[AfrICANN-discuss] Chairman Welcomes ICANN Community to a Celebration of Exciting Ten Years of Working Together

[Anne-Rachel Inné]

Chairman Welcomes ICANN Community to a Celebration of Exciting Ten Years of
Working Together

ICANN Chairman foresees a busy and exciting 2008 for the multi-stakeholder
community which makes up the global coordinator of the Internet's system of
unique identifiers.

3 January 2008

MARINA DEL REY, Calif. : The Chairman of the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) today welcomed the beginning of its tenth
year of operations.

"Happy New Year to all those involved in the work that ICANN does," said
Peter Dengate Thrush, Chairman of the Board of ICANN. "I extend my personal
best wishes to you all, and thank you in advance for the contributions I
know you will be making to ICANN's mission in 2008."

Peter Dengate Thrush, spoke about the year ahead, including announcing a
celebration of a decade of great contribution by the ICANN community to
building a strong and effective ICANN.

*"It is going to be another busy year for ICANN, as it has been every year
since our inception in 1998. To mark our 10 year Anniversary, I am pleased
to announce that there will be a special celebration around our Annual
meeting, scheduled for later in the year in Africa. This will be our 33rd
international meeting - truly a great time to celebrate all those people who
have contributed so much to ICANN over that time, and ICANN's achievements."
*

"Sooner than that, there will be an opportunity for public comment on
ICANN's performance as the US Department of Commerce conducts an enquiry as
part of the scheduled review of the Joint Project Agreement. ICANN will
shortly publish its statement within that process, and I encourage others to
consider posting comments," said Mr Dengate Thrush. "The call for comment
can be found at
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/frnotices/2007/ICANN_JPA_110207.html and
submissions are due by 15th February 2008. ICANN is working with NTIA, and
we will be jointly reviewing the input from the community."

"A lot of work is going on behind the scenes as ICANN staff and contractors
work through the implementation issues arising from ICANN's Generic Names
Supporting Organization's policy statements on the introduction of new
Generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs)," said Mr Dengate Thrush. Existing gTLDs
include .org, .museum, and .com. "Tied up with this is work on
internationalizing the Domain Names System, building on the trial of 11
non-ascii scripts conducted in 2007. We can expect to see a process for
applicants for new gTLDs, including those in many "non-Roman" scripts, being
announced during the year. We are hopeful that the system will be in place
to start accepting new applications by later this year."

These are just 3 highlights from what will be another year packed with
developments, said Mr Dengate Thrush

"I look forward during 2008 to meeting with many of you at our meetings,
hearing from you through our public participation processes, and working
with colleagues on the board and staff to maintain the mission of
maintaining a secure, stable interoperable Internet. I especially look
forward to celebrating our 10 year milestone with you all."

About ICANN:

ICANN is responsible for the global coordination of the Internet's system of
unique identifiers like domain names (like .org, .museum and country codes
like .uk) and the addresses used in a variety of Internet protocols that
help computers reach each other over the Internet. Careful management of
these resources is vital to the Internet's operation, so ICANN's global
stakeholders meet regularly to develop policies that ensure the Internet's
ongoing security and stability. ICANN is an internationally organized,
public benefit non-profit company. For more information please visit:
www.icann.org.

Media Contacts:

Jason Keenan
Media Adviser, ICANN (USA)
Ph: +1 310 382 4004
E: jason.keenan at icann.org

International: Andrew Robertson
Edelman (London)
Ph: +44 7921 588 770
E: andrew.robertson at edelman.com
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