Open Forum #75 The Portuguese Speaking Community as a case study on digital

Summary

This discussion focused on digital cooperation among Portuguese-speaking countries, highlighting the importance of the Portuguese language in the digital world. Participants from various Portuguese-speaking nations and organizations shared insights on collaborative efforts to promote digital inclusion, enhance digital skills, and strengthen the presence of Portuguese online.

Key themes included the significance of Portuguese as one of the most widely spoken languages globally, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere, and its potential as a unifying force for digital cooperation. Speakers emphasized the need to address digital divides, both within and between Portuguese-speaking countries, through capacity building, knowledge sharing, and technology transfer.

The discussion highlighted several initiatives, such as the Lusophone Internet Governance Forum and the Association of Portuguese Speaking Registries (LUSNIC), which aim to foster collaboration and promote Portuguese language content online. Participants stressed the importance of developing technologies, including AI and large language models, in Portuguese to ensure cultural representation and combat linguistic biases in emerging technologies.

Regulatory cooperation was also addressed, with examples of how agencies like ANACOM and ANATEL are working together to share best practices and develop common approaches to digital governance. The speakers emphasized the value of multi-stakeholder engagement and the need for inclusive policies that consider diverse perspectives within the Lusophone community.

The discussion concluded with a call for continued and strengthened cooperation among Portuguese-speaking countries in the digital realm, recognizing the shared language as a powerful asset for fostering innovation, economic development, and cultural exchange in an increasingly interconnected world.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– The importance of Portuguese as a common language for digital cooperation among Lusophone countries

– Efforts to enhance digital skills and reduce access inequalities in Portuguese-speaking nations

– Collaboration and knowledge sharing between regulators and organizations in Lusophone countries

– The need to increase Portuguese language content and representation in emerging technologies like AI

– Promoting inclusivity and addressing the digital divide in the Global South

Overall purpose/goal:

The discussion aimed to highlight digital cooperation initiatives among Portuguese-speaking countries and explore how this linguistic and cultural community can work together to address shared challenges in the digital realm.

Tone:

The tone was largely positive and collaborative throughout. Speakers expressed enthusiasm about existing partnerships and a shared desire to strengthen cooperation in the future. There was a sense of pride in the Portuguese language as a unifying force and asset for the community. The tone became more urgent when discussing the need to address inequalities and increase representation in emerging technologies.

Speakers

– Moderator: Panel moderator

– Sandra Maximiano: Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of ANACOM

– Luísa Ribeiro Lopes: President of the board of directors of DNS.pt Association

– Bianca Kramer: Counselor of CGIBR, visiting professor and research lead at the Center of Technology and Society

– Marta Moreira Dias: Board member of DAPT and president of LUSNIC

– Mozart Tenório: Advisor to the presidency of ANATAL, Brazil’s national telecommunication agency

– David Gomes: Executive Secretary of Arctel CPLP, Senior Advisor of the Multi-Stakeholder Regulatory Authority of Cape Verde

Additional speakers:

– Leonilde Santos: Chairwoman of ARC-TEL-CPLP (mentioned but did not speak)

Digital Cooperation Among Portuguese-Speaking Countries: A Comprehensive Overview

This discussion focused on digital cooperation among Portuguese-speaking countries, highlighting the importance of the Portuguese language in the digital world. Participants from various Lusophone nations and organisations shared insights on collaborative efforts to promote digital inclusion, enhance digital skills, and strengthen the presence of Portuguese online.

Importance of the Portuguese Language

A key theme throughout the discussion was the significance of Portuguese as one of the most widely spoken languages globally. Bianca Kramer, Counselor of CGIBR, noted that Portuguese is the 5th or 6th most spoken language worldwide, while Marta Moreira Dias, Board member of DAPT and president of LUSNIC, stated it as the fifth most spoken language. The speakers agreed that the Portuguese language serves as a unifying force for collaboration and an asset for economic development.

Digital Cooperation Initiatives

The discussion showcased several initiatives aimed at fostering collaboration among Portuguese-speaking countries:

1. LUSNIC (Association of Portuguese Speaking Registries): Established in 2015, LUSNIC includes member countries such as Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, and Sao Tome and Principe. It focuses on sharing best practices and governance models among ccTLD registries.

2. Lusophone Internet Governance Forum: Marta Moreira Dias highlighted this as a key collaboration platform. The first event was held in Sao Paulo in 2023, with the second scheduled for Cape Verde in 2024.

3. ANACOM’s cooperation activities: Sandra Maximiano mentioned capacity-building programmes focusing on various regulatory topics and sharing of network assessment technologies.

4. ARCTEL-CPLP initiatives: David Gomes, Executive Secretary of Arctel CPLP, emphasised the importance of updating the digital agenda for Portuguese-speaking countries and implementing the Sustainable Village for Development project.

These initiatives demonstrate a shared commitment to knowledge sharing and collaborative problem-solving within the Lusophone community.

Addressing Digital Divides

A significant portion of the discussion focused on efforts to reduce digital inequalities. Luisa Ribeiro Lopes cited a UNESCO report stating that while 93% of people in developed countries are connected to the internet, only 27% are connected in developing countries. This highlighted the urgency of addressing the digital divide.

Speakers agreed on several approaches to combat this issue:

1. Promoting digital skills to combat exclusion

2. Implementing projects to bring internet to underserved areas

3. Fostering inclusion and equal representation in ICT

4. Harmonising regulatory approaches across different regions

These strategies reflect a comprehensive approach to digital inclusion, addressing both infrastructure and skills development.

Future Opportunities and Challenges

The discussion also looked towards future opportunities and challenges for digital cooperation:

1. Developing AI and language models in Portuguese: Bianca Kramer emphasised the importance of this to ensure cultural representation and combat linguistic biases in emerging technologies, including examples of Cape Verdean Creole and Brazilian regional slangs.

2. Addressing cybersecurity collaboratively: Mozart Tenorio, Advisor to the presidency of ANATEL, highlighted this as a key area for future cooperation, mentioning ANATEL’s involvement in ITU and CGI.br.

3. Promoting Portuguese content on the internet: Speakers stressed the need to increase the presence of Portuguese-language content online.

4. Strengthening cooperation amid global instability: Sandra Maximiano noted the importance of maintaining strong partnerships in the face of global challenges.

Regulatory Cooperation and Multi-stakeholder Engagement

The discussion touched upon the importance of regulatory cooperation and harmonisation of procedures across different economic regions. Throughout the event, speakers stressed the importance of multi-stakeholder engagement in digital cooperation efforts, ensuring diverse perspectives within the Lusophone community are considered when developing policies and initiatives.

Women’s Empowerment

An notable aspect of the discussion was the strong representation of women in leadership roles among the participants, reflecting a commitment to gender equality in the field of digital governance and cooperation.

Conclusion

The discussion concluded with a call for continued and strengthened cooperation among Portuguese-speaking countries in the digital realm. Speakers recognised the shared language as a powerful asset for fostering innovation, economic development, and cultural exchange in an increasingly interconnected world.

The overall tone was positive and collaborative, with speakers expressing enthusiasm about existing partnerships and a shared desire to strengthen cooperation in the future. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, the Lusophone community is poised to leverage its linguistic and cultural ties to foster inclusive growth and innovation, addressing both the progress made and the challenges ahead in the digital realm.

Moderator: Okay, so good afternoon and welcome to the Open Forum 75, the Portuguese-speaking community as a case study on digital cooperation. This Open Forum intends to be a space of dialogue between different stakeholders from different regions on digital cooperation in the Portuguese-speaking country’s community, which spans from four different continents. The Open Forum will discuss this case study on how such digital cooperation is taking place and what meaningful results it has been delivering. So as speakers, we have a very interesting panel, I believe, Leonil Santos, Chairwoman of ARC-TEL-CPLP, Sandra Maximiano, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of ANACOM, Luiz Ribeiro Lopes, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors at PT, Marta Moreira Dias, Chairwoman of LUSNIC, Mozart Tenorio, Advisor of ANATEL Presidency, Bianca Kramer, Counselor of CJBR, David Gomes, Executive Secretary of ARC-TEL-CPLP. So with no further delay, I will pass the floor, we will see a video directly from the beautiful Cape Verde of Leonil Santos. Leonil Santos, as I said, is the Chairman, the Chairwoman of the Board of Communications and Telecommunications Regulator of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, ARC-TEL-CPLP. The only of the sentence is also the chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the multi sectoral regulatory authority of Cape Verde. So let’s watch the message from the UNILDE. Thank you very much for coming. Thank you. Thank you.

Sandra Maximiano: Thank you. And now I had the subtitles in Portuguese, so that’s a pity. So I’ll give you some information as well that were in the video. But first of all, let me just telling you that my background as a professor, as an academic, we always work in cooperation. We never do research alone. And the most scientific knowledge and advancements that we see nowadays, they all come with the cooperative work and working together with researchers from all over the world. And it’s that same spirit that we, and myself in particular, try to bring to ANACOM and to foster cooperation with other countries, the Portuguese-speaking countries in particular, but also European and all the rest of the world as well. As well. So let me just telling you that, of course, I want to emphasize this collaboration between Portuguese-speaking countries in fostering a robust digital ecosystem. And the digital landscape is very complex and is rapidly evolving. And we have new challenges. Of course, artificial intelligence, cyber security has new challenges for all of us. In this context, cooperation is not only beneficial, but it’s essential, it’s crucial. You cannot live without it. And the Portuguese-speaking world is vast and diverse. And together, of course, we share a common language which serves as a powerful bridge for communication and understanding. This shared linguistic heritage allows us to collaborate effectively, exchange ideas and promote innovation and connectivity in a collectively way. So it’s extremely important. So let me just telling you a little bit what was in the video. The cooperation that ANACOM establishes is through bilateral and multilateral cooperation, of course, and through mostly cooperation protocols. And these cooperation protocols establish a mechanism for technical and institutional cooperation on different matters related to activities of national regulatory bodies. In particular, ANACOM has focused on cooperation with Portuguese-speaking countries and, as I said, these EU countries in many diverse matters. And we are really dedicated to foster digital cooperation within the Lusophone community, and that can be seen through various collaborative initiatives that they were mentioning in the video. And these partnerships involve the wide range of activities, including capacity-building programs, and these capacity-building programs, they touch on many different issues like finance, human resource management, accounting, information exchange in diverse areas of expertise, technical support, technical field visits, institutional visits, and also the organization of high-level coordination meetings. And the capacity-building and information exchange programs cover a broad spectrum of topics. So, for instance, regulatory economics, statistics, consumer protection, security, equipment, spectrum management, supervision, including coverage and quality of service measurement. So we have a wide range of topics that we work in these capacity programs, and most of these programs are nowadays online, which allows a wide range of participation. But also, we still insist and we foster in-person programs, 30% of these capacity-building activities are conducted in person. within the beneficiary countries. This approach allows a greater number of regulatory authority staff to participate in these exchange sessions. And every year, hundreds of staff members from regulatory authorities engage in this exchange. And we are extremely proud of these efforts. So, I’m not so sure if I’m over time or not, Manuel.

Moderator: Yeah, well, I think we are fine now. We can move on to the next speaker. Thank you very much, Sandra. So, Luisa Ribeiro Lopes. Luisa is currently president of the board of directors of DNS.pt Association, the entity responsible for managing the national top team. She is a member of the European Association of Systems. The floor is yours. I believe you have a presentation, presentation number three. I’m saying to people there, hopefully this time we won’t have an issue. Yeah, right. Now? Yes.

Luísa Ribeiro Lopes: Yeah, okay. First, I would like to begin to thank IGF and Anacom to organize this important panel. I also thank you for inviting me and .pt to join the debate about Portuguese language on the Internet. This panel shows the significance that we have all reaffirmed in recent years the need to include Portuguese as an official language of the United Nations. This is essential for all of us, for our countries and for our organizations, as we work together to build a digital environment enriched by this important asset, the Portuguese language. Since 2007, .pt along with other registries like .cv and .br presenting in this panel has joined forces with other Portuguese countries to create an association with a different and inclusive vision for the internet governance and for our top-level domains. We have seen this collaboration in action during the events held in Brazil last year and in Cape Verde this year with the Lusophone Internet Governance Forum, but about LUSNIC, my colleague Marta, the chair of this association, will share more details. For now, I’m here to present you .pt and our commitment to improving digital skills and achieving gender balance in ICT. So switching to my presentation, .pt is the registry of the top-level domain for Portugal in the internet. Our organization is a non-profit association representing all the digital national ecosystem, the government representing by FCT, the consumers representing by the Portuguese Consumer Protection Association, DECO, and the digital companies representing by the Digital Economic Association. We have, as you can see in the slide, a multi-stakeholder governance model with more than 20 entities from different economic, social, and cultural areas representing in the advisory board. such as Anacom. Our vision, yes, our vision, it’s a new vision from last month, approved by the General Assembly last month, is promote the free and secure use of the Internet by providing services of recognized excellence to the community, partners and peers, while projecting Portugal’s identity in the international digital ecosystems. And for this, we have our principles, as you can see, our vision is aligned with the principles that we also advocate here in the Internet Governance Forum. Security, accountability, strict trust, ethics, inclusion, and my presentation is all about inclusion, responsibility, independence, globalization, cooperation, innovation, and impact. In numbers, .pt, we have now more than 1.9 million domain name registries under .pt, but .pt is not just numbers. We promote and we are a partner with a lot of projects to improve the digital skills of the Portuguese population. We work with young people, we work also with workers who need more digital skills, helping them to upskilling and reskilling, as well as with older individuals to combat digital exclusion. And we are proud to be partners in initiatives centered around gender equality in ICT. We recognize the huge gap that exists for women in these fields, and we strive to create opportunities that foster inclusivity and equal representation. Because an image is worth a thousand words, we brought a small video from .pt. Portugal is more than 200 locations around the world, which means that, regardless of its location, there will always be a server nearby. With Portugal, we want to be more digital and more inclusive. And that’s why we also say that Barra Barra, which is the headquarters of .pt, which is the home of the national internet. For digital nomads, it is an aggregator space, a resource that we want to make available to the community, a digital web. There is a discussion about the issues of the internet of the future. And we want to make it available to the whole society, so that they can use our physical space, which is a bridge to digital inclusion for all those who are contributing to it. So, all of these activities promote the Portuguese language in the internet. The more people have digital skills in Portugal, And in all our countries, the more our language will be represented on the Internet, because we are not only users or consumers, but we are also producers of content. For now, Manuel, this is my presentation.

Moderator: Thank you. Thanks, Luisa. Very inspiring. So I’ll pass now the floor to Bianca Kramer, a counselor of CGIBR, a visiting professor and research lead at the Center of Technology and Society, Faculdade Getulio Vargas de Direito, Rio de Janeiro. Member of Legalite Research Center, Pontificio Universidade Católica do Rio. And currently member of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee, CGIBR, a representative of the third sector. Bianca, welcome, and the floor is yours.

Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Manuel, for the kind introduction. Thank you so much for the invitation to be here and to represent as a member the CGIBR, which is, for those who don’t know us, a multi-stakeholder organization in Brazil with members from the government, from the corporate sector, the third sector, and also the academic community. To introduce a little bit about my concerns on these topics, I would like to just talk a little bit about two questions that must be taken into consideration to address the Portuguese-speaking community as a case study on digital. So these questions concern, they actually address successful objectives and successful initiatives we have been building together, and I would like to address them. The first one is the importance of, to debate technology, technology issues from a perspective of common language, which is, for us, of course, the Portuguese in particular. the importance of initiatives of capacity buildings and experience changes between Portuguese-speaking countries, okay? So, these are the questions that I have been intending to address, and for so on, I would like to raise awareness of the fact that Portuguese, as Sandra’s video was showing, unfortunately, we didn’t have the audio to make it even more fruitful, but as the video already was saying, Portuguese is the sixth language most spoken in the whole world, and it is not something that shouldn’t be taken into consideration for capacity building purposes among us. So, we had a very successful opportunity to develop the first Lusophone internet governance for Presencio. We had already online, but in the Presencio way, we had the opportunity to do this in Cape Verde in Africa. So, I thought it was a very good opportunity for us to understand what we have in common, and what do we have that is more important? We have the intention to develop our countries in terms of industrialization of technology, in terms of strengthening us as a political area in the country, economically, socially, politically as well, and we have so much in common on this topic, because when we address English as the major language for all developing technologies, we get so much weakened in terms of opportunities worldwide as well, and it submissions us in our capacity of building technology in a sovereignty way. So, this is the first topic that I would like to consider the most. Because this is, when we have this most, one of the most spoken languages, and we don’t talk about the importance of this, we have in the Lisbon Forum, we had it, an opportunity to observe and to exchange in a horizontal way, in a very respectful way, means of hearing each other’s necessities, opportunities we want to build and to strengthen our, not only the way we are weakened in the development technology, worldwidely field, as we can say, but we can observe and achieve other lacks of opportunities that we shouldn’t have, or we didn’t have when we were not together. This is the first topic I would like to say. I know I have very few time, but just to address the major topics on this conversation, it is important to understand that the presence of Portuguese language on the Internet is not reflective of the dimension of our presence in the Internet. It is considerable because we observe a gap of opportunities and also a gap of addressing things that are from our own perspectives. I will give an example that really touched me in the Lisbon Forum that we have been building. We had the presence of a professor, a Portuguese professor, that said a term that a regalo, like it could be translated as a gift, is not a regalinho. It could be translated as well as a little gift. For us, we in Brazil, we don’t say regalo neither regalinho, but I can tell you that I understood the emotionality of the language. And I come from a region of Brazil that I’m sure in Portugal and neither in Cape Verde or any other Lisbon partner, they wouldn’t understand what is tamec. Which is, it is cool, it’s okay, in the favela language. So, this is important for us to understand that when we shut down the cultural heritage and the cultural importance of emotionality in developing technologies and addressing the topics of technology, we also shut down opportunities of self-development and also economic block of development. And that’s it. We have to understand that to bring together Portuguese language in these topics is to address the linguistic and cultural diversity we have among ourselves and also compared to the other countries. Especially those from the north that develop these technologies using English as the major and, why not, the only language that should be addressed. I see China doing the opposite. I just came from a panel that I heard the Chinese researchers say that they develop their own LLMs in Chinese offering Mandarin, of course. But this is important to us first to understand that. What is the importance? We are seeing other examples of other countries that are developing high-level technologies in other languages than language. Why shouldn’t Portuguese community do this? So, this is an invitation for us to see that the success of the Lusophone Forum, why we should address it forward and how could we improve it, respecting our differences but raising awareness and centralizing what we have in common, which is the desirability of self-development and economically, socially and also politically.

Moderator: Thanks a lot, Bianca. Very inspiring words and very relevant reflection. So, I’ll pass the floor now to Marta Moreira Dias. Marta is a board member of DAPT and president of LUSNIC, the Association of Portuguese Speaking Registries. Currently, she serves as Vice Chair of the Internet Governance-led Liaison Committee within the CCNCSOs at ICANN. Marta, the floor is yours, and I believe now the presentation.

Marta Moreira Dias: Yeah, I do have a presentation. So good afternoon, everyone. So thank you for having me here today. It is a pleasure to share this panel with colleagues and friends, and most of all, thank you for setting the scene, so the job will be much easier for me. But I have to confess, it’s my first disclaimer here, that my presentation is huge, so prepare yourself. So I’m going to present you LUSHNIC. So Luisa did a brief presentation of this association that was established back in 2015 in Lisbon, Portugal. It is an association that gathers the registries from the Lusophone countries, and you do see there, we are seven registries for the moment, and the figures just show how our governance model is different, even though we are all ccTLD managers, we do have three ccTLDs within the National Regulatory Communication Authority, two not-for-profit associations, .PR and .PT. Luisa already presented .PT, we are a private association, .PR, it’s managed by CGR, and we do have two ccTLDs, Angola and Mozambique, within the national government. So as we can see here, we do have different realities, we do have a different geographic localisation, a different population, a different digital authority and so on, but so what do we have in common? We are ccTLD managers, and most importantly, we do have this common asset, the Portuguese language, which was in fact behind the creation of this association. From here, I can identify the first challenge, if I can say that, that it was to serve as a driving force, as a unifying force, in order to bring those different realities coming together and work and trying to achieve their own purposes that are similar in terms of governance and maintenance of the respective CCTLDs. I’m talking about training, collaboration, also capacity building, also the question that was raised here today, the importance of promotion of the Portuguese language content on the internet and the idea of collaboration and building and sharing knowledge and promoting, of course, the development of common policies and DNS best practices. So, in short, if I can talk about the value proposition for the SNIC, we want to bridge gaps, we want to be a network facilitator, we want to create awareness regarding the internet governance topics and I’m talking about AI, data protections, human rights, consumer protections and so on. So, those are global and transnational topics that should be approached in this global way and having a coordination and collaboration between different actors. So, what do we have here? We asked Chet Chippity to prepare us a good image of one of our major purposes. What you see there is a picture of one very important poet, a Portuguese poet from the 16th century, Camões, and probably you know, but the Portuguese language is also referred to as the language of Camões. So, we asked Chet Chippity to combine this image of these ex-liberis of the Portuguese heritage with one of our main concerns, which is the future. I can say that it’s more than a concern. It’s a future that we, LUSNIC members, do envision, which is to have a broader representation in the development across the world. So again, the Portuguese language, again, the fact that we are here, all collaborate, all working together in order to promote the Portuguese language. So if we look to the numbers, in fact, I heard here a reference to the sixth most spoken language in the world, but the data that I do have is that we are the fifth. I’m not sure who is right, but well, it doesn’t matter. What is matter is that we do have more than 215 million speakers from four different continents, and we are the most spoken language in the South Hemisphere. So this common asset that I talked previously that was on the basis of the creation of LUSNIC, and we think that we should showcase in numbers because it’s much easier to look at this map and understand the value and the power of the Portuguese language. So if we look to ongoing activities, you can see there the sets of initiatives that we are promoting within LUSNIC, and again, the cooperation in terms of training, in terms of capacity building, and of course, the organization of the Lusophone Internet Governance Forum. The first one was in Sao Paulo in 2023, and this year it was in Praia, Cidade de Praia, in Cape Verde. We do have two outcomes from the Lusophone Internet Governance that I would like to invite you all to visit our webpage and to consult. You have there two charters with a set of commitments that all the Lusophone members had the opportunity to set forth. So, if you have any curiosity on it, please visit the website to hear about the set of commitments that I was talking about. Of course, collaboration is fundamental, and we do have to collaborate among our members, but it is fundamental to collaborate with other entities. In special, we are founding members of the Coalition for Digital Africa, an initiative set in 2020. We want somehow to help Africa having its right place, the place that the continent should be in the digital world, in the usage of the internet. And then we do have regional entities like TLD, AFTLD, organizations that we work to. So, training, awareness, sharing knowledge, and building common positions are our own ongoing activities. So, if I present you ongoing activities, I have to talk about the pressure points. We do have pressure points. We are far away from each other. We do have a political, social, and economic distance. We do have different realities regarding internet usage. We do have different strategic priorities. We do have different budgets allocated with ICT and the internet and connectivity and different levels of connectivity and access, but we work together. We have, I’m sorry, that was the most important part of that slide, the engagement. We work together, we engage, and we try to build bridges. That’s one of the main purposes of this association, so the future is the most important now to look at. We are now just organizing the third Internet Governance Forum that will be held in Mozambique next year in Maputo. We are still deciding about the final date, but probably in September. We are doing a good job, I would say, showcasing the SNIC, that’s what we are doing here today. It’s important to spread the word. It’s important to explain to people that we work together, that we are together, that we engage together, and of course, the importance of safeguarding the inclusion of Portuguese language in the context of emerging technology, mainly in the AI world. So foster the Lusophone community cooperation, training, and shared knowledge, again, the future, the present, but also the future. So those are our contacts, please reach us and work with us, and we want to collaborate and participate in all the events that you believe that we could be an add-on. So Manuela, I think the time is the right one, so back to you, and thank you.

Moderator: Okay, thanks a lot, Marta, very interesting, very relevant presentation. Thanks for your insights. So, Mozart Tenorio serves as an alternate member of the board at the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee, CGIBR, and a full member of the board of the Audit Committee of NIC, and he is also an advisor to the presidency of ANATAL, Brazil’s national telecommunication agency, and I will focus on that capacity in this session. So, Mozart, the floor is yours.

Mozart Tenório: Thank you, Manuel. First of all, I would like to thank you for the invitation, and it was a pleasure for us at ANATAL to help in any way we can. It’s an honor and a pleasure for us to engage with the speaking community every time we can. And, first of all, I would like to mention about ARCTEL, our association of regulators of telecommunications of the speaking, of the Portuguese-speaking community, which we recently passed the presidency to Cape Verde, to Leonel de Santos, she talked a little bit in the beginning of this panel, and we were the presidents before that, and we hold it very dear to us to engage with the speaking community, Portuguese-speaking community of regulators. And, recently, lately, we had a very pleasant happening, which is the creation of the Lusophone IGF, as we call it, and as members of the CGI.br, which is the Brazilian steering committee in Brazil, we are very glad to take part as much as we can, and I would like to say that it was very good to see that we have different roles, different subjects to deal with, different issues to cope in a different, and I would say broader, community. It’s very good to see that we can join with other partners like .pt, LuzNik, other entities from all around Africa, in Europe and South America and Asia. And we are very excited with the Lusophone IGF. We would like to say it very clearly that we are open to participate as much as we can naturally. And it’s only natural and it’s a necessity as well. It’s needed for us as regulators to be engaged with the digital ecosystem day after day more and more. So, one more time, thank you for the opportunity and I’m looking forward for the questions ahead. Thank you.

Moderator: Thank you, Mozart. Very interesting. Also, your insights. So, I was told that we can now play the video from Leon Yildir. So, Leon Yildir. Yeah, we can play. Leon Yildir Well, it’s quite unfortunate. Yeah, well, the video is not working. So, we have to move on. We have also to be a little bit telegraphic in our Q&A part of the session, but moving on. So, Sandra Maximiano, tell us how can HANA.com as a regulator enhance digital cooperation to reduce access inequalities among Portuguese-speaking countries, and how HANA.com is benefiting from this cooperation. Sandra, the floor is yours.

Sandra Maximiano: So I want to just compliment what you cannot really see, but I can refer to work that we have been doing to assess the quality levels of telecommunications networks. We had been developing some technology that allow us for verification and comparison of the performance of mobile and fixed networks, and we share a lot with the Portuguese-speaking countries this assessment technology developed and used by HANA.com, but this cooperation goes way beyond technology, and there’s a proof of that I just signed. I was just making some signatures when one of them was for the next program that we are going to have a cooperation program actually with ARM, and it’s a capacity-building program on communication strategies. So that’s actually a proof that it’s very dynamic, and it happens with a high frequency. So we do also, related to this assessment technology, it includes sharing of knowledge procedures and problem-solving approaches, and this allows the national regulatory authorities to actually have a voice in the process of making decisions. So that’s a proof that it’s very dynamic. So that’s actually a proof that it’s very dynamic. to develop some capacities to assess, analyze, but also to generate reports on user experience quality, particularly concerning mobile networks. So this is really good, because all these best practices are extremely important, so fast, reliable internet is extremely needed for greater digital literacy, and of course to reduce inequalities among people. So this is extremely important, and this is one particular activity that I would like to mention. And the second part of the question, which is what can we bring with this cooperation, and let me tell you that this is not a one-way transaction. So not only the countries that we cooperate with benefit from this cooperation, but of course we, ourselves, Anacom, benefit a lot with this cooperation. So our technicians, they gain many insights by doing this work, by working in a field in different realities, which are completely different from ours, and they are exposed to different technologies, different equipment, but also different problems, and this makes them think outside the box, and question some established realities or certainties. So we gained a lot, but also this cooperation motivates our technicians and our collaborators that go and participate in these capacity building programs, and they give them a sense of achievement, a sense of real public missions, and they see things happening in a concrete territory, a village, or improving lives of a citizen. So it has a very rewarding effect within our teams. So it’s never a one-way transaction. We gain a lot with this cooperation, and of course we truly believe that Portuguese-speaking countries also gain a lot of this cooperation, so we aim at continuing and, of course, expand our realm of interventions. Thanks a lot.

Moderator: Thanks, Sandra. Thanks a lot. So, Luisa, you have been dedicating your researches on how digital skills act as a driver or digital inclusion. Can you expand on that? Can you tell us more about that?

Luísa Ribeiro Lopes: Yes. Thank you, Manuel. Yes, I think that inclusivity is one of the most important aspects of the digital partnership we share between Portuguese-speaking countries. And as we saw Monday in the open session, in the great presentation did by the Saudi Arabian Minister of Digital, we face an unequal digital divide if we compare the North and the South Hemispheres. And as we all know, Portuguese is the fifth or the sixth most spoken language in the world, but the first one in the South Hemisphere with over more than 200 million speakers. Many of these individuals are excluded from the digital. As we heard yesterday during the presentation session of the UNESCO report, 93% of people are connected to the Internet in developed countries, while only 27%, yes, 27% are connected in the developing countries. I believe it is the responsibility of all of us as a Lusophone community to do more to combat the digital divide. People who don’t have access to digital skills will not have access to the opportunities in the digital world. Digital skills are a priority for all of us. Portugal has been progressing quickly in this field and we are now in line with the European Union in digital skills and the use of the internet. But Portugal and all the Portuguese speaking countries have wonderful examples of projects running by government, by companies, third sector or by civil society that have been helping communities acquire these skills and use digital in their daily lives. Our partnership also presents many opportunities for us to exchange information and best practices, to share examples of what works in our countries and to help others to implement similar projects. This is what we need to do all together. Cooperation is so important and we just achieve our purpose if we cooperate with each other. Thank you, Manuel.

Moderator: Thanks a lot, Luisa. Very interesting. So, Bianca, I’ll question you now. Why do you think it’s so important to debate technology related issues from the perspective of a common language, the Portuguese?

Speaker 1: Manuel, if you allow me, I would like just to observe that we didn’t hear the relevant contributions of David Gomes. If you allow me, I would like to ask for his presentation and to share with us his thoughts.

Moderator: Yeah, well, David, yeah, it’s true. The way it was organized, it was supposed to be in the video, but you are totally right. So, David Gomes serves as a Senior Advisor of the Multi-Stakeholder Regulatory Authority of Cape Verde and he acts as Executive Secretary of Arctel CPLP. So, David, if you would like also to provide us with your insights. Thank you.

David Gomes: Thank you, Manuel. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes, thank you. Thanks a lot. First of all, I would like to congratulate the IGF and Anacom for this initiative. As you know, Arctel is an association with nine national regulatory authorities of communities. All of them are in the section of Anarctic. We are all in this communication sector, this means postal service and telecommunication service. Well, as you know, Arctel can enhance digital cooperation amongst people by focusing on the following initiatives. First one, we are updating our digital agenda, that is approved by the Council of Ministers of Telecommunications, and now we are working with the CPLP organization to implement this digital agenda. The second topic we are currently planning to implement in 2025, let’s see it, the second phase of the Sustainable Village for Development project in my island, Cabo Verde. This project aims to bring internet access to the most under-served areas. This means that this project, just to open here an observation, this project is working with an organization, and we hope that by the end of this implementation, my small island will be the first island totally connected by this project. Another issue, a very important, you know, we have the statistical working group that monitors the sector data and show us what weakness need to be addressed in our association. We are now preparing to be present on the international scene, again to promote the creation of the partnership and bring investment towards content in our community. Also we are working on strategy close to the digital divide in our country, particularly gender divide, genderized digital divide. Finally, let me just to say that during the national nature of our association, a lot of work has been developed through the new communication platforms, making our day-to-day life more agile, enhancing the exchange of information in real time, this is very important, and the results of our work are expected to be faster and more efficient. The growing importance of technology, digital platform and internet infrastructure has already created an opportunity for cooperation among our speaking Portuguese. This is what I can say at the moment. Thank you.

Moderator: Yes, thank you, David, and so I’ll come back to you again, Bianca. So why is it important to debate technology-related issues from the perspective of a common language, the Portuguese?

Speaker 1: Thank you very much for this interesting question, Manuel. I’ll be very brief due to our time, but the major point is that it strengthens the Portuguese-speaking community. And it enables partnerships, it enables collaboration, and also we can share experiences and lessons that we learn from each other. We have an example that we can observe is that when we have the majority of discussions on AI and very far away from the Portuguese community, from the Portuguese language, we have the training models and also the observances of biases, language biases. And also, why not to mention that we have the lack of representation, cultural representation in these technological spaces. I can’t talk about the Brazilian perspectives, but for example, talking to Cape Verdean communities, we could see that they express themselves very much, belong to each other, and you can say that much better than I can, in Criolo, for example. And also, the slangs we have in Brazil in different regions, I know Mozart is from a different region from Brazil. As you could see, we are a continental island, as people used to say. We have a famous actress that is running for the Oscar this year, that is Fernanda Torres, and she said this in an interview. Brazil is a continental island, so isolated by the language. Why not strengthen what we have in common, taking language as an asset to move us forward in the discussions, and also in achieving our purposes in economical approaches? So, this is something that I would like to mention. When you ask why is it important to debate, it is important because the major language models are being trained in English, and you can observe it. Why not improve our society? raising awareness of the importance of Portuguese in society and worldwidely. So I would like to answer very briefly, but raising awareness on this topic and observing that we can gain so much if we could point out on this topic.

Moderator: Thanks a lot, Bianca. So now, Mozart, I would like to ask you, what’s Anatel, in terms of cooperation in the digital ecosystem, and you can also future in front of us. Yeah, for Anatel. Sure. First of all, Manuel, just after

Mozart Tenório: this wonderful speech from Bianca, I just would like to point that we have in this table a member of council in Bianca, four chairwomen. So coming from a cultural background, from a Christian and Catholic community speaking, Portuguese speaking community, to see such powerful women having so much success is really very interesting. I just hope they don’t feel like making a women speaking, Portuguese speaking community, otherwise we’ve been in a bad situation, I guess. Moving forward, Anatel is very active, for example, in ITU. And there, ITU is also following a path in the digital environment. So we kind of try to engage with that in an international arena. And through CGI in Brazil, which we are part, we also try to engage and help as much as we can on building this capacity, this digital landscapes in Brazil and speaking in the Portuguese speaking community. And referring to what Bianca just said, when I hear such things, Bianca, I feel like, it’s not very often that we can say that, but I’m glad we speak Portuguese when we are contributing with each other, when we are talking, when we are exchanging experiences. And it’s amazing how language can bind us together, because we come from such different parts of the world, and someone from Timor-Leste or Macau can talk to us and relate and instantly in a very empathic way. It’s amazing. And so I believe this kind of forum is very important, and I’m very glad that Anatel is increasingly taking part on that, Manuel, and we would like to be like this even more. Thank you for the question.

Moderator: Thanks a lot, Mozart. So in my script, I have now to introduce David. Just to complement what we have said before, how can Arctel contribute to enhancing the dialogue among Portuguese-speaking countries? Maybe I need a microphone, because this one. Okay, now it’s fine. So yeah, David, to complement your first intervention.

David Gomes: Yeah, thanks. Thank you, Manuel. To be brief, let me just to show the topics that we are working on in our session, based on our digital agenda. The first topic is digital transformation and inclusion, that we are listening to here from everybody. The second one is cross-border data and cybersecurity that we also hear from our colleagues from Brazil. The third one is this innovation, technological cooperation, so what we are doing now here to develop the digital cooperation, and also technology cooperation. I think that the example with the Anaconda in this matter is a very good example that we can exchange our experience, but also we can cooperate between us in terms of technology. Another issue very important for our community, this is a regulatory organization. As you know, we are maybe the unique association that we have members from four different continents. They are situated in different economic regions, Latin America, EU, Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, ECOWAS region, but what we try to do now is harmonize our regulatory view, regulatory procedure. I think we can harmonize this. The last one, what we hear here is capacity building and training. Maybe just wait for what Marta said, our engagement in this process is very important. Thank you, Manu.

Moderator: Thank you, David. Well, we don’t have time for that. I’ll just make a round of one minute each. I would start with Mozart. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay, Martha. It’s me?

Marta Moreira Dias: All right. So thank you. I think it was a very fruitful discussion. What I would like to emphasize here is the idea of cooperation and collaboration. I believe that we all heard the United Nations Secretary General, the Portuguese, António Guterres, in the opening session called for a collaborative approach to governance together with an open, free, sustainable, human-centered, and affordable internet. So he was emphasizing the collaboration topic as a main collaboration. In fact, the Pact of the Future and the Global Digital Compact emphasizes as well the collaboration as one of the most important commitments. So what we are doing here, the cooperation, the collaboration, and the engagement is, I would say, closely linked with what is the functioning, what should be the functioning of the multi-stakeholder model. So the multi-stakeholder model relies on the collaboration and cooperation, and that’s what we are doing here today. So thank you so much for this opportunity, and I hope to see you all soon.

Moderator: Yeah. Thank you. Mozart, final remarks? Sure. One minute. We are being pressed.

Mozart Tenório: I would like to say, as a final remark, that we at Anatel would be glad to help and do everything within our powers to foster the decisions, the outcomes from the Portuguese-speaking community in any forum that we get, because we think it’s really fruitful, it’s important. and we are very excited to the future about that. Now we have a kind of limited powers because we are just a telecom operator but anything we can do now or in the future we are very open to achieve that together with all the community. Thank you. Thanks a lot Mozart.

Luísa Ribeiro Lopes: Luisa. Okay, just a minute. DotPT is engaged with the Lushnik, with the whole community because as Marta said we need a digital world with humanistic purpose. Also in Lusophone world we need to make the difference in building a digital world more equal, democratic, open and free in Portuguese language. Thank you. Thanks a lot Luisa. Bianca.

Speaker 1: Extremely briefly I just would like to share my happiness in our fruitful contributions that come from a long time and I hope we can move forward with it more strengthened and more powerfully in the engagement of our development, our common development. Thank you so much.

Moderator: Thanks a lot Bianca. And finally Sandra.

Sandra Maximiano: I just would like to say that the world is very unstable now with very big challenges and geopolitics. So dialogues and cooperation among nations are becoming more challenging and sometimes non-existent. So in my view this also creates… Okay, so as I said in this very difficult context It creates an opportunity within the Lusophone community that we should be able to size. So we need to show that cooperation is vital, is the key, is very crucial. And we have very new challenges ahead. So in this digital ecosystem, artificial intelligence, bring Portuguese into large language models, cybersecurity. So we need to keep working together and show the entire world that this is the way. Thanks.

Moderator: Yeah. Thanks a lot, Perrine. Just might do some takeaways of these discussions and thanking you again, your participation, your very important rally, inspiring insights. Three takeaways, women empowerment, as you said, we had five top leaders with us. It is a very good sign that the Lusophone community is working well on that matter. The asset, well, we have the asset of this dispersed community crossing different continents, the language, fifth or sixth most spoken language in the world. So the happiness of talking the language and the language as an UN official language as well. Finally, to do it together, the development of new technologies, the LLM, the question of the LLM developments and so on, and the question as a question of serenity as well. Global divide was another element about as well as engagement in the international forum. Yeah. And finally, the future. This is a forum, a panel where people. We are unsatisfied with what we have achieved. We want to collaborate further in the future, and so let’s work on that in future occasions. Thanks a lot to everyone.

Agreement Points

Importance of Portuguese language in digital cooperation

Sandra Maximiano

Marta Moreira Dias

Bianca Kramer

Lui­sa Ribeiro Lopes

Portuguese is the 5th/6th most spoken language globally

Language serves as a unifying force for collaboration

Debating tech issues in Portuguese strengthens the community

Portuguese language is an asset for economic development

Speakers agree on the significance of the Portuguese language as a unifying force for digital cooperation and economic development in the Lusophone community.

Need for capacity building and knowledge sharing

Sandra Maximiano

Marta Moreira Dias

David Gomes

Capacity building programs on various regulatory topics

Lusophone Internet Governance Forum as a collaboration platform

Updating digital agenda for Portuguese-speaking countries

Speakers emphasize the importance of capacity building programs, knowledge sharing platforms, and collaborative initiatives to enhance digital cooperation among Portuguese-speaking countries.

Addressing digital divides

Lui­sa Ribeiro Lopes

David Gomes

Promoting digital skills to combat exclusion

Implementing projects to bring internet to underserved areas

Speakers agree on the need to address digital divides by promoting digital skills and implementing projects to improve internet access in underserved areas.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasize the importance of technological cooperation and promoting Portuguese content online to strengthen the Lusophone digital ecosystem.

Sandra Maximiano

Marta Moreira Dias

Sharing of network assessment technologies

Promoting Portuguese content on the internet

Both speakers advocate for developing technologies and fostering inclusion to ensure better representation of Portuguese-speaking communities in the digital world.

Bianca Kramer

Lui­sa Ribeiro Lopes

Developing AI and language models in Portuguese

Fostering inclusion and equal representation in ICT

Unexpected Consensus

Harmonization of regulatory approaches

David Gomes

Mozart Tenorio

Harmonizing regulatory approaches across different regions

Addressing cybersecurity collaboratively

Despite representing different organizations, both speakers emphasize the need for harmonizing regulatory approaches and collaborative efforts in addressing digital challenges, particularly in cybersecurity.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The speakers show strong agreement on the importance of the Portuguese language in digital cooperation, the need for capacity building and knowledge sharing, and addressing digital divides. There is also consensus on promoting technological cooperation and fostering inclusion in the digital world.

Consensus level

High level of consensus among speakers, indicating a shared vision for digital cooperation in the Lusophone community. This agreement suggests potential for effective collaboration in implementing digital initiatives and addressing common challenges in Portuguese-speaking countries.

Different Viewpoints

Ranking of Portuguese language globally

Sandra Maximiano

Marta Moreira Dias

Portuguese is the 5th/6th most spoken language globally

Portuguese is the fifth most spoken language in the world

There is a slight discrepancy in the global ranking of the Portuguese language, with Sandra Maximiano mentioning it as 5th/6th and Marta Moreira Dias stating it as the 5th most spoken language.

Unexpected Differences

Overall Assessment

summary

The main areas of disagreement were minimal, primarily focusing on slight differences in approach rather than fundamental disagreements.

difference_level

The level of disagreement among the speakers was very low. Most speakers shared similar views on the importance of Portuguese language in digital cooperation, the need for capacity building, and addressing digital divides. This high level of agreement suggests a strong foundation for collaborative efforts in digital cooperation among Portuguese-speaking countries.

Partial Agreements

All speakers agree on the importance of collaboration and capacity building, but they propose different approaches or platforms to achieve this goal. Sandra Maximiano focuses on regulatory topics, Marta Moreira Dias emphasizes the Lusophone Internet Governance Forum, and Bianca Kramer advocates for debating tech issues in Portuguese.

Sandra Maximiano

Marta Moreira Dias

Speaker 1

Capacity building programs on various regulatory topics

Lusophone Internet Governance Forum as a collaboration platform

Debating tech issues in Portuguese strengthens the community

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasize the importance of technological cooperation and promoting Portuguese content online to strengthen the Lusophone digital ecosystem.

Sandra Maximiano

Marta Moreira Dias

Sharing of network assessment technologies

Promoting Portuguese content on the internet

Both speakers advocate for developing technologies and fostering inclusion to ensure better representation of Portuguese-speaking communities in the digital world.

Bianca Kramer

Luisa Ribeiro Lopes

Developing AI and language models in Portuguese

Fostering inclusion and equal representation in ICT

Key Takeaways

The Portuguese language is a valuable asset for digital cooperation among Lusophone countries, being the 5th/6th most spoken language globally

Digital cooperation initiatives like capacity building programs and the Lusophone Internet Governance Forum are strengthening collaboration

Addressing digital divides through skills promotion and infrastructure projects is a key focus

Future opportunities include developing AI/language models in Portuguese and addressing cybersecurity collaboratively

Women’s empowerment is evident in the leadership roles held by female participants

Resolutions and Action Items

Continue organizing the Lusophone Internet Governance Forum, with the next event planned in Mozambique

Update and implement the digital agenda for Portuguese-speaking countries

Expand cooperation on network assessment technologies and regulatory harmonization

Increase efforts to promote Portuguese language content on the internet

Unresolved Issues

Specific strategies for integrating Portuguese into large language models and AI development

Detailed plans for addressing cybersecurity challenges collaboratively

Concrete steps to reduce digital divides between developed and developing Lusophone countries

Suggested Compromises

None identified

Portuguese is the sixth language most spoken in the whole world, and it is not something that shouldn’t be taken into consideration for capacity building purposes among us.

speaker

Bianca Kramer

reason

This comment highlights the significance of the Portuguese language globally and frames it as an asset for development and cooperation.

impact

It set the tone for discussing the importance of linguistic and cultural diversity in technology development, leading to further exploration of this theme by other speakers.

We want somehow to help Africa having its right place, the place that the continent should be in the digital world, in the usage of the internet.

speaker

Marta Moreira Dias

reason

This comment introduces the idea of digital equity on a continental scale, emphasizing the role of linguistic communities in promoting development.

impact

It broadened the discussion from linguistic cooperation to addressing global digital divides, influencing subsequent comments on digital inclusion.

93% of people are connected to the Internet in developed countries, while only 27%, yes, 27% are connected in the developing countries.

speaker

Luisa Ribeiro Lopes

reason

This statistic starkly illustrates the digital divide between developed and developing nations, providing concrete data to support the discussion.

impact

It reinforced the urgency of digital cooperation and inclusion efforts, leading to more focused discussion on strategies to combat the digital divide.

Our technicians, they gain many insights by doing this work, by working in a field in different realities, which are completely different from ours, and they are exposed to different technologies, different equipment, but also different problems, and this makes them think outside the box, and question some established realities or certainties.

speaker

Sandra Maximiano

reason

This comment highlights the mutual benefits of cooperation, showing how even more developed countries gain from collaborating with diverse partners.

impact

It shifted the perspective on cooperation from a one-way transfer to a mutually beneficial exchange, enriching the discussion on the value of diverse partnerships.

When you ask why is it important to debate, it is important because the major language models are being trained in English, and you can observe it. Why not improve our society raising awareness of the importance of Portuguese in society and worldwidely.

speaker

Bianca Kramer

reason

This comment connects the linguistic discussion to cutting-edge technology development, highlighting potential biases and missed opportunities in AI.

impact

It introduced a new dimension to the discussion, linking language preservation to technological sovereignty and representation in emerging technologies.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by progressively expanding its scope from linguistic cooperation to broader themes of digital equity, mutual benefit in partnerships, and technological representation. They highlighted the multifaceted nature of digital cooperation in the Portuguese-speaking world, emphasizing both challenges and opportunities. The discussion evolved from focusing on language as a shared asset to exploring its role in addressing global digital divides and ensuring equitable representation in emerging technologies. This progression deepened the conversation, connecting linguistic identity to broader issues of development, inclusion, and technological sovereignty.

How can we improve the representation of Portuguese language content on the internet?

speaker

Bianca Kramer

explanation

The presence of Portuguese language on the internet is not reflective of the actual number of Portuguese speakers worldwide. Addressing this gap could lead to more opportunities and better representation for Portuguese-speaking countries.

How can we develop high-level technologies in Portuguese, similar to how China is developing LLMs in Mandarin?

speaker

Bianca Kramer

explanation

Developing technologies in Portuguese could help strengthen the position of Portuguese-speaking countries in the global technological landscape and promote technological sovereignty.

How can we safeguard the inclusion of Portuguese language in the context of emerging technologies, particularly AI?

speaker

Marta Moreira Dias

explanation

Ensuring Portuguese is included in emerging technologies is crucial for the digital inclusion and representation of Portuguese-speaking communities in the future technological landscape.

How can we address the digital divide between developed and developing Portuguese-speaking countries?

speaker

Lui­sa Ribeiro Lopes

explanation

There is a significant gap in internet connectivity between developed and developing countries, which needs to be addressed to ensure digital inclusion for all Portuguese-speaking communities.

How can we expand and improve capacity-building programs for digital skills across Portuguese-speaking countries?

speaker

Sandra Maximiano

explanation

Enhancing digital skills is crucial for reducing inequalities and promoting digital inclusion among Portuguese-speaking countries.

How can we harmonize regulatory procedures across Portuguese-speaking countries in different economic regions?

speaker

David Gomes

explanation

Harmonizing regulatory views and procedures could lead to better cooperation and more efficient governance across Portuguese-speaking countries.

How can we address language biases and lack of cultural representation in AI and large language models for Portuguese?

speaker

Bianca Kramer

explanation

Ensuring proper representation of Portuguese language and culture in AI models is crucial for fair and inclusive technological development.