Welcome Ceremony ICANN Meeting San Juan, Puerto Rico 25 June 2007 >>VINT CERF: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Puerto Rico meeting of ICANN this June 25th, 2007. My name is Vint Cerf. I'm chairman of the board of ICANN. And it's my pleasure to welcome you all to this meeting. I have on the stage with me some very distinguished visitors who will be addressing you momentarily. So I will not take a whole lot of time this morning, except to observe that, as usual, we have a very full agenda for the week. I think you'll find substantial progress on many of the issues that are important to us, not the least of which is moving ahead with internationalized domain names, dealing with new gTLD policies, considering reconstruction of the -- or the evaluation of the operation of the GNSO, the signing of the final regional at-large organization for North America. We have a whole series of other things which are vital to Internet's well-being. And I want to thank each and every one of you for the time and energy that you're putting into these particular meetings, because without you, our bottom-up process would not function. I'm going to introduce each of the speakers in turn just prior to their speaking. And I'd like to begin with Meredith Atwell Baker, who is sitting to my right. She is the deputy assistant secretary for communications and information in the national telecommunications and information administration. And I'm sure everyone in this room is aware that ICANN has a very direct relationship with NTIA since we operate under a joint project agreement with the NTIA. And so her presence here is important to us in many respects, but perhaps most important is her opportunity to meet with you to tell you more about what is on her mind. She has a really interesting background, and we don't have time to go into all of it. But she joined NTIA in January of 2004 as a senior advisor, but also served on detail to the White House on science and technology policy. Before joining NTIA, she was vice president of Williams Mullen Strategies, where she focused on telecommunications, intellectual property, and international trade issues. She was senior counsel to Covad Communications from June 2000 to April 2002, and director of Congressional affairs at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association from January 1998 to June of 2000. So she has a substantial background in the telecommunications world, specifically, in telecommunications policy. And so I think it's not only fitting, but also very relevant to hear from her this morning. So, Meredith, thank you so much for joining us this morning. And I turn the stage over to you. [ Applause ] >>MEREDITH ATWELL: Thanks, Vint. And good morning. Very good morning and welcome to Puerto Rico and what I understand is ICANN's 29th meeting. I want to thank the host, Gauss Research Laboratory, the manager of .PR. You are doing a terrific job. This is a lovely place and a lovely meeting. And thank you very much. I also want to thank all the other sponsors for having us here. At the outset, I would like to reiterate the United States' strong support for ICANN as the technical manager of the Internet DNS and related technical operations. We continue to support the private sector leadership and the innovation and investment that has characterized the development and expansion of the Internet around the globe. Preserving the stability and security of the DNS is imperative so that this phenomenal growth can continue. And ICANN's focus on the DNS security matters are critical to this effort. The ICANN model, conceived to allow full participation by all interested stakeholders in decisions and policymaking, albeit not easy, is the most effective approach to the coordination of these technical functions. As you look at the agenda for this meeting, as Vint just outlined, you see the importance of these issues in this process being followed. These agenda items are illustrative of the various interests of the broad constituencies represented in the room today. Continued participation by a large and diverse group of stakeholders is key to ICANN's success. The exchange and interaction is valuable and your participation here is appreciated. It takes time, money, and a strong interest in the future of the Internet to participate in the evolution of ICT policies. Making it easier to interact with the broadest possible community is on the list of improvements that we hope to see. I would also like to note, in particular, the United States' strong support for the invaluable contributions made by the GAC in developing consensus principles related to WHOIS services and the introduction of new generic top-level domains. This is a very important year for the ICANN community. Two board seats are being filled at this meeting. I'm sure that everyone joins me in congratulating Raimundo Beca and Bruce Tonkin and in expressing sincere appreciation to Alejandro Pisanty for his contributions over the many years. [ Applause ] >>MEREDITH ATWELL: And Vint. I'd like to extent a heartfelt expression of appreciation for the critical role you have played in ICANN's growth and development. In October, we will witness a major transition and prepare for the next generation. We are grateful to you for significant contributions as the ICANN chairman of the board. [ Applause ] >>MEREDITH ATWELL: It seems appropriate, then, to take a look at the future and to ICANN's continued development. One issue of critical importance to all of us is the adoption and implementation of accountability and transparency management operating principles. The ICANN community has confirmed these key concepts as an important benchmark in ICANN's evolution. Over 700 comments submitted to the Department of Commerce last summer highlighted the need to further institutionalize transparency and accountability throughout ICANN. ICANN should be commended for recognizing the importance of improving its transparency and accountability. ICANN still has a long way to go, however, to ensure and institutionalize these principles in its processes and procedures. We can all agree that effective accountability and transparency mechanisms are critical to an organization's credibility and sustainability. They create a strong foundation of trust that is fundamental to future growth. It is equally clear that such mechanisms must be developed and endorsed by the ICANN community as a whole through an inclusive and consultative process. As many in the community have noted, such an undertaking requires sufficient time for interested stakeholders to respond to proposals ICANN posts and to engage in a dialogue regarding the perspectives shared. The end result will be more accurately -- more accurately reflect shared values and views. So what does transparency mean? Commenters in our proceeding say that it is obvious, easily detected, and readily understood. While ICANN has made significant progress in terms of making information readily available, challenges remain in presenting information in a timely, consistent, and coherent fashion that allows stakeholders to make thoughtful contributions. What people want is straightforward. What issues are pending before ICANN, how can interested stakeholders contribute, when will a decision be made, what are contributing factors to the decision, and can an decision be contested, and if so, how. Turning to accountability, the commenters in our proceedings say that this means answerable, responsible, and trustworthy. These are fairly fundamental concepts that have been adopted by governments, organizations, and businesses around the world and should be factored into the process for developing ICANN's accountability and transparency principles. Accountability includes but is not limited to procedures that ensure an organization's roles, responsibilities, and performance meet the needs of the constituency it serves. It can be measured and improved. What accountability most certainly is not is immunity. And an organization must be responsible for its actions and decisions. ICANN's current efforts are a work in progress and success will hinge on the full support, participation, and endorsement of the ICANN community. The community will benefit from collaboration to strengthen ICANN and allow for its continued development. I look forward to the discussions with many of you this week on this topic. Thank you. [ Applause ] >>VINT CERF: Thank you very much, Meredith. That was terse and to the point, and much appreciated. Our next speaker is Brad Weiner, who is the dean of the faculty of natural sciences at the University of Puerto Rico. But I have a different reason for believing his presence here is important to us, not to in any way reduce the importance of the authority of an academic position. However, let me tell you a little bit about Professor Weiner's background. He completed his postdoctoral research in 1988 and accepted a position as assistant professor at the department of chemistry at the University of Puerto Rico, but in 1991, he became an associate professor and accepted the position of director of the Puerto Rico laser and spectroscopy facility. But more important and the reason I value his presence here particularly, is that he became codirector of an unpronounceable acronym, PR-EPSCOR, which stands for Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Technology, in 1992. Now, I'm assuming that the stimulus was not based on lasers aimed at various parts of people's anatomy. So this must have been a more intellectual enterprise than that. But I'm hoping that we'll hear a little bit about stimulation of competitive technology development in Puerto Rico and elsewhere this morning. And with no further ado, let me turn the stage over to Dr. Weiner. [ Applause ] >>BRAD WEINER: Thank you very much for that kind introduction. As the first person on the agenda who actually lives on this island, let me extend a very special welcome to all of you and thank you very, very much for coming. I'm here representing the University of Puerto Rico. And let me first say that the president of the University of Puerto Rico, Antonio Garcia Padilla, and the chancellor of the campus here where the .PR has been housed for many, many years are very sorry they were unable to be here with you this morning but send their best wishes and are very supportive of this meeting. It is an honor for us to be hosting this ICANN meeting. International meetings of this sort are the kind of things we want to stimulate and very stimulating to not only Puerto Rico but the Caribbean region in general. I see our climate control functions are working pretty well. We'll try to engineer a little rain later this afternoon so you get a little work done. Anyway, consistent with our goals in the University of Puerto Rico and in Puerto Rico, we are trying very hard and part of these projects I've been working on for many years, as Vint alluded to, have been to move towards the cutting edge of the knowledge economy and towards technological excellence in general. I myself, through the university, have been very, very involved in the advancement of research and development, particularly in Puerto Rico, obviously, for academic reasons, as a mechanism for the development of the University of Puerto Rico itself, but also in large part as a driver of the economy. And we have representation up here from the economic development office of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and I think you'll see that as well. As a result of my interactions with -- in trying to develop research and development, I have personally been -- I have been collaborating with the Gauss Research Lab for over 15 years now, largely in research projects, but also in the development of .PR, development of Internet capacity here on the island. I was actually even a coprincipal investigator on the Internet II project here in Puerto Rico. So it's something that's very close to me, very close to my heart. And I think this project is wonderful, and it has been great for Puerto Rico as we've developed research and development that we've also developed our communication capacity as well. Actually, not surprisingly, the development of research and development and the development of the Internet here have sort of followed very similar growth trajectories. What is surprising for us is that the rate that the .PR has grown, particularly recently, and is now -- has been much faster, much quicker. And .PR is actually now a player on the island, in the region. And we even see this on the world stage as evidenced by here. At the local level, the Gauss Research Laboratory has now moved to becoming a not-for-profit corporation, still with strong linkages to the university, and is absolutely dedicated to communication and to the Internet in Puerto Rico. At the regional level, UPR is now beginning to collaborate with .PR in trying to bring the first Internet exchange here in the Caribbean region. And at the world level, we're just thrilled that we're able to host such activities as this and be able to beat our chests a little bit and show off a little bit to the world community what we're developing here in Puerto Rico. So I personally am very excited. I speak for the university administration as well that they are very excited with our ability to host this meeting. And, again, I welcome you to Puerto Rico. And have a very productive meeting. Thank you. [ Applause ] >>VINT CERF: Thank you very, very much. I have the feeling that the statistics that we were hearing from the governor last week about the growth of Internet access in Puerto Rico, which, if I remember correctly, touches 35% of the population, may very well be indication of a kind of tipping effect, which penetration of the Internet tends to exhibit once you get past a certain point, there is an acceleration. Well, our next speaker is Boris Jaskille. And he is executive director of the Puerto Rico industrial development company. And surely that is very much in line with our interests here in spreading Internet and making it work well. He has been working in the public service sector since March of 2001 in several areas related to economic activity here in Puerto Rico, from January of 2004, he's been serving the Puerto Rico industrial development company, PRIDCO, first as the special aid to the former director and in 2005, the former secretary of economic development and commerce, and executive director of PRIDCO promoted Jaskille as the chief promotions officer. In this position, he has led the promotional reorganization of PRIDCO. As the first CPO to be appointed in such a position, he has led all the efforts to promote new business development and to stimulate new expansion projects in the life sciences and information and technology industries, among others. So one thing I would like to draw to your attention to is that Puerto Rico is a major pharmacological enterprise in some sense. A huge amount of development of medical -- medications takes place here on the island. So a combination of information technology and pharmacological research and development could be a very powerful economic engine. So we certainly welcome Boris to this meeting and thank him for taking time to address us this morning. And I turn this table over to you now. >>BORIS JASKILLE: Thank you very much. Thank you very much. It is a great pleasure to welcome you to Puerto Rico, to inaugurate this 29th ICANN public meeting. My thanks to Dr. Oscar MORENO and others for bringing this event here. With many guests from over 90 countries, this is a testament to the globalized technology driven society that this generation has the privilege of building. Among our guests, I want in particular to recognize the presence of Vint Cerf, a man whose inventions have revolutionized all of our lives; Paul Twomey, president and CEO of ICANN; and Meredith Atwell Baker, of the United States Department of Commerce. The work ICANN performs is essential for each country in the world to appropriate Internet technologies within their own cultures. As such, there is no better place to meet than in Puerto Rico, a location that is at the same time Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States. We hope that our unique cultural context will not only serve as an entertaining backdrop to the proceedings, but also contribute to your understanding of how the technologies being developed under your auspices are being adapted, adopted, remixed and released with a decidedly Latin flavor. I realize that this public meeting is but a milestone in a year-long continuity of phone calls, e-mails, conference calls, and blog postings. But it is only when we add the human element of personal networking that we can bring meaning and cohesion to the electronic networking. Again, there is no better place to hold this public meeting than in the Caribe Hilton, the luxury hotel that literally launched Puerto Rico's tourism industry. Take the time while you're here or come back and visit us again to experience our diversity of delights beyond the shore at our historic Old San Juan and our lush El Yunque rainforest, dipping in our bioluminescent bays, exploring the caves of the Camuy underground river, or why not touring the Bacardi plant. After all, we are the rum capital of the world. But Puerto Rico is more than culture and fun. I am sure your laptops have already logged into the nearest Wi-Fi hot spot courtesy of our partners at Centennial communications. Puerto Rico has the most extensive telecommunications infrastructure in the Caribbean, with five wireless communications providers, multiple cable companies offering TriplePlay, and three fiberoptic networks. You have already probably passed through our international airport, which handles over 10 million passengers per year, and we are investing a quarter million dollars -- quarter billion, I should say -- quarter billion dollars more to make it the most advanced in the region. When this world-class infrastructure is coupled with Puerto Rico's financial services, expertise, and deep talent pool, it should be no surprise that you are successfully building a knowledge economy right in a tropical paradise. Five of the world's best biotechnology companies, five of the world's best aerospace companies, and five of the world's best information technology companies already exporting from Puerto Rico, say that this is already a reality. The government of Puerto Rico recognizes the importance of .PR precisely in this knowledge economy context. Housed at the Gauss Research Laboratory, they had the vision back in 1999 to request the management of this ccTLD. They were instrumental in standing up other ccTLDs in the Caribbean and had the foresight to invite us to make you aware of Puerto Rico's business climate. Now we are collaborating once more in the signing an Internet exchange, not just for the benefit of Puerto Rico, but also for the dozens of island states in the Caribbean region. This brings me back to the essential work of ICANN. Puerto Rico looks like an island, but it is not any more, thanks to the global Internet. Every time ICANN helps facilitate global commerce through stronger trademark protections and security features, you are enabling new avenues for economic development from portland to Portugal, from New York to New Zealand. You are enabling Puerto Rico to protect its knowledge assets and competitive advantages all over the world. Once again, it is an honor and a privilege to host this public meeting, and I look forward to exchanging thoughts with you over the upcoming days. Thank you very much. [ Applause ] >>VINT CERF: It occurs to me that that statistic is pretty stunning. 10 million visitors a year. That's double the population of the Island. That must be an odd feeling to know that you have more than twice the resident population passing through every year. And I love the idea of a local Internet exchange to link everything together here as well. Our next speaker is -- almost doesn't need an introduction, considering her responsibilities. Bernadette Lewis is the secretary-general of the Secretariat of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union. There can't be any more critical function than that in an area where Islands need to be interconnected so they can stay a part of the rest of the world. She is from Trinidad and Tobago and was appointed to the position of the secretary-general of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union in August of 2003. She is the first woman to hold this position since the CTU was established in 1989. Before that, she served as the technical manager of the Caribbean Association of the National Telecommunication Organization, CANTO, an organization of Caribbean telecommunication operators. Her experience also includes work at telecommunication services of Trinidad and Tobago, Limited, the incumbent operator, at the functional and managerial levels. But we welcome her here today particularly in her role in the Secretariat of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union and look forward to her remark. Thank you very much for joining us. >>BERNADETTE LEWIS: Thank you, Chair. [ Applause ] >>BERNADETTE LEWIS: Distinguished members of the head table and members of the global Internet community, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union I have to thank ICANN and the host of this meeting, Gauss research laboratory, for bringing this auspicious ICANN meeting to the Caribbean. The CTU is the organization charged with the responsibility for looking after matters of Internet governance for the Caribbean community. And we are currently working on developing a Caribbean Internet governance framework for the region. And at the end of the day, we want to ensure that the citizens of the region have access to the Internet and are able to use it for their social and economic development. We face significant challenges in that the Caribbean is an eclectic group of Island nations, continental states, democracies, European dependencies, at different stages of political and social development. And the Caribbean is characterized by great diversity and disparities. But in spite of this we are committed to creating a seamless space. And I don't know how many of you are aware of it, but on the 1st of January 2006, the Caribbean's single market and economy was launched. The single market is now in effect and the economy, the single economy would come in stream beyond 2008. So we are working towards creating a seamless Caribbean space. Many countries of the Caribbean live under the threat of destructive hurricanes, volcanic activity, the whole issue of global warming is of great concern to the Caribbean. And we recognize that the Internet presents an opportunity for mitigating some of the effects of the challenges that we face on a daily basis. And I want to draw reference or make reference to a quote by a son of our Caribbean soil, the late sir William Arthur Lewis. He is the 1979 St. Lucian Nobel laureate for economics, and he was the first person to be honored with the Nobel Prize. And he said that the fundamental cure for poverty is not money, but knowledge. And today we can expand his statement to state that information, access thereto, and the effect of application of that information are cures for many societal ills. And in this present age, the Internet is the single most comprehensive source of information. It is therefore imperative that citizens of the world and the Caribbean are able to access the Internet, apply the information they obtain from it to solve their problems, and to improve the quality of their lives. So we welcome, with the host, Gauss Research Laboratories, the global community of ICANN to Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. And we are committed to working with ICANN and the ICANN community on the issues relating to shaping the evolution of the Internet and the means for world citizens to derive benefits from it. We recognize that the task is monumental, and the issues are diverse and complex. So we commend ICANN and its visionary, Dr. Vint Cerf, for their dedication to this phenomenal task. It's a great work, and it must be done. And we are committed to working with the ICANN community in realizing the vision for connected citizens of the world accessing the information they need to make their lives better. And with this, I end. I thank you all. [ Applause ] >>VINT CERF: Thank you very much. I hope, sincerely, that the single-market effort will derive major benefits for this region. Cooperation is almost always likely to yield benefits well beyond anything that an individual country is able to accomplish. So I encourage you and your colleagues very strongly. The last speaker for this morning's opening ceremony is Paul Twomey, the CEO and president of ICANN, who probably needs little introduction beyond that, except to say that his connection with ICANN goes all the way back to pre-1998 days when it was only a concept. And he served in many roles, but today he serves as its CEO. So Paul, I turn the tables over to you, and we look forward to your remarks. >>PAUL TWOMEY: Thank you, Vint. You make ICANN sound like a life sentence. [ Laughter ] >>PAUL TWOMEY: It falls to me to say, to thank our speakers this morning and perhaps to draw on a few of their points to then direct us towards the agenda that faces us for the next week. I'd particularly like to thank Professor Weiner and Mr. Jaskille for their comments and for their support in the hosting of this meeting. We very much appreciate all the effort that's gone in from the public administration in Puerto Rico, from the university in helping this meeting take place. And it looks like it's not only a spectacular spot but a spectacular support environment. So we get the best of both worlds, which has been excellent. I would particularly like to also thank the efforts of Dr. Oscar Moreno and the team from dot pr. And because I can see Oscar in the room, I wonder if he can stand up and we can thank him for his efforts. [ Applause ] >>PAUL TWOMEY: Thank you very much, we appreciate it. Bernadette, I want to say this is not the first time you have been on a panel at an ICANN meeting. You were at our meeting in Sao Paulo. And I want to just reinforce your vision, I think, for the Caribbean and to reinforce that ICANN is also committed to working with you and your team and to help you achieve your vision of a connected Caribbean and a knowledge base that creates wealth and opportunity for its citizens. And so in our own small way, our own narrow mission, the way in which we can work with you, with the CTU, with its members, and particularly with the country code operators in that region, we're very pleased and happy to do so. Meredith, thank you very much for your comments and construction. We appreciate that very much. And thank you for the continued support of the United States government for the role of ICANN. I think you made some very interesting and important observations around accountability and transparency. I wonder if I may take those comments to help direct and launch some of the activities this week. We have spent a lot of effort and time in the last nine months as part of the board's obligations that it entered into in conjunction with the Joint Partnership Agreement in September last year in working on what we think is already a quite transparent organization but to continue that work and to try to make clearer transparency and accountability aspects of the way ICANN works. There has been a lot of activity done in the last nine months around greater speed and transparency on the communications and board decisions, the putting in place of key tools to make greater interoperability, interaction with the meetings, things like blogs, things like tools like participation sites for these meetings. Every one of the meetings we'll have this week, I think there's something like 42 meetings taking place as a subset of this week's activity, has its own online participation activity, it has its own opportunity for people to participate around the world in particular meetings themselves, not just in sort of the public sessions that we have. But this is just a first start, as you point out. And I think one of the key things going forward is for us to also keep working on sort of frameworks and principles under which ICANN will operate in terms of transparency and accountability. We have in consultation with the community already responded to a full audit review undertaken by the One World Trust, look ICANN's transparency and accountability processes. That response has been posted. It's up for consultation in terms of responding to the recommendations from that independent agency. And starting after a lot of consultation that Paul Levins and others have been undertaking for the last six months with members of the community, we have just recently posted some draft principles and frameworks for accountability and transparency, and we will start this week the process which will be a several -- a months' long process but we are just starting it with the community face-to-face at this meeting on consultation on that draft and get further feedback on the consultation we have already taken. As you point out, Meredith, the involvement of the community is essential in this process, and we're exhorting and looking forward to the community feedback on those principles and frameworks, see what the opportunities are for exploration and amendment and growth of those principles going through the northern summer, through to later this year for further consideration. So thank you for your emphasis upon that, and I would also use that as the opportunity to draw your attention to members of the community here in the room to help us and be involved in those processes this week as part of that consultation effort. As a final comment, I need to also turn to Paul, because we've made some changes to the timetable today. And he has the detail and I don't. So if I can ask him quickly to remind people of the changes that have taken place to the agenda. >>PAUL LEVINS: Thank you, Paul. Yes, just very briefly. There were some late changes to the program which have been posted on the Web site but I wanted to make sure that people were aware of them. When we finally complete the session here today, there will be a coffee break. And the public forum will start as scheduled at 10:30 but it will finish at 11:45. There will be a short break, about 15 minutes, and the workshop on protection of registrants will begin at noon here in this room, in San Geronimo and that workshop will end at 1:45. So starting at noon, ending at 1:45. The GNSO public forum on new gTLDs will begin at 2:30 in San Cristobal B which is just across the walkway here from this room, and it will end at 4:30. Then the SSAC open meeting will begin at 4:45 and run until 6:15. And then finally the ICANN public forum on GNSO improvements will start at 4:30 and run until 6:30 in this room, San Geronimo. All of those changes have been posted on the Web site so feel free to look at those. And being given some late notice. And there are some fliers at registration in hard copy, obviously, so if you want to refer to those as well. So thanks. Paul. >>PAUL TWOMEY: Thank you, Paul. Vint. >>VINT CERF: Thank you both Pauls. We will draw to a close this opening ceremony. The meeting in this room will reconvene at 10:30 and I invite you all to attend and let me ask you to thank all our speakers this morning for their participation [ Applause ] (9:45)