Elalamy to address ICANN55 in Marrekech

ITRealms: 

The Moroccan Minister of Industry, Trade and Digital Economy, Moulay Hafid Elalamy, would be speaking at the welcome ceremony of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number (ICANN)’s 55th Public Meeting in Marrakech city, reports ITRealms.
 

ICANN public meeting is a five-day public meeting holding between March 5 and 10, 2016, this year being hosted by the National Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ANRT) of Morocco. 

ITRealms gathered that the meeting is being held at a critical moment in the organization’s history, as the IANA Stewardship Transition nears completion. As such, stakeholders from around the world will be convening in Marrakech to finalize the proposal that will ultimately transfer stewardship of the IANA functions – key elements of the Internet’s Domain Name System (DNS) – from the United States government over to the global multistakeholder community.

The ICANN’s incoming President and CEO, Mr. Göran Marby, will also be speaking to attendees during the welcome ceremony.  Just as the outgoing CEO, Mr. Fadi Chehadé and Board Chair Dr. Stephen Crocker will be addressing attendees during the ceremony.

ITRealms recalls that ICANN’s public meetings held trice annually, convenes members of the global, multistakeholder Internet community, made up of individual users, businesses, civil society, governments, research institutions and non-government organizations, to discuss issues impacting the Domain Name System (DNS) and develop policy.

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ICANN board on new gTLD writes NCSG on INGO protection

ITRealms:

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number (ICANN) board on new Generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) Programme Committee (NGPC) has written the Non-Commercial Users Stakeholder Group (NCSG) on the need for the protection of the International Non-Government Organisation (INGO) identifiers in all gTLDs, reports ITRealms.

The letter from the NGPC regarding protection of IGO-INGO identifiers in all gTLDs, sighted by ITRealms dated June 16, 2014 and addressed to Jonathan by the chairperson of the Board New Generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) Programme Committee, Cherine Chalaby, dated June 16, 2014, said it was to provide an update on the ongoing work in response to the GNSO policy recommendations regarding Protection of IGO-INGO Identifiers in all gTLDs and the advice from the Government Advisory Council (GAC) in its Buenos Aires Communiqué addressing the same topic.

ITRealms reports that on 30 April 2014, the ICANN board adopted the GNSO Council’s policy recommendations on IGO-INGO protections that were not inconsistent with the GAC’s advice, and requested additional time to consider the remaining policy recommendations that are inconsistent with the GAC’s advice on the same topic.

“The Board committed to facilitate discussions among the relevant parties to reconcile any remaining differences between the policy recommendations and the GAC advice on the topic, and previously tasked the NGPC to help with this process,” Chalaby said.

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Pix: Cherine Chalaby, NGPC chairman

ICANN, CTU sign MoU to increase active engagement

ITRealms:

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number (ICANN) and Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to increase cooperation and coordination among both organizations, so as to increase active engagement by stakeholders from Caribbean region, reports ITRealms.

This was the outcome of the recently held Caribbean ICT Week, and the MoU was signed between ICANN president, Mr. Fadi Chehadé and Ms. Bernadette Lewis, Secretary General, CTU.

ITRealms also reports that the signing took place in the presence of Government Ministers of CTU member states including the President of the CTU, Hon. Philip Paulwell, Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining of Jamaica; the signing ceremony was followed by a press conference facilitating widespread communication of news of the event to the Jamaica public, and wider Caribbean through electronic media.

"The Internet has become entwined in the fabric of our lives therefore we must take an interest in its development and participate in the fora that chart its course. The continued and equitable growth of the internet is a collective responsibility and the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) is prepared to play its part in taking an active role in determining the future of the Internet. This MoU is the demonstration of the CTU's commitment to work in collaboration with ICANN to increasing awareness and usage of the Internet and its resources in the Caribbean," said Ms. Bernadette Lewis at the signing cerremony.

On his part, in the spirit of collaboration, Fadi Chehadé ended his remarks by quoting the African Proverb, which says "If you want to go fast…go alone. If you want to go far…go together."

Mr. Chehadé and Ms. Lewis committed to make this a workable framework by getting their respective teams to start implementing concrete actions in the upcoming weeks. Actions are planned to include capacity building, partnering for outreach events and fostering multistakeholder dialogue at the regional and national levels.

Remmy Nweke
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ICANN study group meets in Italy on new gTLD

ITRealms

The study group ‘Studienkreis’ of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number (ICANN) has scheduled its 13th meeting for September 12 through 13, 2013 in Pisa, Italy in the context of the global Internet policy.

Founder and chairman of the ICANN Studienkreis, Wolfgang Kleinwächter, confirmed to ITRealms that this year´s meeting would have a different format, stressing that the study group would move from a more “knowledge transfer conference” towards a “brainstorming meeting.”

“We will have no traditional panels anymore but ‘round table discussions’ on issues where we list a number of ‘resource persons’ but everybody is invited to join the discussion,” Kleinwachter said.

He also said that as always, the meeting starts on Thursday with a welcome coffee followed by a session which gives us an overview about the Internet situation - policy, legislation markets, community, ccTLD management - in the host country.

This, he said, would be followed by the opening session address by ICANN chief executive officer (CEO), Fadi Chehadé, as a key note speaker.

The final session on Thursday, the chairman said, would be on diplomacy and policy with lessons learned from the recent Internet Governance related conferences within the United Nations (UN), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and other international organizations.

The cultural dinner is this year hosted by the ccTLD Registry for .it.

While on Friday, the study group will spend the whole morning with ICANNs new gTLD programme. After the lunch break we will have David Maher’s “Annual Internet Development Speech” followed by a dialogue between Avri Doria and Vernita Harris from the NTIA of the US Department of Commerce about the IANA function, the ATRT2 review and other issues related to ICANNs future.

The final session - the look into the future- will be moderated by Peter Dengate Thrush , the former Chair of the ICANN Board based on a “food for thought” speech by Beth Beth Noveck from New York University, who chairs one of ICANNs  new Strategic Panels.

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