The Minister of Transport and Communications of Greece Mr. Michalis Liapis offered formally, in his speech at the Tunis Summit, to host the inaugural meeting of the IGF (Internet Governance Forum) in 2006. We are therefore ready to play our part, live up to our commitment and deliver the IGF Meeting the same way we gave the world the Olympic Games.

The near record attendance figures of the Tunis Summit brought about a thorough revision of our initial estimates. We now think that a number of around one thousand participants for the Athens 2006 IGF meeting is a more realistic working hypothesis. therefore, we have chosen a highly modern and well equipped hotel as the Forum venue, that can support such an important event. It is worth mentioning that the Forum venue is situated by the sea, in one of Athens most beautiful suburbs. Appropriate accommodation for the Forum's participants has been arranged; we have chosen a number of class hotels located near the Forum venue in order to provide easy and fast access to the Forum.

The IGF Greece 2006 structure consists of eight main sessions. The Greeek Minister of Transport and Communications Mr. Michalis Liapis will chair the opening and closing sessions, whereas the other sessions of the Forum will be charied by a high level panel of speakers from all around the world.