Sent on behalf of Tripti Sinha, Chair, ICANN Board of Directors

Dear Generic Names Supporting Organization Council Chair and Vice Chairs,

Our ICANN84 Annual General Meeting is already on our doorstep. The Board and I are looking forward to seeing you soon in Dublin (25-30 October). This will be our last meeting of 2025 - a year of exciting, challenging, and unfortunately sad moments.

Before this important event, we also hope to see you online for our open engagement session during Prep Week. This session will be held on 13 October at 19:30 UTC.

This 60-minute session led by Chris Buckridge and myself, will focus on an essential subject for ICANN: WSIS+20 and the Future of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). In this session, the Board will share its visions for WSIS+20 and beyond, including the future of the IGF, and conduct a discussion with participants to gather their views.

In particular, the Board will focus on topics that have the potential to impact ICANN’s mission, such as those reflected in the WSIS+20 Zero Draft. We also welcome a discussion on the conditions and assurances that will contribute to a permanent and improved IGF.  This exchange of perspectives will help the Board and community identify shared priorities and inform ICANN’s contributions to the broader WSIS+20 process.

We look forward to this opportunity to engage, and I encourage your active participation. 

During ICANN84, we will listen carefully to your specific needs during our bilateral sessions. In keeping with our established practice, we would like to ask this question of your group ahead of our joint session in Dublin:

“What does the GNSO believe should be the Board’s and the ICANN organization’s policy priorities in 2026, taking into consideration the new Five-Year Strategic Plan, the WSIS+20 review, and the recently launched Cross Community Group on the Review of Reviews?”

We kindly request that you send any questions you would like the Board to address during our face-to-face meetings to Board Operations (board-ops-team@icann.org). Given the limited time for these meetings, please prioritize your questions in order of importance. Please send these questions no later than Friday, 17 October 2025.

Looking forward to our discussions during Prep Week and ICANN84!

Thank you for your constant commitment to our mission.

Best regards,

Tripti Sinha

Chair, ICANN Board of Directors