The Head of the EU Delegation to Ghana, Claude Maerten Tuesday called on Communications Minister Dr. Edward Kofi Omane Boamah, to discuss the upcoming meeting on the Future of Internet governance.

The April 23 and 24, 2014 meeting will be hosted by the Brazilian city of Sao Paolo.

Ghana is one of only 12 countries invited to the High Level Multi-Stakeholder Committee meeting together with the European Commission.

Mr. Maerten briefed Dr Omane Boamah on the EU’s position as far as internet governance is concerned.

He expressed optimism that “we will leave Sao Paolo with commitment to effective internationalization of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) on the basis of the ICANN Board resolution.”

He said it was the hope of the EU the government representatives, civil society and academics who will converge in Sao Paolo will “prepare the internet governance systems for the future.”

Consensus on key issues relating to internet governance, he said, was crucial because the world has evolved a digital economic system and it is important to structure internet governance in a manner that benefits all.

The EU Head of delegation said even though the cooperation of the United States on the future of internet was impressive, “it is important to be balanced in the way that the work has been done in the past.”

According to him, the democratic principles of transparency, accountability, and rule of law, which underpin internet governance must not just be principles – they must be enacted into statute “which should be agreed upon by all the members so that we have a system which can continue to promote our principles of rule of law, democracy, promotion of human rights, transparency, and freedom of access to the internet.”

Dr. Omane Boamah said it was frequently important for the future of the internet to be addressed and ascertained “within the shortest possible time to allow for confidence building by not just nations but also individuals in nations to feel much more comfortable and safer in using the internet resource.”

He supported Ambassador Maerten’s view that cooperative, rather than confrontational discussions on the future of the internet, is heartwarming.

He said the principles of democracy, transparency, accountability, rule of law, safety and security and respect for human rights, which underpin internet governance are immutable and chime perfectly with government’s own agenda.

“In fact the fourth pillar of Ghana government’s guiding principles has to do transparent and accountable governance so they fit very well in the broad framework that we have all agreed to, in ensuring that becomes that guiding principles for the governance of internet,” he said.

Dr. Omane Boamah said government was taking steps including legal reforms to ensure that infractions on the country’s cyber space are appropriately dealt with.

Mr. Maerten praised Dr. Omane Boamah’s superior understanding of the issues relating to internet governance and asked if he was willing to help build the capacity of other countries’ representatives and focal persons.