The APTLD75 Communiqué

APTLD’s 75th Members Meeting and the 2019 AGM were
held in the city of Dubai, UAE, on 20 and 21 February 2019. Since the past rendez-vous
in Dubai in 2008, the APTLD community has advanced remarkably, and the progress
manifested itself in a number of successfully pioneered areas.

Back in the early 2018, APTLD initiated a dialogue,
and has subsequently been spearheading  collaboration, with the ICANN-sponsored Middle
East DNS Forum and RIPE NCC to form, for the first time ever, a Troyka to hold a joint conference, which
ultimately drew a total of over 140 participants across Asia Pacific, the
Middle East and Maghreb areas, as well as Europe and Africa.

Also, for the first time in its history APTLD led a concerted
targeted effort to bolster a single registry’s capacity by holding a 2-day
intense training in marketing for the .IQ team. Co-sponsored by the
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of UAE, the .AE registry, Associate
members Afilias and Gransy, AEServer, a UAE-based registrar, and ICANN, the
training featured a meticulously developed customized curriculum and
instruments to measure the trainees’ performance.

Post-Meeting, the same trainer team is going to the
neighboring Oman to conduct a similar exercise to benefit the .OM team and
local registrars.

Equally important and fairly new sensation for the
community became the realization of a an effective reconnect with the
Membership in the Middle East, who appreciated the opportunity for joining
APTLD to benefit from meaningful exchanges in the area of best ccTLD
operation-related policies and practices.

Meanwhile, as some APTLD members’ mandate includes Numbers
in addition to Names, prior to APTLD75, RIPE NCC’s highly qualified trainers
successfully conducted a training class on IpV6 for them and some non-members,
too.

The Meeting was traditionally run in two tracks, with
ICANN and RIPE NCC having proactively developed a number of technical sessions
in various formats under Track B, including workshops, talks, and panel
discussions on a range of policy and technical issues, while APTLD’s sessions
covered the ccTLD-centered agenda under Track A.

Building on the state-of-the-art local broadband and infrastructures,
.AE, the local host, with the help of Etisalat, nation’s biggest ISP, extended
the most generous hospitality and provided extraordinary connectivity which enabled
a seamless streaming of the joint opening sessions and the technical track.

The audience gave a warm welcome to H.E. Hamad Al
Mansoori , Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of UAE
and Mr.Cherine Chalaby, Chair of ICANN’s Board of Directors, who highlighted on
the strategic importance of APTLD and other I* organizations for the region and
the world.

At the ensuing Annual General Meeting, Members
approved by acclamation re-elected Board members Ms. Ai-chin Lu (.TW), Ms. Min
Jung Park (.KR), and new Board Members Mr. Li Qiang (.CN) and Alireza Saleh
(.IR). The Members also approved the 2018 Accounts and commented on the 2019
budget.

The community bid farewell to Ms. Zhang Xiao (.CN) and
Mr. Stafford Guest (.NU) an APTLD and Board veteran. Subsequently, in its
in-person meeting held after AGM, the APTLD Board re-elected Ms. Ai-Chin Lu the
APTLD Board Chair, Mr. Gihan Dias –Vice Chair, elected Mr. Li Qiang Treasurer,
and re-elected Ms. Min Jung Park the Secretary.

Members considered APTLD Chair and GM’s Reports on
2018 and noticed with satisfaction the progress over the year, and discussed
and adopted the APTLD Strategic Plan for 2019-2021 and considered a possible
re-incorporation of the Association in a jurisdiction other than Malaysia.

APTLD75 became yet another evidence of the positive
dynamic of APTLD’s advancement and expansion. The unique alliances with other
I* organizations and well-designed collaborative efforts promoted APTLD’s
position as an industry powerhouse, while efficiently delivered member-centered
communication and outreach, and capacity building projects further cemented its
role as a crucial pool of knowledge and best practices sharing activities for
the ccTLD community in the region. It is not accidental that on the last day of
the Meeting APTLD the PW Registry Corp of Palau (.PW) joined the ranks of the
Association’s Ordinary Membership.

Boasting now 47 Ordinary and 17 Associate Members
APTLD has become the largest of the sister Regional Organizations.