<p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><a href="http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-20oct09-en.htm">http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-20oct09-en.htm</a></span></p>
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<h2 style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">ICANN and the
Universal Postal Union Conclude Negotiation for .POST</span></h2>
<p style="margin-top:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:
0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">20 October
2009</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">ICANN and the Universal
Postal Union (UPU) have reached an agreement in principle for the UPU
sponsorship of the .POST Top-Level Domain. Final approval of the agreement is
subject to ICANN's public comment process (which will commence after ICANN
concludes its meeting in Seoul on 30 October 2009), and consideration by the
Board of Directors. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The UPU is responsible for
setting the rules for the universal network of international postal mail
exchanges. A specialized agency of the United Nations, the UPU was established
in 1874 and is one of the world's oldest intergovernmental organizations
(IGOs). Despite ICANN's relative youth, ICANN and the UPU bear a number of
resemblances, including active participation by representatives of
geographically diverse governments and constituencies. Both organizations are
governed by a bottom-up process: the UPU by its member countries and ICANN by
the global Internet community. And both organizations serve billions of people
globally. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The agreement concludes the
negotiation that enables both organizations to recognize one another's
traditional autonomy, mission, and core values. The agreement represents a
significant accomplishment for the UPU, ICANN, and the global Internet
community. "This validates the ICANN model for fostering expansion of and
innovation in the domain name space," said ICANN CEO and President, Rod
Beckstrom. "The UPU has also helped mark out a path for other IGOs to
sponsor their own top-level domains and helps us expand our multi-stakeholder relationships
in the IGO field."</span></p>
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