37th ICANN meeting kicks off in Nairobi – Kenya

The 37th International ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) meeting kicked off in Nairobi today, with over 1000 delegates from all over the world in attendance.
The five-day meeting will discuss issues that affect Internet governance, including expansion of generic top-level domain names, migration to Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPV6) and cyber security.

The decisions of the various sessions will, at the end of the meeting, inform the direction the ICANN board will take when voting on the strategic direction on management, safety and interoperability of the Internet.

In his opening remarks, Vice President Hon. Kalonzo Musyoka said the Government had joined hands with the private sector and the civil society to ensure that Kenya becomes an active participant in the Internet arena.

He noted that the Government was committed to building key infrastructure to enable faster, efficient and reliable connectivity.

The Vice President said the Government had financed the construction of TEAMS, which landed in the country last year at more or less the same time with the private sector driven-SEACOM, bringing world class connectivity across Eastern and Central Africa.

Describing the Internet as a key invention of our time, Hon Kalonzo Musyoka, said the Web had become a key resource in modern day economies through unlocking opportunities that were previously unknown.   

ICANN president, Mr. Rod Beckstrom, lauded Kenya for its efforts to create access, increase speeds and cut costs of the internet through the fibre optic connectivity. He urged the African continent to look at the internet as a key development platform and to develop factual content, which will influence positive policy formation in future.
Minister for Information and Communication, Hon. Samuel Poghisio said that Kenya appreciated the role ICT play in socio-economic development, noting and that the convening of the meeting in Africa provided the ICT and government officials from the developed world with an opportunity to have first hand experience of Africa’s needs and challenges on the Internet front. He hoped that the meeting would deliberate on how to overcome some of the existing challenges so that Africa can benefit from policies developed by ICANN.
CCK Director General Charles Njoroge said the Commission was encouraging more players in the Internet market through an enabling regulatory regime and by putting in place key infrustructure that has enhanced the quality of the business.

The 38th International ICANN meeting will be held in Brussels, Belgium in June 2010.