Reflecting on 2024 fiscal year 2024 (FY24), we've made significant strides in both the Middle East and Africa regions. We've been aligning our efforts with ICANN's strategic objectives, focusing on security, governance, unique identifier systems, and geopolitics. Here's a snapshot of our key achievements and what we're looking forward to in FY25.
FY24 Highlights
Key Moments of Our Engagement and Participation
In FY24, we organized and participated in over 100 events, connecting with more than 7,000 individuals. Notable events included:
- Middle East: We organized and participated in 55 events, reaching 3,000 individuals.
- 10th Middle East DNS Forum: Hosted by the National Telecommunications Regulatory Agency in Morocco. The event attracted 327 participants and received positive feedback.
- Middle East School on Internet Governance: Held in collaboration with ICANN, the Internet Society, and RIPE NCC and hosted by Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. Twenty-five participants successfully completed the program.
- Africa: We organized and participated in 50 events, reaching 4,000 individuals.
- Africa Engagement Forum 2023: Held in Accra, Ghana, with 370 participants, focusing on regional collaboration.
- Africa Internet Summit 2023: Held in Johannesburg, South Africa, covering topics like Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) and Universal Acceptance (UA).
- Coalition for Digital Africa: Held workshops, webinars, and training events with Coalition partners to advance ongoing initiatives.
- Hosted ICANN80 and the High-Level Government Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda.
Technical and Academic Engagement
Our technical collaboration and academic outreach marked substantial progress.
- Middle East:
- Collaborated with Internet service providers in Pakistan and the Republic of Türkiye, leading to major operators enabling DNSSEC validation.
- Engaged with seven universities in the Republic Türkiye and organized various activities as part of a pilot project aimed at continuous and long-term engagement with academic institutions.
- Africa:
- Delivered public lectures and workshops at universities, including the University of Johannesburg and École Polytechnique de Lomé in Togo, significantly bolstering our collaboration with academic institutions.
Raising the Awareness of New gTLDs and Universal Acceptance
Media campaigns across both regions and participation in key events helped raise awareness about new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) and UA.
- Middle East:
- Participated in the Web Summit Qatar 2024 in Doha, engaging new participants from small and medium-sized businesses.
- Africa:
- Highlighted the importance of new gTLDs and UA at the OSIANE Salon in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, and various regional Internet Governance Forum (IGF) meetings.
Looking Forward to FY25
ICANN81 in Istanbul
We're already gearing up for ICANN81 in Istanbul, with premeeting events aimed at building deeper connections within the local community. ICANN81 will feature extensive discussions on various ICANN-related and ecosystem topics.
Africa Internet Summit 2024
Our participation in the summit, which is scheduled to be held 10–23 September in Mauritius, will showcase ICANN's ongoing projects and key initiatives.
FY25 Regional Priorities
- Technical Engagement: conducting training activities in the Republic of Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Mauritania, Ghana, and Mauritius.
- Government Engagement: participating in meetings related to the WSIS+20 Review Process, the Internet Governance Forum 2024, regional IGFs, and the Africa IGF.
- Next Round of New gTLDs: targeting stakeholders from business and government sectors in the Middle East and Africa regions.
- Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) and UA: promoting the use of IDNs and encouraging UA adoption through targeted events and collaboration.
- Capacity Development: supporting country code top-level domains, parliamentarians, and governments through training and engagement activities.
- ICANN Managed Root Server (IMRS): supporting more IMRS single instances in Africa.
We remain dedicated to building a secure, stable, and inclusive Internet ecosystem. Thank you to all our partners and participants for your continued support.
Looking ahead, we are excited to continue our work together to strengthen the Internet ecosystem and foster innovation in the Middle East and Africa.
