There is no debate that the developing world needs regional platforms for the multiple stakeholders to get together and come closer to agreement on what works best in regulation for their regions. We have tried to create such platforms; our sister organization has tried in Africa. We both came up short in building sustainable platforms that would be supported by players within the region, rather than subsidies from outside. Now Informa, which has quite a track record in Europe, is trying its hand and we thought we should help them in the hope this effort will stick.
The program has attracted quite a few prominent speakers from the region. It has also had to face the uncertainties associated with the haze emanating from Sumatra. Luckily the pollution levels are down and I hope they get enough customers to make the case for continuation. It is a pity that the subsidized discussion forums organized by the ITU are drawing people away from their regions and from regionally appropriate events such as this. We could not compete against free/subsidized services; I hope Informa can.
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