closed FY26-FY30 Middle East Regional Plan

Outcome

ICANN extends its appreciation for the time, effort and participation of the community for considering the FY26-FY30 Middle East Regional Plan, and appreciates the comments received. ICANN also expresses its gratitude to the Middle East Plan mailing list members for their invaluable input during the creation of the Draft FY26-FY30 Middle East Regional Plan.

The Public Comment Proceeding for the Draft FY26-FY30 Middle East Regional Plan resulted in three submissions.

All comments received supported the findings in the Draft FY26-FY30 Middle East Regional Plan and offered valuable considerations.

After reviewing the comments, ICANN org believes that the Draft FY26-FY30 Middle East Regional Plan addresses several of the key points raised in the comments received, while other comments will be addressed in the annual action plans, and through future engagement activities with the regional community.

This document provides a summary of the comments received and ICANN org’s initial analysis.

What We Received Input On

This Public Comment proceeding will solicit community input on the suggested regional activities and desired outcomes per the Strategic Objective defined in the Draft FY26- FY30 Middle East Regional Plan. 

ICANN Organization (ICANN Org) invites stakeholders from the Middle East and those interested in ICANN’s work in the region to submit input to help ICANN Org define regional activities that would best fit the regional needs and priorities. 

Note:

Acronyms and Terms

ccTLD country code top-level domain

DNS Domain Name System

DNSSEC Domain Name System Security Extensions

EAI Email Address Internationalization

gTLD generic top-level domain

IANA Internet Assigned Numbers Authority

ICANN Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

IDN Internationalized Domain Names

KINDNS Knowledge-sharing and Instantiating Norms for DNS and Naming Security

OCTO – Office of the Chief Technology Officer

PDP policy development process

RSSAC Root Server System Advisory Committee

SSAC Security and Stability Advisory Committee

TLD top-level domain

UA Universal Acceptance

Background

In line with ICANN’s commitment to understanding the needs of its different regions, this document collects input from ICANN’s Middle East and Adjoining Countries community to develop a regional engagement plan for the Middle East for fiscal years 2026 - 2030 (FY26-FY30). This regional plan ties to ICANN’s new FY26-FY30 Strategic Plan to align with regional needs and priorities, while ensuring it remains within ICANN’s mission.

This FY26-FY30 regional plan identifies three of the four strategic objectives as the drivers for ICANN’s engagement in the Middle East. Each strategic goal under each strategic objective defines activities to be undertaken, and desired outcomes from organizing these activities.