IGF Iraq 2025 (1st National IGF) — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

Iraq's first national IGF met 30–31 August 2025 at the Babylon Rotana Hotel in Baghdad, organized by the NGO Tech4Peace under the UN IGF framework — over 500 in-person participants from government, business and civil society, and more than 64,000 watching online.
The communications minister laid out a 5G and competition-neutrality roadmap, Meta and Google ran workshops, and four private roundtables — connectivity, AI governance, misinformation and elections, digital payments — produced actionable recommendations.
A conflict-scarred country built its own safe, neutral venue for digital policy. Tech4Peace has pledged to make it annual, with the second edition set for October 2026 in Baghdad.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on IGF Iraq 2025 (1st National IGF) 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	IGF Iraq 2025 (1st National IGF)
Dates	30–31 August 2025
Venue	Babylon Rotana Hotel, Baghdad
Theme	Regional governance themes
Online participants	64,000
In-person participants	500
Registered	1,564
Tracks	5
Opening	Communications Minister Dr. Hayam Al-Yasiri spoke at the opening session
Host	Organized by Tech4Peace (T4P) under the UN IGF framework, with the Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Communications, Communications & Media Commission and Central Bank of Iraq as government partners
Next	Second edition scheduled for 22–23 October 2026 in Baghdad (per UN IGF 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. 5G and Telecom Policy — a New Operator, Competitive Neutrality and Exam-shutdown Protocols

Sessions: Opening session "Internet Governance in Iraq" and the ministerial & industry plenary (30 August)

Communications Minister Dr. Hayam Al-Yasiri set out law-based Internet governance, faster e-government, linking institutional data to the National Cybersecurity Center — plus a clear decision flow for exam-period shutdowns and a roadmap for a government-backed operator with a time-limited 5G exclusivity window [1]
In the plenary, the CMC promised transparent spectrum and licensing while Asiacell reported more than 8,300 towers in 2025 (heading to ~9,000 by year-end) and 5G readiness pending licences [1]
The CMC disclosed negotiations with Saudi Arabia and Oman to position Iraq as a regional Internet transit hub; the connectivity roundtable urged route diversity, open licensing and civil-works coordination to protect fibre [1]

2. Digital Payments and Fraud — Central Bank, Meta and the Banks Join Forces

Sessions: E-Payment panel "Digital Fraud & Awareness" (30 August) and private roundtable #4

The Central Bank of Iraq's cybersecurity head, Meta's public-policy director, the Iraqi Private Banks League and the National Security Service shared a stage to align platform and banking fraud controls and launch joint public-awareness campaigns [1]
With fraud rising, panelists agreed reporting, data-sharing and user education must scale rapidly [1]
The roundtable got specific: simplified KYB/KYC onboarding for small merchants, standardised dispute and chargeback timelines, and financial literacy embedded in school curricula [1]

3. Women's Safety in the Digital Space — Confronting Digital Violence and Barriers to Participation

Sessions: Panel "Women's Safety in the Digital Space" (31 August)

The Iraqi Lawyers Association, UNFPA, the civil group Al Amal and Tech4Peace's "Tech for Her Protection" initiative addressed privacy, digital violence, hate speech and the barriers keeping women offline [1][4]
The direction set: cross-institutional coordination on safety responses, digital literacy and safety education in schools, and scaled-up NGO support services [1][4]
The panel drew notably strong attendance from women-led NGOs and digital-rights groups, and the report logs it among the peaks of the livestream audience [1][4]

4. The Content Economy and Meta/Google Workshops — Building a Creator Nation

Sessions: Panel "Digital Content in Iraq" (31 August) and the Meta and Google workshops

A deputy national security adviser from the PM's office, sports broadcaster Al Rabea, distributor Iraqi Cinema and the International Trademark Association debated content's economic and cultural role and creator sustainability [1][5]
Meta trained creators and SMEs on content strategy, monetisation and platform-safety tools; Google ran hands-on generative-AI fundamentals — international expertise delivered straight to Iraqi developers and students [1][5]
Commitments logged included building Arabic and Kurdish fact-checking capacity and aligning brand safety with the local context [1][5]

5. AI Governance and Election Misinformation — Toward a National AI Committee

Sessions: Private roundtables #2 "AI Governance" and #3 "Misinformation & Elections Integrity"

"Convening IGF Iraq 2025 represented a shared responsibility and collective message uniting government, the private sector, and civil society (as reported in English by Iraq Business News)"
— Aws Al-Saadi (founder and president of Tech4Peace, closing remarks) [1][4][2]

The AI roundtable recommended interim data-use and privacy guidance, a national AI committee with technical authority, IEC/ISO-aligned standards and open data pipelines for research [1][4][2]
The misinformation roundtable examined election-period harms and gendered online abuse, calling for a national coordination cell, expanded Arabic/Kurdish fact-checking and standing platform liaisons [1][4][2]
Tech4Peace declared IGF Iraq an annual platform, assigning focal points and 90-day check-ins per roundtable; the second edition is scheduled for 22–23 October 2026 [1][4][2]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. So what did the meeting actually decide?

A. Nothing binding — but the communications minister publicly laid out a new 5G policy, and four roundtables produced recommendations with named focal points and 90-day check-ins. It was built not to end at talk.

Q. What was the most contentious topic?

A. State Internet shutdowns. Iraq has cut nationwide connectivity to stop exam cheating; the minister's pledge of a transparent decision protocol for shutdowns was counted a real step.

Q. Why should I care?

A. It proves a conflict-scarred country can convene government, Big Tech and citizens through an NGO-led forum. Meta and Google committing to local-language fact-checking is the platform-accountability debate, everywhere.

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

Iraq 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 2025 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.