[ICANN]<http://www.icann.org/> News Alert https://www.icann.org/resources/press-material/release-2015-02-12-en ________________________________ ICANN and APTLD Signs Memorandum of Understanding to Promote Regional Collaboration Partnership aims to strengthen capabilities of ccTLDs, and increase multi-stakeholder participation in the global Internet policymaking process 12 February 2015 Singapore... ICANN and the Asia Pacific Top Level Domain (APTLD) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to forge an alliance to foster and promote regional collaboration. Under the cooperative agreement, ICANN and APTLD will work together to coordinate and collaborate on complementary activities within the Asia Pacific (APAC) region to strengthen the capacity and capability of country code Top Level Domain operators (ccTLDs) in the region; promote and encourage APTLD members' and regional stakeholders' participation and involvement in ICANN, and foster a network of regional stakeholders and decision makers that could contribute to ICANN's policy development, and more broadly, global Internet policymaking. "This collaboration marks another milestone in ICANN's globalization efforts after we established our ICANN Asia Pacific Hub in Singapore," said Fadi Chehadé, ICANN President and Chief Executive Officer. APTLD Chairman, Lim Choon Sai and Fadi Chehadé signed the MOU at ICANN's 52nd Public Meeting in Singapore, witnessed by members of the APTLD Board. "APTLD appreciates ICANN's globalization efforts and the ICANN Asia Pacific Hub's work in engaging with the APAC community. As a region, we need to work together to strengthen the capacity of our operational functions, as well as contribute to ICANN's policy making," said Lim Choon Sai. "As such, we hope to work with key stakeholders in each sub-region of the Asia Pacific region, including ccTLD registries and other concerned entities in our collaboration activities." Kuek Yu-Chuang, ICANN's Vice President and Managing Director for ICANN Asia Pacific said that the APTLD meets regularly and plays a key role in fostering a network amongst the ccTLDs and regional organizations in the region. "We are very excited to collaborate with a key regional partner such as the APTLD. Our cooperation will definitely help to strengthen regional collaboration. From ICANN, we hope to be able to contribute by adding our expertise to help our APAC ccTLDs build their operational capacity, including areas such as DNS network operations, DNS Security, Internet Infrastructure Development etc. The gathering of ccTLDs and other key stakeholders at APTLD also provides a good platform for us to update on and discuss ICANN issues from a regional perspective," he added. # # # To download high resolution photos of the signing ceremony, click here<https://www.flickr.com/photos/icann/16321662419/in/photostream/>. Media Contacts Liana Teo Head of Communications, Asia Pacific Singapore Tel: +65 6808 6669 Email: liana.teo@icann.org<mailto:liana.teo@icann.org> About ICANN ICANN's mission is to ensure a stable, secure and unified global Internet. To reach another person on the Internet you have to type an address into your computer - a name or a number. That address has to be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN coordinates these unique identifiers across the world. Without that coordination we wouldn't have one global Internet. ICANN was formed in 1998. It is a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation with participants from all over the world dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable. It promotes competition and develops policy on the Internet's unique identifiers. ICANN doesn't control content on the Internet. It cannot stop spam and it doesn't deal with access to the Internet. But through its coordination role of the Internet's naming system, it does have an important impact on the expansion and evolution of the Internet. For more information please visit: www.icann.org<https://www.icann.org/>. About APTLD APTLD works as the forum of information exchange regarding technological and operational issues of domain name registries in Asia Pacific region, fostering and elevating the participation of Asia Pacific ccTLDs in global fora, and acting in the best interest of APTLD members in the global Internet policy making process.