ICANN Announcements

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ICANN Supports the Africa Internet Summit as Part of Its Regional Outreach Efforts

18 May 2017

In addition to the U.N. six languages, this content is also available in

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is sponsoring and participating in the Africa Internet Summit (AIS), organized by the Internet Numbers Registry for Africa (AFRINIC) and the African Network Operators Group (AfNOG). The summit will take place from 21 May to 2 June in Nairobi, Kenya, and will bring together key players of the Internet industry with the global and regional Internet community for a series of seminars, workshops, tutorials and panels.

Hon. Joseph Mucheru, Cabinet Secretary of the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology in Kenya, will deliver remarks and officially open the summit.

ICANN is actively involved in the program on three levels:

  • 27 May - ICANN Day
  • 28 May - Workshop on Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs)
  • 2 June - Plenary Session

This is the third time ICANN Day will be held during the summit, and it aims to raise awareness on ICANN's role in the Internet Governance ecosystem and foster ICANN's outreach in Africa. It will consist of the following activites:

  • An introduction to ICANN
  • Panels and presentations on policy development, the regional domain name industry,
  • ICANN's NextGen, Fellowship and Newcomers Programs, and domain name dispute resolution
  • Presentations on becoming an ICANN accredited registrar, civil society's role in ICANN, Internet security and the upcoming Key Signing Key (KSK) rollover

Those who are interested in one or more of the following are encouraged to attend ICANN Day:

  • Learning more about ICANN and connecting with ICANN leadership
  • Hearing about recent developments and top trends in the global domain industry
  • Discussing various business, technical and policy aspects of the industry
  • Joining the ICANN Community and participating in policy-making processes

You can view the full agenda for ICANN Day here [PDF, 80 KB]. Live streaming and remote participation will be available.

The workshop [PDF, 61 KB] on Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), also organized by ICANN, will cover topics such as an overview of African languages and writing systems, label generation Rules (LGR) for IDNs, Ethiopic Script LGR proposal for the root zone and the use of Latin script for African languages.

The plenary session, in which ICANN Board Member Akinori Maemura is scheduled to speak, will cover topics such as:

  • An update on the Africa DNS Market Study
  • Key results from the Africa strategy since the last AIS meeting
  • Information on ICANN59 in Johannesburg, South Africa, which is taking place from 26-29 June 2017
  • Information on the Africa DNS Forum in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

A year ago, ICANN celebrated the opening of the first African engagement office in Nairobi, Kenya. This initiative was also a recognition of Africa's increased awareness and participation in ICANN and the greater Internet ecosystem.

Given Africa's potential for a greater online presence, ICANN is committed to its engagement with African stakeholders, from governments to the private sector. The Africa Internet Summit is one of the key events in the region for ICANN to fulfill this commitment. We hope to enhance our efforts in interacting with the region, and want to help connect the region to the global Internet ecosystem.

You can find out more about the Africa Internet Summit on the event website.

Media Contacts:

Luna Madi
Communications Director, EMEA
Istanbul, Turkey
Tel: +90 533 0313505
Email: luna.madi@icann.org



Buket Coskuner
Global Communications Coordinator, EMEA
Istanbul, Turkey
Tel: +90 533 4876254
Email: buket.coskuner@icann.org



About ICANN:

ICANN's mission is to help ensure a stable, secure and unified global Internet. To reach another person on the Internet, you need to type an address into your computer or other device – a name or a number. That address must be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN helps coordinate and support these unique identifiers across the world. ICANN was formed in 1998 as a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation and a community with participants from all over the world.

For more information, please visit: https://www.icann.org/