of the Internet.