MOSCOW, MAY 29, 2015. PIR PRESS - "Today, among the member countries of the BRICS there are no strong channels of communication on Internet governance issues, both at the governmental  and expert level. The coming summit in Ufa may become a milestone in the formation of a common position on Internet governance among BRICS countries. However, due to significant differences in the positions of countries and the lack of time for their congruence, the  outcome of the summit can solely be a framework document confirming the position already fixed in the Fortaleza Declaration"- PIR Center  intern Ilona Stadnik.

On May 26, 2015  as a part of PIR Center's "Midweek Brainstorming sessions" PIR Center intern  Ilona Stadnik  defended her research paper "Discussion on global critical Internet infrastructure: current issues and implications for Russia and on the eve of the BRICS summit Ufa ". The seminar was attended by officials, experts and members of the working group of the PIR Center  program  "Global Internet Governance and International Information Security":  Nina Belyaeva, professor at Higher School of Economic, Oleg Demidov, PIR Center consultant, Vitaly Kabernik, head of advanced research and educational development of Institute of Innovative Development  of MGIMO University, Alexandra Kulikova, coordinator of the program "Global Internet Governance and International information security", under whose leadership the research was conducted, Olga Mostinskaya, editor in chief of the Security Index Journal, Ekaterina Sizikova, projects coordinator of PIR Center, Mikhail Yakushev, Vice-President of ICANN for CIS and Eastern Europe and Albert Zulkharneev, Director of PIR Center.

During the seminar participants discussed the position of BRICS countries on governance of the global critical infrastructure of the internet; the prospects for a unified strategy for the five countries for the global internet governance and for ensuring international information security. "Today, among the member countries of the BRICS there are no strong channels of communication on Internet governance issues, both at the governmental  and expert level. The coming summit in Ufa may become a milestone in the formation of a common position on Internet governance among BRICS countries. However, due to significant differences in the positions of countries and the lack of time for their congruence, the  outcome of the summit can solely be a framework document confirming the position already fixed in the Fortaleza Declaration"-  Ilona Stadnik stressed in her paper.

Also discussion addressed the implications for the BRICS of the expected transition of NTIA stewardship functions over IANA, as the contract expires in September 2015. "It is clear that the current architecture of critical infrastructure is only one of the possible technical solutions for data transmission. In the light  of reluctance of the United States and the technical community to make a constructive dialogue on the internationalization of Internet governance, BRICS countries could take on the leading role in developing alternative  global critical infrastructure, but whether it  is appropriate to do so in the current circumstances  -  remains an open question " – Stadnik concludes in the research.

Participants of the Midweek Brainstorming session made comments and recommendations on the work of Ilona Stadnik to prepare it for publication in the coming months.

For questions related to the "Midweek Brainstorming sessions", please contact the projects coordinator  Ekaterina Sizikova, by phone +7 (495) 987 19 15 or via e-mail sizikova at pircenter.org.