ICANN Announcements

Read ICANN Announcements to stay informed of the latest policymaking activities, regional events, and more.

Upcoming Middle East DNS Forum Postponed

27 February 2020

ISTANBUL – 27 February 2020 – The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) today announced that its Middle East DNS Forum, scheduled for 24-25 March 2020, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is being postponed. This decision was made in partnership with our hosts, as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, considered a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization.

A new date will be determined in coordination with the event host, the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC).

ICANN thanks the CITC for its efforts to host this meeting. We appreciate their understanding and look forward to returning to Riyadh in the future.

This decision comes one week after the ICANN Board of Directors announced that the ICANN67 Community Forum, which was scheduled for 7-12 March 2020 in Cancún, Mexico, will instead be held as a virtual conference with remote participation to ensure the health and safety of all attendees.

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 – a name or a number – into your computer or other device. 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 with a community of participants from all over the world.