ICANN's 33rd International Meeting Arrives In Cairo

CAIRO - Further progress towards the implementation of new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) and the global expansion of the domain name system is expected this week, as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) opens its 33rd International meeting in Cairo.

Over 1,000 delegates from around the world have gathered for the meeting, which is being opened by Dr. Tarek Mohamed Kamel, Egyptian Minister of Communications and Information Technology.
Since the ICANN's Board voted at its Paris meeting in July to proceed with implementation of new gTLDs significant progress has taken place.

In October, ICANN released a draft Guidebook that provides information for those interested in applying for a gTLD and at the Cairo meeting, community feedback on the draft.

The Cairo meeting will also see further progress towards the introduction of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) which, when combined with new gTLDs, will create a range new possibilities for the internet users of the world.

"There are 1.5 billion Internet users in the world and growing and there are only 21 generic Top-Level Names from which people can choose,” ICANN President and CEO of ICANN Dr. Paul Twomey said.
“We're currently facilitating the biggest expansion to the domain name system since its inception and this meeting will see further consultation with the internet community so that all aspects of the draft gTLD policy are thoroughly discussed," he added.

On the eve of the opening of the Cairo meeting, ICANN and Egypt's country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) manager formalize their relationship.

Twomey, signed the Exchange of Letters with General Manager Hossam Fahim and Senior Consultant Nashwa Abdebaki from the Egyptian Universities Network (EGN).

This brings to 45the number of countries that have entered into a formal relationship with 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.