President Doris Leuthard opens UN conference on digitisation in Geneva

Biel/Bienne, 18.12.2017 - The president of the Swiss Confederation Doris Leuthard opened the 12th United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Geneva today. Throughout this week, under the banner "Shape Your Digital Future!", the IGF will devote itself to the challenges of digitisation which are having a fundamental impact on our social, political and economic lives. Switzerland is the host of this year's IGF, which runs until 21 December.

At the opening ceremony, President Doris Leuthard emphasised that dialogue between all interest groups, including the worlds of politics, science, business, civil society and the technical community, is essential if the vision of an information society in which everyone can benefit from the advantages of the digital future is to be realised. Events such as the Internet Governance Forum provide an opportunity to gain new insights, place important issues on the agenda of the global digitisation debate and explore approaches to solutions. Only when new partnerships which transcend national and sectoral frontiers can be created will it be possible to fully exploit the new possibilities of digitisation. President Leuthard also stressed that this year's Internet Governance Forum in Geneva represents a unique opportunity to leverage the wealth of expert knowledge on hand and break down barriers. 

Switzerland's goals

On 25 October 2017, the Federal Council laid down the cornerstones of Switzerland's commitment as host of the IGF in Geneva. New initiatives must strengthen the IGF as a global platform open to all interested parties for the debates around the "rules of the game" in the digital society and economy and should at the same time position Geneva as a centre of global digital policy.

The UN Internet Governance Forum

The IGF is one of the most important outcomes of the UN World Summit on the Information Society, which was held in Geneva in 2003 and Tunis in 2005. Switzerland has been supporting the IGF conceptually and financially since 2006, and has contributed substantially to its development as a global multistakeholder platform. OFCOM coordinates Switzerland's representation in the IGF, as well as in the regional and national spin-offs which have developed since 2006.


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