In Moscow, ICANN Board Member George Sadowsky answers questions about new generic top-level domains as CEO Rod Beckstrom looks on.
12 December 2011, Moscow - As part of ICANN's campaign to raise global awareness about the opportunities and challenges of New gTLDs, Internet companies, government, Internet users and representatives of Russian media met in Moscow at the downtown Marriott Royal Aurora. The event, hosted by the .ru/.рф ccTLD Coordination Center, enabled Russians interested in new generic top-level domains to interact with ICANN's President and CEO, Rod Beckstrom; Board Director George Sadowsky; Chief of Staff Christopher Mondini; and ICANN's representative for the region, Veni Markovski. The day's schedule included a business breakfast, a press conference, a two-hour presentation with questions and answers, and a number of face-to-face meetings.
Russian attendees showed a clear desire to enhance their participation in all facets of ICANN, including the ccNSO, GNSO, GAC, and At Large.
In opening remarks, Beckstrom (text of his speech, PDF) and Sadowsky pointed to ICANN's inclusive multistakeholder model as a means of ensuring that each voice is heard and that each stakeholder can participate on equal terms. They thanked the Russian Internet community for its contribution to the work of ICANN's Supporting Organizations, to Internationalized Domain Name variants, and more.
In the lengthy and substantive Q&A session, Russians asked questions about new gTLD policies, and Beckstrom, Sadowsky, and Markovski responded. Some of the questions, relevant to all potential applicants, are published on the New gTLD FAQ page.
Russians packed Moscow's Marriott Royal Aurora to share information about ICANN's new gTLD program.
The ICANN delegation also met with:
- Minister at the government of Moscow, head of department of information technologies. and former representative of Russia to ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee, Artem Armolaev;
- The deputy prime-minister of the Republic of Tatarstan, Nikolay Nikiforov;
- The deputy-chair of the Skolkovo foundation, Stanislav Naumov;
- The head of Moscow's office of the EastWest Institute, Vladimir Ivanov;
- The director of the governmental Agency for Strategic Initiatives, Dmitry Peskov; and
- Chief executives of the area's major ICANN accredited registrars.
"ICANN's visit to Moscow is an important sign that it recognizes the importance of Russia in the global discussion of how to improve ICANN's model," said Veni Markovski.
The event in Moscow was a significant part of ICANN's ongoing effort to inform Internet users, businesses and governments around the world, about its core mission.
The next New gTLD awareness-raising event takes place in Jakarta, Indonesia.