NCUC Trip Assessment 4 DRAFT

The LACNIC29 meeting was hosted by the Panamanian National Authority for Government Innovation (AIG) and took place at the Hard Rock Hotel Panama from 30 April to 4 May 2018. The purpose of the event was to bring together experts and representatives of academia, civil society, the private sector, governments, and the telecommunications industry in the LAC region to discuss policies and issues pertaining to the internet.

The event included tutorials and panels with renowned speakers and discussed popular topics such as IPv4 address exhaustion, major challenges to IPv6 adoption in the LAC region and internet security. What I would consider the main feature of the week was the Public Policy Forum – a space for discussing proposals on how to assign numbering resources. The week also had peering forum, IXP meetings and the FIRST’s training and symposium on Computer Security Incident Response team (CSIRT) and other security matters.

The week was punctuated with a welcome cocktail and a social on Wednesday night that created opportunities to network with hundreds of persons with various background and experience. It also had information sharing booth from major sponsors included ICANN who highlighted their work and solicited support.

The meetings were attended by over 500 persons face to face and many more followed online since the events were streamed lived.

I represented the NCUC at the event and sponsorship provided by CROP ICANN. I attended from Tuesday May 1st–Thursday May 3rd, 2018. Below are highlights of some of the sessions.

On Tuesday 1st May the sessions started with the LACNIC 29 opening ceremony with brief presentations from Wardner Maia, Chairman of the LACNIC Board, Irvin A. Halman, General Manager of the National Authority for Government Innovation (AIG) and President of the Latin America and the Caribbean Electronic Government Network (GEALC Network),  and Ariel Graizer, President of LAC-IX. Following the opening, I attended a session of the Latin American and Caribbean Association of Internet Exchange Point Operators LAC-IX. Though it was a closed meeting, I met Mr. Shernon Osepa, the Manager, Regional Affairs for Latin America & the Caribbean Bureau, who introduced me to the manager of LAC-IX Mr. Gabriel Adonaylo. They invited me to the session to observe and comment on the activity of the region.

I then switched to the public policy forum that began at 11:30 and continued throughout the day. I was lucky to have been put in contact before with NCUC member and previous moderator of the Policy Forum, Paola Perez, so I had an idea that this was an important event

On Thursday, I attended the technical forum in the morning and in the afternoon the IT Women session.This was the final session I attended .  It was coordinated by Ms. Adriana Rivero Head of Community Development. She shared initiatives that the LACNIC is currently working on to promote diversity and address the digital gender divide. While,  Ms. Maria Julia Morales presented the results of a survey conducted and solicit feedback. Discussion was centered on getting the young women involve in IT and to sustain the work in the region. I had the opportunity to contribute to this discussion. Ms. Maria Julia Morales is NCUC member from ISOC Uruguay and I could have an idea of the great outreach NCUC has done in the region with members at LACNIC previous meetings, LACIGF and national and regional IGFs. I have also noted ISOC Saint Vincent and Grenadines is an organizational member and NCUC is being very supportive of engagement of SIDS (Small Island Developing States).