From: Pierre Dandjinou <pdandjinou@gmail.com> Reply-To: AfrICANN list <africann@afrinic.net> Date: Saturday, 9 March 2013 06:50 To: "africann@afrinic.net" <africann@afrinic.net>, Webmaster <webmaster@famntic.org> Subject: [AfrICANN-discuss] ICANN begins implementing Africa strategy Dear All, The Africa MIGworks event has closed yesterday with a series of land breaking decisions and actionable recommendations I will report on. Meanwhile, here is the first just published story about this event http://www.itworld.com/internet/347545/icann-begins-implementing-africa-stra tegy Pierre ICANN begins implementing Africa strategy http://www.itworld.com/internet/347545/icann-begins-implementing-africa-stra tegy Training, policy engagement, partnerships, incubation and entrepreneurshipare key areas for Africa March 08, 2013, 12:36 PM ‹ ICANN's CEO and President Fadi Chehadé was atthegroup's Multistakeholder Internet Governance meeting in Africa this weekwith the message that it is a new season at ICANN and Africa has a big roleto play. ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has identifiedtraining, policy engagement, partnerships, incubation and entrepreneurship as the key areas in implementing its Africa strategy. That strategy was unveiled last August and was meant to find ways to improve Africa's participation within the Internet's governing body. "In order to make this reality, ICANN has to change; it has been America-centric, because the Internet has its history in the USA, but now,all of us own the Internet and have a role to play in Internet growth,"saidChehadé. Chehadé announced that ICANN global operations will be offered from threehubs, Los Angeles, Istanbul and Singapore, to cover the major time zones.The Istanbul office will have an IANA (Internet Assigned NumbersAuthority) liaison, who will be African and will understand African issues. ManyAfrican countries are still struggling with management of country code TopLevel Domains (ccTLDs). "We need more money and resources in Africa; we will partner with existingorganizations," Chehadé said. Those include the Africa TelecommunicationsUnion, the ITU, the Internet Society, AfriNIC and the African Union. TheICANN representative in the Indian Ocean will be stationed at AfriNICoffices in Mauritius, he added. ICANN has arranged to hold DNS Security Extension (DNSSEC) workshops inGhana, Nigeria, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Tunisia, Egypt and SouthAfrica. One of the major challenges facing Africa is lack of development in the DNSbusiness, with many people in the region depending on internationalcompanies and services. Currently, Africa has five ICANN-accreditedregistrars. "ICANN is willing to work hard with partners in Africa to raise the numberof accredited registrars from the current five to 25 in the next 18 months.We will sit with the ICT industry and understand what we can do to make theRegistrar Accreditation Agreement more Africa-friendly. It may takepartnerships with banks and the insurance industry," Chehadé said. Working with local businesses to promote growth in the DNS industry willalso promote employment and business growth in the region, he said. -- Pierre Dandjinou Cotonou - 229 90 087784 / 66566610 Dakar 221 77 639 30 41 www.scg.bj <http://www.scg.bj/> skype : sagbo1953