We, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) Telecommunications and IT Ministers pursuant to our 5th Meeting in Ha Noi, Viet Nam note that Internet Governance is a major issue debated at the international and regional level.

Internet Governance encompasses many areas such as spam, cybersecurity, domain names, IP addresses and root servers and in many respects many of the issues are already the subject of discussion at various international and regional fora and such discussion should continue.

The issue of Internet Governance will be discussed in the World Summit on Information Society in Tunis in November 2005. We, the ASEAN Telecommunications and IT Ministers believe that any resolution to such issues should take into account 4 principles:

• Any approach to Internet Governance must be done in a multistakeholder environment with the full, inclusive and appropriate participation of all stakeholders; government, private sector and civil society.

• The secure and stable functioning of the technical aspects of the Internet, including the domain name system (DNS) and root server system is important to ensure and sustain. Any decisions taken by WSIS must not disrupt the smooth technical functioning of the Internet.

• On matters of public policy, we recognize that governments have a leading role to play. On Internet Security and Spam, there needs to be a unified and coordinated approach in combating this common concern.

• Any change to the current system should be evolutionary and phased, so as to minimize disruption to Internet users.

We believe that by applying these principles in the spirit of consensus taking into consideration local culture, language issues and conditions in developing countries, we should be able to develop solutions which will better serve all stakeholders including the growing global internet usercommunity and governments around the world. We urge participants in the WSIS process to recall that the WSIS process is not just about Internet Governance but also about using ICTs to achieve the Millenium Development Goals.

It is our hope that through the spirit of cooperation, coordination and collaboration of the various stakeholders in the various fora, there will be further enhancement of a mutually acceptable and sustainable multi-stakeholder framework to better manage this continuously evolving technological platform with the potential to transform and enhance all spheres of human activities.

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Adopted at the Fifth ASEAN Telecommunications and Information Technology Ministers Meeting (TELMIN), Ha Noi, Viet Nam, 26th September 2005