Nigeria, Brazil central banks deepen cooperation - ITREALMS

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Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, has held talks with his Brazilian counterpart, Gabriel Muricca Galípolo, to strengthen economic and financial cooperation between the two countries, reports ITREALMS.

The engagement, which took place during President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s state visit to Brazil, formed part of a broader working visit by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) team to the Banco Central do Brasil.

5000 participants join opening section @ 10th Internet Governance Forum Brazil

ITRealms:

An estimated 5,000 participants, including high-level government officials, civil society leaders and internet policy experts, gather both in-person and online for a three-day 10th annual meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in João Pessoa, Brazil, reports ITRealms.

The forum slated to last till November 13 would be discussing crucial role the internet must play in the successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The tenth IGF comes at a critical time with the recent adoption of the new sustainable development agenda that underscores the importance of ICTs and the internet in development activities. The new agenda sets an ambitious goal to “significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020”. 

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the Internet promote development by enabling access to information and educational resources, health care and improving food production and distribution.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted in his address that less than two months ago, the world leaders adopted the visionary 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, thus placing the challenge now is to implement this blueprint for a better future. Information and communication technologies and the Internet can empower this global undertaking.

According to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), there are more than 7 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide, compared to only 738 million in 2000. However, while there has been some progress in bridging the digital divide, four billion people in the developing world remain unconnected. 

The Internet Governance Forum, held annually, provides an impartial and independent platform for all stakeholders, including developed and developing countries to discuss public policy issues relating to the Internet. While there is no negotiated outcome, engagement at the Forum feed into discussions in the national and regional IGFs.

 “Evolution of Internet Governance: Empowering Sustainable Development” is the overarching theme of this year’s Forum. With the adoption of the sustainable development agenda, the 10th IGF presents an opportunity to foster discussions on internet governance and identify means to increase internet connectivity for all stakeholders. 

“Information and Communications Technologies, as a powerful enabler of sustainable development, can make great contributions to the implementation of the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda,” noted Mr. Wu Hongbo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.

The sub-themes of the Forum which will be addressed in the main sessions of the Forum are: Cybersecurity and Trust; Internet Economy; Inclusiveness and Diversity; Openness; Enhancing Multi-stakeholder Cooperation; Internet and Human Rights; Critical Internet Resources and Emerging Issues.

“The IGF Platform has contributed towards efforts at national, regional and international levels to build a cyberspace that promotes peace and security, enables development and ensure human rights,” stated Mr. Lenni Montiel, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development.

This week, the IGF’s Best Practices Forums, the Dynamic Coalitions and this year’s Policy Options on Connecting the Next Billion present opportunities to discuss matters related to the future of the internet.

Policy Options for Connecting the Next Billion

The community-led ‘Policy Options for Connecting the Next Billion’ process strives to help identify obstacles, solutions and strategies to improve and increase connectivity and access for the 4 billion people who are offline.   Collaboration between governmental and non-governmental actors is key to addressing this issue. 

IGF Best Practice Forums

The outputs from IGF Best Practice Forums (BPFs) are intended to become robust resources, to serve as inputs into other pertinent forums, and to evolve and grow over time on the subjects of: Regulation and Mitigation of Unwanted Communications; Establishing and Supporting Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs); Developing Meaningful Multistakeholder Participation Mechanisms; Practices to Countering Abuse Against Women Online; Creating an Enabling Environment for IPv6 Adoption and Enabling Environments to Establish Successful IXPs.

IGF Dynamic Coalitions

This year, some of the IGF Dynamic Coalitions (DCs) will be presenting their work to the broader IGF community in a dedicated main session. Many of the DCs have undertaken and achieved significant work in their respective fields.  Broad community feedback at the IGF will help increase and strengthen IGF outputs for use of other relevant IG fora and bodies.
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Pexip expands to UK & Ireland, 3 other countries

ITRealms:

The Norway-based video conferencing software company, Pexip, has expanded reach to multiple regions United Kingdom and Ireland, Southern Europe, Brazil and Australia, reports ITRealms.

The chief executive officer and co-founder of Pexip, Simen Teigre, made this disclosure Thursday, saying the company added some staff in these markets. 

Expansions, he said, include the addition of John Harald Grønningen in Barcelona, Spain and the hiring of industry veterans Eddie Clifton for the UK & Ireland and Paulo Cardoso in Brazil. 

Also, he said, Pexip strengthened its presence in Australia through the addition of Mark Bedwani as senior sales engineer. 

"Increasing our team and expanding our capabilities are fundamental for supporting our growing customer base and partnerships across all regions. As organizations execute on strategies for improving their competitive advantage, our Infinity platform continues to grow in popularity as an enabler for efficient collaboration. It's fantastic to see such strong pick up of our platform, continuing to fuel the need for more resources to support our customers, partners and exponential growth,” Teigre said.

For the cofounder, Pexip's presence in Barcelona ensures local support for Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, and Greece is strengthening the company's support for customers and new and existing partners. 

This includes local companies such as Techno Trends — a leading visual collaboration company with offices in Barcelona and Madrid. Together, Pexip and Techno Trends have already led initiatives such as cosponsoring IDC's UC & Mobility conference held in Madrid. Pexip Southern Europe is headed by John Harald Grønningen who comes from NetCom, REC Solar, and Tandberg. 

Equally speaking, the CEO of Techno Trends, Ernest Companys, said the partnership with Pexip has rapidly grown into a major player within the unified communications marketplace. "Their Infinity solution lets workers collaborate face-to-face without leaving the familiarity of their current environment. This is important for users, enabling easy collaboration from virtually any device and client, and giving companies that competitive edge," he said.

In the UK & Ireland, Pexip welcomes industry veteran Eddie Clifton, who joins the company from strategic partner Viju Group. Based in Hurst, near London, Clifton's vast experience in the videoconferencing and collaboration industries includes strategic director positions for Cisco and Tandberg, and several years' experience in managing strategic accounts on a global level, among others.

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) +ITRealms DSA +PexipInc 
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Nigeria-Brazil trade ties: Infoplus set to boost strategies

ITRealms: 

Infoplus an international business consulting firm based in Nigeria, has emphasized the need to boost affordable Information and Communications Technology (ICT), housing, agribusiness, retail franchising as well as renewable energy ties with Brazil, reports ITRealms.

Principal consultant, Infoplus, Mr. Ndudi Osakwe made this call in a recent seminar in Lagos, noted that it was high time for the two countries to explore their similarities in promoting trade and investment."Brazil is a country that faced what Nigeria is facing currently; they have edge in key areas where Nigeria can benefit, especially in the areas of affordable housing and agribusiness. They have the kind of less sophisticated system that Nigeria can adopt easily, we therefore see that Nigerians can tap into such business relationship," Osakwe said.

He further noted that they have identified areas that Nigeria stands to benefit from Brazil, through there similarly shared financial systems, which could be harnessed to promote the nation’s economy and deal with housing and unemployment which has challenged the country.

ITRealms gathered that in response, the minister of Industry, Trade and Investment  Dr. Olusegun Aganga promised to work together to enhance their bilateral trade volume.

Daniel Nsolibe/GEE

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Breaking News: Nnenna Nwakanma to keynote @NetMundial 2014

ITRealms:

Nigerian-born Information and Communication Technology (ICT) advisor and Free and Open Source Software advocate, Ms Nnenna Nwakanma is to keynote at the forthcoming NetMundial being hosted by the government of Brazil, reports ITRealms.

Confirming this development, Nwakanma disclosed to ITRealms that she received an invitation from the chairman of the Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance 2014, tagged ‘NetMundial,’ Professor Virgílio Fernandes Almeida to keynote on behalf of the Civil Societies.

Also, ITRealms gathered that Nnenna has been slated to speak at the opening ceremony where heads of government over 23 countries have confirmed attendance including a delegation from the Nigerian government led by the Federal Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson.

Nnenna, known for her ‘Africaness,’ frankness and human rights activism is expected to address the gathering for some eight minutes.

“I have replied to say ‘I will be speaking from the civil society perspective, which is my stakeholder group,’" she affirmed to ITRealms.

She expressed optimism this will be pulled off well.

ITRealms also gathered that Prof. Almeida has invited some other distinguished names to co-chair and lead the Netmundial organisation in the spirit of multistakeholders.

They include Prof. Jeanette Hofmann from the Academic Community, Subi Chaturvedi – Civil Society, Mr. Fadi Chedadé of ICANN representing technical community and Andile Ngcaba from the private sector.

Also there are four committees working in the Netmundial, namely the High-Level Multistakeholder Committee, Executive Multistakeholder Committee, Logistics and Organizational Committee and Council of Government Advisors.

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Pix: Nnenna Nwakanma

NETmundial 2014: EMC meets to set agenda

ITRealms:

The Executive Multistakeholder Committee (EMC) has confirmed dates for the two-day meeting to enable them set the agenda for the forthcoming coming NETmundial in Brazil, reports ITRealms.

The EMC affirmed this to ITRealms at the weekend in an official press statement, saying its face-to-face meetings would hold between March 31 and April 1, stressing the focus is to set NETmundial agenda and propose an initial draft for upcoming discussions.

ITRealms also gathered that the outcomes of the EMC meeting would be submitted to the High-level Multistakeholder Committee and, consecutively, to public consultation in the first half of April.

While commending the level of commitment shown in the open call for contributions to NETmundial, EMC told ITRealms they appreciated all organizations and individual authors from different sectors, countries and community groups for their submissions.

They equally confessed to ITRealms that it was an unexpectedly large number of submissions and given the short timeframe available for the EMC to digest recommendations to frame an agenda, the Committee is using a number of different approaches to review individual submissions and also to synthesize the input.

Just as the EMC explained that the Secretariat’s summary will not be a reflection of EMC position, but one of the tools that the Committee will utilize for its debates on how the agenda will be framed, along with other types of summaries and analysis, kindly submitted by different volunteers.

“We look forward to agreeing in final agenda and making it public, fostering the multistakeholder discussion that NETMundial proposes,” EMC official said.

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