On December 16, the 19th United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Lightning Talk, jointly organized by CFIS and Wuhan University (WHU), was successfully convened in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, under the theme of “Internet Governance: Joining Practices and Reciprocal Unders”.
The leading offers of the Secretariat of CFIS attended the meeting and introduced CFIS’s efforts in promoting the development of the digital economy. First, CFIS organized a series of events, selected excellent cases in regard to enhancing coordinated digital and green transformation and development, and hosted the China New E-Commerce Conference and the 2024 National Digital Countryside Innovation Competition. Second, CFIS deepened its research on digital governance. For example, it prepared annual reports on the development of new e-commerce, reports on the fulfillment of social responsibility by Internet enterprises, and reports on the enhancement of digital literacy and skills of newly employed groups. Third, it has been committed to bridging the digital divide. It created job opportunities for women in the fields of digital trade, e-commerce, and livestreaming, especially for those in ethnic and rural areas. It helped children in remote mountainous regions to access education. For instance, it coordinated more than 30 companies to donate educational information technology products and services worth 10.18 million US dollars.
Representatives of organizers, experts and scholars, and enterprise representatives attended the meeting and made speeches. Attendees discussed the current challenges Internet digital governance faces in terms of digital dividends, digital protocols and parameters, digital security, as well as the international communication, international cooperation, and reciprocal understanding needed to address the challenges. Over 100 guests from government departments, civil societies, universities and research institutions, news media, and Internet enterprises participated online and offline.
The 19th IGF was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from December 15 to 19, with the theme of “Building our Multistakeholder Digital Future”. The conference had more than 300 sessions on topics such as digital governance, digital innovation, Internet infrastructure protection, artificial intelligence governance, and cybersecurity, with more than 9,000 delegates from more than 175 countries attending.