The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced today that Samiran Gupta rejoined ICANN on 3 October 2023 as Vice President, Government and Intergovernmental Organization (IGO) Engagement for the APAC region, and Stakeholder Engagement South Asia.
Gupta will oversee ICANN's engagement and participation in IGO and multilateral forums in the region, including meetings and initiatives of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and engaging with regional governments on the United Nations Global Digital Compact and the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)+20 process. He also will contribute to other IGO activities relevant to ICANN's mission.
The strong increase in Internet usage across the APAC region led to ICANN's decision to create a Government Engagement team that's dedicated to the region. Supporting Gupta is Angela Wibawa, who recently joined ICANN as Director for Government Engagement/IGO and is based in Singapore.
Veni Markovski, the interim head of the Government and IGO Engagement team said, "We are delighted to have Samiran back at ICANN. His outstanding track record of success and his established relationships within the community will help advance ICANN's mission in the region."
In his Stakeholder Engagement role, Gupta will continue to build upon his success in engaging the community in South Asia, which covers mainly Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Gupta previously served as ICANN's Head of Stakeholder Engagement, South Asia, until February 2022. He is based in Delhi, India.