TRA signs exchange of letters with ICANN
Abu Dhabi, October 11, 2011
The UAE Telecoms Regulatory Authority (TRA) said it has sealed its relationship with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) through the signing of an exchange of letters.
The exchange of letters is an indication of the UAE’s commitment to support the openness, security and stability of the Internet, said Mohammed Al Ghanim, TRA director general, after signing the dela with Rod Beckstrom, CEO and president of ICANN at the Gitex expo.
The exchange of letters demonstrates that UAE is one of the leading countries in the region in managing its ccTLD (Country Code Top Level Domain) according to the best internal practices and for the best interests of its people.
'The TRA officially recognizes ICANN's role in coordinating the root services of the Internet, and ICANN officially recognizes TRA’s role as the ccTLD manager for .ae and the Arabic IDN,' said Al Ghanim.
In 2010, TRA had obtained approval from ICANN to be among the first countries in the world to launch a domain name in Arabic script, demonstrating the TRA’s keenness to support Arabic content on the Internet, and reinforce the pioneering role that UAE is playing within the ICT industry.
Speaking at the launch, Al Ghanim said TRA aims to maintain its pace with the latest ICT sector developments.
'We are aiming to achieve our goals in accordance with ICANN, to reinforce competition in the domain names market, while at the same time guaranteeing Internet safety and stability,' he added.
Beckstrom said this was the first internationalized domain name ccTLD agreement that ICANN had signed anywhere in the world.
'It reflects the TRA’s leading role in the Middle East region in managing .ae and .emarat, the IDN ccTLD,' the official said.
'The new generic top-level domain program will help private companies and governments and other entities to optionally launch the generic domain name, which will be of great interest to these groups in terms of facilitating how they will present themselves to their audience on the Internet,' he added.-TradeArabia News Service
