Forum National sur la Gouvernance de l’Internet au Cameroun (IGF.CM-21) — ninth edition — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

On 9–11 June 2021 the ninth Cameroon national IGF, IGF.CM-21, met at the Hôtel LAGON in the port city of Kribi, themed 'The internet and business resilience in the Covid-19 era.'
Building on measures ANTIC had urged on government — telework, telemedicine, e-learning, e-commerce — experts examined business resilience amid the pandemic, protection of sensitive data and the dematerialisation of administrative procedures.
ANTIC's director-general argued the internet was the very reason to be optimistic about restarting the economy. It proved to be the series' final edition; the national IGF has been dormant since.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on Forum National sur la Gouvernance de l'Internet au Cameroun (IGF.CM-21) — ninth edition draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.

Conference at a Glance (from official records)

Item	Detail
Official name	Forum National sur la Gouvernance de l'Internet au Cameroun (IGF.CM-21) — ninth edition
Dates	9–11 June 2021
Venue	Hôtel LAGON, Kribi
Theme	'Internet et résilience des entreprises en période de Covid-19' (The internet and business resilience in the Covid-19 era)
Host	ANTIC (Agence Nationale des Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication); DG Prof. Ebot Ebot Enaw and DDG Paulette Abenkou both attended

(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. Business Resilience in the Pandemic — Rebuilding the Economy Online

Sessions: Opening ceremony and theme sessions (from 9 June)

"« L'internet permet d'envisager avec grand optimisme et assurance, le redémarrage et le rebond de notre économie » (The internet lets us look ahead to the restart and rebound of our economy with great optimism and assurance)"
— Prof. Ebot Ebot Enaw (Director-General, ANTIC) — translated from French [1][2]

Ahead of the forum ANTIC had proposed internet-based crisis measures to government: telework, telemedicine, massive recourse to e-learning, e-commerce and teleconferencing [1][2]
The daily Cematin reported government experts, the private sector, civil society and academics convening to examine 'from top to bottom' how the internet could carry development past the Covid obstacle [1][2]
'The great opportunities the internet offers businesses in a health crisis' anchored one of the thematic tracks [1][2]

2. Data Protection in an Age of Mass Use — Crisis and Privacy

Sessions: Thematic sessions

The official site lists 'protection of sensitive data in a context of massive internet use' among the core topics [1]
The internet's place within government and institutional anti-Covid measures was also on the agenda, testing the balance between public health and digital rights [1]
It capped the data-protection line running from 2018 (sensitive data) through 2020 (data governance) [1]

3. Dematerialising Procedures — the Port of Kribi as a Live Example

Sessions: Thematic session on administrations and the dematerialisation challenge

Digital transformation of specific sectors and the dematerialisation challenge facing administrations were headline sessions [2][1]
Cematin noted that the Port Autonome de Kribi, an early mover on paperless procedures, had ridden out the pandemic with little disruption — a potential 'textbook case' of resilience through digitalisation [2][1]
Kribi itself — deep-sea port, submarine-cable landing point, industrial complex — embodied the meeting's link between digitalisation and development [2][1]

4. The Final Edition — a Series Gone Quiet

Sessions: What became of the IGF.CM series (retrospective)

Later snapshots of the official site list nothing beyond the ninth edition; no record of a tenth edition in 2022 exists [3]
A national IGF that ran nine consecutive years and rotated through seven cities stopped here and remains dormant [3]
The 2022 Yaoundé event was a regional Central African IGF (FGI-AC) gathering — not to be confused with this national series [3]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. What did the meeting decide?

A. Nothing binding — it was a national forum on rebuilding businesses and the economy through the internet amid Covid, with concrete tracks from telework to e-commerce.

Q. What happened next?

A. This turned out to be the last edition. After nine consecutive years, the national IGF has not met since 2021 — a case study in how hard it is to sustain a dialogue venue.

Q. Why should I care?

A. The pandemic's forced digital acceleration was universal, and the Port of Kribi's lesson — paperless procedures make organisations crisis-proof — speaks to digital-government debates everywhere.

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

Cameroon 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 2021 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.