Good afternoon everyone! As agreed on the teleconference this afternoon, I have the pleasure to attach the following: 1) A finalised text of the draft Memorandum of Understanding between the African regional ALSes and ICANN (note that I have added some paragraph numbers, standardised the formatting, and removed the paragraph which limited the signatories to only three ALSes so that all present in Lisbon can sign - see below) 2) The redlined text of the above, which has been previously sent around to the list, for comparison; 3) The signed MOU between ICANN and the Latin America & Caribbean Islands, for reference. As was determined by the African ALS representatives on the call, the following is the process of finalising the text and forming the RALO: 1) The document (1) above will be the final text of the MoU, UNLESS an objection is registered ON OR BEFORE 15th February 2007. Note that none of the ALSes on today's call objected to any provisions of the attached. 2) If there are no objections, this text will be forwarded to ICANN's legal counsel for a final once-over, and at the same time will go out for a standard public comment period, which as was explained on the call today is standard practice whenever ICANN proposes to enter into any significant contractual arrangement. 3) The public comment period will likely be for 30 days (ICANN legal to confirm), which will easily allow for the MoU to be signed in a public ceremony at the Lisbon ICANN International Meeting, March 26 - 30 2007. AFRALO Meeting in Lisbon: Again as mentioned on the call today, ICANN will be able to provide travel support to allow one representative of each African ALS to attend the ICANN Meeting in Lisbon so that you can meet together and debate the priorities of your region with respect to policy development in ICANN, elect the two representatives of your region to the At-Large Advisory Committee, meet with the other stakeholders participating in ICANN, and learn more by attending meetings and seminars on the many areas of activity underway at present. ICANN staff will shortly provide more information on the process of making these arrangements with you by email to the list, and help you to organise the meetings between yourselves and help to ensure that your meetings do not conflict with other meetings in Lisbon you may want to attend. May I say that I very much look forward to meeting you all, and will be very happy to help you celebrate the inauguration of African end-user participation as a formal organisation within ICANN! -- Regards, Nick Ashton-Hart PO Box 32160 London N4 2XY United Kingdom UK Tel: +44 (20) 8800-1011 USA Tel: +1 (202) 657-5460 Fax: +44 (20) 7681-3135 mobile: +44 (7774) 932798 Win IM: ashtonhart@hotmail.com / AIM/iSight: nashtonhart@mac.com / Skype: nashtonhart Online Bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtonhart FESTIVE GREETINGS! As per usual, in lieu of cards for friends and colleagues, I have made a donation in your name to Medecins Sans Frontieres, to help them provide medical care to those much less fortunate than ourselves.