Deadline approaches for Africa, Europe interest to host ICANN

Deadline is fast approaching for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN’s) call on countries and organisations in Africa and Europe who are desirous of hosting the 2009 version of ICANN public meetings to indicate interest before October 15, 2008.

ICANN, the global internet coordinator, in a press statement said the call for expression of interest is in accordance with its commitment to continuous improvement in the management of meetings, and in response to requests for advanced planning.

“ICANN posts a call for Expressions of Interest to host meetings to be held in Europe on 25-30 October 2009, and in Africa on 7-12 February 2010,” the press statement read.

The objective, ICANN said is to routinely provide advice on locations for meetings 12 months ahead of schedule.

In addition, ICANN said, its public meetings usually draw individuals from around the globe and attract a wide range of participants who follow Internet addressing and policy issues, just as the meetings receive international press coverage and provide an ideal opportunity for participants, sponsors, and hosts to interact on key Internet issues.

ICANN further advised organisations interested in the opportunity to host the Europe meeting in 2009 or the Africa meeting in 2010 should review the full Request for Proposals before submitting an expression of interest.

The specifications outlined in the request for proposals, ICANN said, gave detailed anticipated required elements of its public meeting and the minimum responsibilities of the hosting organisation.

Equally, the internet co-ordinator asked all interested parties to submit a completed expression of interest form via electronic mail (email) to meeting@icann.org for consideration. While inquiries regarding the call should be direct to ICANN meeting staff.

Champion Infotel recalls that ICANN meetings constitute an essential part of the organisation’s global consensus-building, policy development, and outreach efforts.
In a related development, the 2008 ICANN Nominating Committee (NomCom) has announced selections of its board of directors to serve beginning from ICANN Annual General Meeting (AGM) for 2008 until conclusion of the AGM of 2011.

Those selected comprised North American Steve Crocker representing the United States, Katim Touray from Gambia taking the place of Africa.

While members of the new At-Large Advisory Committee include Canadian Alan Greenberg representing North America, United Kingdom based Adam Peake stands in for Europe with the tenure starting this year at the ICANN’s AGM till 2010.

Formed in 1998 ICANN is a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation from all over the world dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable.

ICANN dominantly promotes competition and develops policy on the Internet’s unique identifiers, but do not control content on the Internet or stops spam.


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