Caribbean IGF 2015 Port of Spain — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

1. The 11th Caribbean Internet Governance Forum (CIGF) met in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on 26–28 August 2015 — the world's oldest regional IGF, convened by the CTU and the CARICOM Secretariat since 2005.
2. The agenda centred on the IANA stewardship transition and ICANN accountability, building national multistakeholder structures, and growing Caribbean digital content beyond the region's new Internet exchange points.
3. A year before the IANA transition became reality, the forum showed how small island states organise a collective regional voice in a global Internet governance reform.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on Caribbean IGF 2015 in Port of Spain draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.

📍 The catalogue lists Bridgetown, Barbados, but the CTU's official record (Caribbean Internet Governance Policy Framework Issue 3.0, Appendix 2) places the 11th CIGF (26–28 August 2015) in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Suriname had been announced as host in 2014 but the venue changed; no record supporting a Barbados staging was found

Conference at a Glance (from official records)

(See the source list at the end of this article.)

Discussion Digest — from the Session Records

Key exchanges extracted from session records and transcripts.

1. IANA Stewardship Transition — Understanding the Handover Before It Happened

Sessions: Day 3 (28 Aug): 'IANA Stewardship Transition & Enhancing ICANN Accountability' by Albert Daniels (ICANN)

• The proposal to move oversight of the IANA functions from the US NTIA to a global multistakeholder arrangement, together with measures to enhance ICANN's accountability, was explained from a Caribbean perspective [2]
• The transition was completed in October 2016; the CIGF served as the venue where small island states studied and formed positions on the change in advance [2]

2. The World's Oldest Regional IGF at Eleven — History, Status and Future

Sessions: Day 2 (27 Aug): 'The CIGF @ 11: History, Status & Future' by Nigel Cassimire (CTU)

• Founded in 2005 — before the first global IGF in 2006 — the CIGF claims the title of the world's first regional IGF; the session took stock of eleven years and charted the way forward [2][3][4]
• The forum had produced the world's first regional Internet governance policy framework (CIGPF) in 2009; the then-current Issue 2.0 (2013) was a reference document for the meeting [2][3][4]

3. Building National Multistakeholder Structures — Groundwork for National IGFs

Sessions: Day 2 (27 Aug): ISOC and private-sector sessions

• Shernon Osepa (ISOC) presented 'National Multi-stakeholder Fora: Promoting Internet-enabled socio-economic development', encouraging the creation of national IGFs across the region [2]
• Shiva Bissessar of Trinidad proposed fostering national multistakeholder structures to develop viable Caribbean Internet economies [2]

4. Beyond IXPs — Growing Caribbean Digital Content and Open Data

Sessions: Days 1–2 (26–27 Aug): presentations by Bevil Wooding

• With IXPs now spreading in the region, the next challenge presented was growing digital content created and circulated within the Caribbean ('Beyond IXPs: Growing Caribbean Digital Content') [2]
• An Open Data Initiative was showcased as a catalyst for open innovation, alongside capacity-building sessions on IPv6, DNSSEC, RPKI and how domain names and TLD registries work [2]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. What kind of meeting was this?

A. The regional IGF for the Caribbean, convened annually by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union since 2005 — the world's oldest regional IGF, here in its 11th session. It is a discussion forum among governments, business and civil society, not a decision-making body.

Q. What made 2015 special?

A. The IANA stewardship transition — moving oversight of the Internet's core resource functions from the US government to the global community. The Caribbean studied and debated this historic change a year before it happened in 2016.

Q. Why should I care?

A. The IANA transition affected the foundations of the Internet for every user worldwide, and the CIGF shows how small states can pool their voices regionally to be heard in global Internet governance.

What Is Caribbean IGF? (for first-time readers)

Caribbean IGF is a National or Regional IGF Initiative (NRI), aligning local internet governance discussion with global IGF principles.

Why It Matters to You

What was discussed here becomes the baseline for national digital policy, platform rules and AI regulation worldwide within a few years. The principles confirmed at the 2015 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.

Sources & References

1. A Caribbean Internet Governance Policy Framework, Issue 3.0 — Appendix 2: List of Relevant Caribbean Internet Governance Events (PDF) — CTU (accessed 2026-07-11)
2. 11th Caribbean Internet Governance Forum（CTU公式イベントページ、Internet Archive 2017年3月16日保存版） — カリブ電気通信連合 (CTU) / Internet Archive (accessed 2026-07-11)
3. Caribbean Internet Governance Forum (CIGF) Celebrates 10 Years — ARIN（米国・カリブ地域インターネットレジストリ） (accessed 2026-07-11)
4. Caribbean Internet Governance Forum (CIGF) — CTU (accessed 2026-07-11)

Quotes are translated or condensed from the records listed above. Bracketed numbers [n] refer to the source list.

Related links

• IGF official (NRI list): https://www.intgovforum.org/en/content/national-and-regional-igf-initiatives
• Japan IGF: https://japanigf.jp/
• Yuki Nakazawa's blog: https://nkzw.jp/category/igf/

Revision History

Rev. 1 — published 8 August 2015, 11:00 (Article published)

Rev. 2 — updated 11 July 2026, 02:14 (Fully revised into the in-depth edition: added the 3-line summary, minutes digest, short talk, source list and diagrams (all quotes verified against the listed sources))

— 中澤祐樹