Report on the ICANN, ISOC, APTLD, PIFS, and Pacifica-IT events held in Wellington during the period 20th-31st March 2006
Prepared by
Dave Main, Laeimau Oketevi Tanuvasa, Sam Savea
Samoan Delegation to the Meetings
7 June 2006
The trip was multi-fold and timed to coincide/overlap with the ICANN meetings in Wellington. We flew in on the early morning of Saturday 25th March and went straight to the APTLD meetings running at the old town hall. Monday saw us spending time at the ISOC, PICISOC and GAC meetings. Tuesday/Wednesday we attended the Pacific Island Forum Ministers Meetings. Thursday was really catching up with many of the contacts we’d uncovered over the preceding days including visits with CityLink, Wellington Capital Access Radio and Tony Arcus. Friday was the Pasifika-IT day at the Michael Fowler centre. And of course I got to see the Wellington City tip/dump and a bookstore and had dinner at Te Papa.
Outcomes
Where do we start? Perhaps with meeting and talking with a whole new set of contacts and decision-makers within the Pacific Island region, and also in the larger global IT community. The ICANN and GAC meetings and ideals were an eye-opener. Sort of makes you glad you don’t need to go to many – as they appear slow, cumbersome with limited ability to agree and push outcomes in a timely fashion. On the side, we were very fortunate to meet briefly with Dr Vint Cerf and relay to him an invitation from the Prime Minister of Samoa to visit Samoa in August of this year as keynote speaker for the PacInet 2006 seminars, an invitation which he has accepted.
The Pacific Island Forum Telecommunication Ministers meetings were extremely interesting, and a well-timed event to have in Wellington. It gave us a wonderful insight into regional initiatives and developments on a per country basis, much help as it helps position where we are at, and which way should we go, including what have been successes and what have not proved so successful, what skill sets are available regionally and are there opportunities to link and work together. Outside of this of course we would admit that the governmental side runs at the usual pace with big words, long speeches and a very conservative line of direction. If anything it proves that you need the private sector to push the limits and stimulate fast growth.
The Pasifica-IT day was again extremely high value. It was a shame that more people did not take advantage of the opportunity. We picked up some useful ideas and contacts for a range of local initiatives that could easily be duplicated here in Samoa. Immediately the experiences of existing wireless network operators and content developers are of interest. We were also impressed that there are so many cultural community projects IT projects happening in NZ, and this points to future initiatives for our cultures to take up. Particularly nice was the enthusiasm of the individuals and the willingness/openness to share and assist others. Add to this opportunities for local entrepreneurs whose products that would otherwise find difficulty in being marketed internationally can utilize the experience of companies like Neil Blear's Worldstock, and others.
The question of a Pacific regional award during the PacInet regional conference was raised and has great merit. Although too late for 2006, I am hopeful this will be supported and pushed to become a reality for future events.
Information Sharing
We are presently being visited by Mr Tony Arcus from Wellington who is an open source developer. He has graciously donated his time and energy to come up to Samoa with his family for three weeks and assist/train our internet team on the latest developments for open source email, spam, and virus checking, including the setting up and migration of our current email services. We are also working with Mr Ian Thomson and are hopeful of providing a high speed internet portal to the rural communities on the western coastline of the Upolu island. This will be a first for the country.
How have we passed on what we have learnt? Since returning, we have had an internal staff meeting where the staffs inside our own company have been updated on our trip. Aniseko Ioane, who was fortunate in attending the NZNOG event, has presented to the Samoa IT Society his review. Laeimau has issued a report to our board of directors on her conclusions and has had private meetings with the Minister of Telecommunications highlighting the outcomes that may benefit the Samoa community. With the upcoming PacInet and PACNOG meetings scheduled for Samoa there will be further opportunities to meet, talk and pass on what we have learnt.
Admin
Again our many thanks for your assistance in enabling us all to come to Wellington to such a myriad of events. We had little or no problems with the application process and administrative systems.
Suggestions for improvements
Hmm... What can I say? Great time, great host...