WEATHER

Due to its altitude and location on the equator, in Quito the temperature varies greatly between day and night. The average daytime temperature ranges between 23 and 25ºC, while at night it drops to 10ºC. Generally, mornings are clear and afternoons cloudy. The dry season begins in late May and lasts until September; the rainy season begins in October and lasts until early December. It's best to travel prepared for any contingency: although the day may start out warm and sunny, we recommend that you always carry a coat and an umbrella with you to protect yourself against the cold and the rain.

CURRENCY

Ecuador's official currency is the United States dollar. Coins are locally minted, so be aware that you may receive your change in this type of coins.

ALTITUDE

Quito is located at 2,800 meters above sea level: therefore, it is important that you go about your business slowly and that you drink a lot of water during your first days in the capital.

CREDIT CARDS

Most international credit cards are accepted, including Visa, American Express, MasterCard and Diners Club.

TAXIS

In Ecuador, taxis are generally equipped with an electronic device – a taximeter – that calculates and shows passenger fares.

Taxi services from the airport and hotels operate with predetermined fares, so be sure to enquire before using the service.

• Estimated fare from the Airport to Hotel Quito: USD 6.
• Fare from Hotel Quito to the Historical Center: USD 3.
• Fare from Hotel Quito to the Commercial Area: USD 3.

Taking a taxi on the street at night may be unsafe, particularly if you are by yourself. For your safety, we recommend that you ask for a taxi at the venue where you are or arrange for a unit to pick you up from that venue and drive you back to your hotel. You can call a cab by phoning 2222999.

ORGANIZATION

IMAGINAR.
Point of Contact: Rossana Flores. rossanafv@imaginar.org
Telephone: (593-2) 2400 937
Quito – Ecuador

VISAS, OFFICIAL INFORMATION

http://www.mmrree.gov.ec/servicios/visas.asp

BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION

The process of regionalizing the discussions around the agenda established by the IGF has been taking shape since 2008, when LACNIC, APC and NUPEF summoned the first Latin American and Caribbean preparatory meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay. The second preparatory meeting was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This regionalization has become even more relevant because last year the IGF included in its official agenda a space for informing on regional and national processes, their points of view, challenges, and priorities.

The Association for the Progress of Communications (APC), the NUPEF Institute, and the Regional Internet Address Registry for Latin America and the Caribbean (LACNIC) are joining efforts once again for the third Regional Preparatory Meeting for the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) which will take place on 3-5 August 2010 in the city of Quito, Ecuador.

As in previous editions, the purpose of the meeting will be to provide a space for multistakeholder political dialogue between governments, the private sector, the technical community, academia, and civil society organizations. The region has made progress in understanding the challenges currently posed by Internet governance; further debate will contribute to identify regional priorities and broaden the region's participation at the 2010 Internet Governance Forum (IGF), which will meet in Lithuania in September. Likewise, as in previous editions, one of the meeting's goals will be to inform the region's stakeholders on the topics and trends observed in the debates and discussions of the global IGF.

The organizers will contribute part of the financial resources necessary for conducting the event and request the contribution of key regional entities, such as CGI.br, that have contributed to previous edition in pursuit of their commitment to support multistakeholder political dialogue on Internet development within the region. Likewise, the financial contribution of international, regional and national organizations will be sought to fund some aspects of the event.

The regional preparatory meeting will be structured around the issues included in the global IGF agenda:

• Critical Internet resource management
• Security, openness and privacy
• Access and diversity
• Internet governance for development
• Emerging issues
• The road ahead

The following is a preliminary proposal for the event's agenda, a methodological approach for conducting the sessions, and the budget.

METHODOLOGY

Based on the experience gained after the second regional meeting, it is proposed that the sessions be conducted in open dialogue format. These are structured discussions led by two moderators well-versed in the subject matter (with backgrounds in different sectors) who can offer an overview of the sub-topics under discussion and promote dynamic participation. The idea of having an expert from each sector present to break the ice and kick off discussions by making brief, concrete contributions from the audience could be considered. One or two persons knowledgeable of the issues under discussion could report the sessions and summarize the most relevant contributions in one- to three-page documents.

The goal is to achieve the greatest possible participation by using a format that is less formal than that of a panel, as we have seen that the latter generally limits participation on the part of the audience.

Ideally, moderators should be encouraged to work previously on preparing the sessions. There is an exhaustive list of sub-topics for each session, which was prepared after the discussions and meetings of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) and which is reflected in the Draft Programme Paper. This should be an important reference material; however, a critical review should be conducted from a regional perspective with the aim of determining which sub-topics are most relevant for the regional context. This will help keep discussions focused on Internet governance as opposed to ICT issues in general.

From the organizers' point of view, the sessions should have the following goals:

• To review advances and developments in Internet governance issues within Latin America and the Caribbean
• To identify the priorities that should be taken into consideration by the IGF and the community in general
• To identify different positions, visions and points of view regarding priority topics and sub-topics that are relevant to the region

These methodological approaches are intended as guidance. Moderators will have the freedom to proceed as they deem fit in order to organize the session in the manner considered most appropriate.

TOURIST INFORMATION