“It is important that all Pacific islanders encourage their governments, Internet Service Providers and Internet users to collaborate on effectively harnessing the power of the Internet as a global repository of knowledge.”

PacINET 2007 kicked off today at the FFA Conference Centre in Honiara, Solomon Islands, with some 200 local, regional and international participants in attendance. It is the annual gathering of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) experts organised by the Pacific Islands Chapter of the Internet Society (PICISOC).

The meeting is being held this year at the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) conference centre in Honiara from the 15th to 21st August 2007, with the theme ‘National ICT Strategy Building’.

Hon Sogavare noted that in order to achieve “Internet for Everyone”, the Vision of the Internet Society (ISOC), the Pacific needs to take a collaborative and multi-stakeholder approach.

“Regional conferences such as PacINET 2007 can be forums through which such collaboration can be achieved,” said Hon. Sogavare.

“We must recognise that the Pacific islands pose new challenges and offer new opportunities for Internet development. These are the opportunities and challenges that we must take onto the global arena. By bringing these issues and factoring them into the development of the global Internet, I am confident that we can truly declare that the "Internet is for everyone".”

Hon. Sogavare highlighted that an integral component of the Solomon Islands Government development plans is the ‘Bottom Up Approach’.

“We believe development must be driven by the people for the people. Thus it is important that initiatives and strategies we plan for Internet development in the Solomon Islands must be reflective of the needs and aspirations of the people we represent.”

Hon Sogavare added: “We recognise that the Pacific Regional Digital Strategy, a vital component of the Pacific Plan, will go a long way towards further strengthening our own national ICT strategy.”

Themes and topics covered at PacINET 2007 will include e-Health Initiatives in the Pacific, Building Connected Communities, An Open Source World, e-Government and the Pacific, Internet: Safety and Security, ICT in Education, the VoIP (R)Evolution, IPv6, Women in Technology and New Media.

Guest speakers at PacINET 2007 include John Crain, ICANN CTO and Dr Jimmie Rogers, Director General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC). Dr Vinton G. Cerf , considered one of the fathers of the Internet and Vice President at Google, has also prepared a keynote message to participants via video.

The main conference is split in two streams - policy and technical - where workshops will be conducted providing training to participants.

Some 30 participants at PacINET 2007 were sponsored to the meeting by Pacific Internet Partners (PIP), Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.

PICISOC is an active chapter of ISOC, covering 22 Pacific island states and territories with a membership of close to 500 individuals across the region. ISOC is a professional membership organisation with around 100 organisational and over 26,000 individual members in more than 180 countries.

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