Transcript AFRALO 07.07.10 EN

Tijani Ben Jemaa: What are we waiting for? Well we can actually start – we can start? And hello everyone, Dave has just joined the French channel. So before starting, I’d like to wish good health to your sister-in-law who was just hospitalized, right? She was at the hospital? And thank you so much for your sympathies. And I hope that she makes a quick recovery. So let’s then start with the agenda. Let’s see who is present today. So good evening everyone, this is the AFRALO teleconference for July 7, 2010. We have Mohamed El Bashir, we have Baudouin Schombe, we have Pastor Peters, Dave Kissondoyal, Fatimata Seye Sylla, Arnold Tric and we have myself, and we have our friend from Nigeria (inaudible 00:02:03) and Aziz will be leading this teleconference.

Abdelaziz Hilali: So I think that this is one of the largest attendances that we’ve had in a while. So, let’s go ahead for item number 2, and this is the review of the action items. So we are going to see if we can do an update of the ALAC activities today. Is Hawa here today, so she can give us an update on the activities?

Hawa Diakite: How are you everyone? We are now going to start an update on ALAC activities. Yes, unfortunately for my last meeting, I had not been connected.

Tijani Ben Jemaa: Is there somebody that can do the record of the minutes for today’s meeting? We basically need a reporter for today’s meeting. What report are you talking about, today’s meeting? Right, for today’s meeting. So Didier is the person who is the reporter for the meeting. Can you chair this meeting then?

Maya: Hi Mohamed, it’s Maya. How are you?

Mohamed El Bashir: Hi, good.

Maya: Mohamed, I’m going to tell you, I need you to bear with me, because unfortunately some of the people on the French channel are in very bad connection. I cannot hear them. So, obviously if I cannot hear well I cannot interpret. So I will try to de-gloss as much as I can for you. But I want you to bear with me, because it is not a perfect connection. A lot of them are on cell phones, so, okay?

Mohamed El Bashir: Okay, I’ll follow.

Mohamed El Bashir: Let’s continue with the action items. So, we’re at the action items, then. Cheryl had asked us to present our comments on the Transparency and Accountability. So, Tijani, is there something you’d like to say about that.

Tijani Ben Jemaa: Yes, I do have something to say about that. Basically in regards to that, I just hope that we are able to get more comments and that’s all. So that’s really the only point, right? Yes, third item, public consultation period, which is currently open. So we have five minutes for that. So, Tijani, whenever you have something to say about that, let us know.

So, unfortunately since I am not in front of my computer, I can’t really tell you exactly. But it is usually the same thing. There are the links. I basically tell everybody to participate in the public consultation period, which is very, very important. The point is for everybody to participate in these open public consultations.

Okay, so let’s go to the next item then, we are at item 4. So, the next item we obviously are going to be hearing from some of our ALSs. So, once again, we’ve got the next item which is, since there were no comments on the register accreditation agreement subsection, we’ll continue then on the update on the joint AFRALO-AfrICANN statement on the new gTLDs.

As you know, we had several discussions in Brussels in regards to this. Tijani, Didier, and Michel worked on this, so we will talk about this in a moment. Well it is Dave who actually worked on the statement and everybody agreed. So it would be good to hear from Dave because he is the one who worked on that statement. So Dave, if you have something to say about that joint statement, please go ahead.

Dave Kissondoyal: Yes, we then came up with a joint statement. We are the only RALO that has made such a statement and it was difficult to work on, of course. The other RALOs have told us that they want to do the same thing and they want to work on similar statements. We had all the African ALSs present in Brussels, including AfrICANN and Cheryl, the ALAC chair, was also present. I can tell you that we did an amazing job, it was really teamwork that we did on that statement and we all worked on this, Tijani did a lot of the drafting, I know that. I can tell you that AFRALO really got a lot of good feedback and we are the only RALO that have worked on a statement such as that one. And so this statement has already been sent to the ICANN Board. Thank you so much.

Tijani Ben Jemaa: So that is, then, the update on the joint statement. So Baudouin had originally asked me to originally work on this statement as well in French, which is something that we did. But this work is obviously the type of work where many people need to participate and engage, because it is really social work. So many of us participated and really worked on this because the real issue is how to figure out a way to support the new gTLDs. And we obviously wanted to have an outlook coming from the African community in regards to this issue.

So this statement was presented to the Board. We read it in front of Cheryl in Brussels, and I really want to thank Cheryl, because she really worked hard on this with us. And now, AFRALO is really present. We have a visibility that we have not had before and we have to continue working and doing what we have been doing, especially within the ICANN system where we can continue being strong. Because it is important that AFRALO participates in all ICANN groups, so this is something that if we had just started, it is work that we barely started, that we need to continue and we have done excellent work.

We really got praises from everybody over there, thanks to our work. We really got a great, great, round of applause for our type of work and we were all very happy and very satisfied with the work that we did. So it is the beginning, but this is something that we have to continue. So many of our goals are things that, little by little, we’ll be able to accomplish. And that was all.

Abdelaziz Hilali: Thank you so much Tijani. And I definitely want to congratulate the whole team for all the work they have done. And I also want to add with Tijani, and I want to say that the preparation for this activity, especially talking about the participation that we got from Africa, is something that was rather important and rather amazing, and I think that the other RALOs are now wanting to follow our example and wanting to do what it is that we did. And, what Tijani just said is very, very important. Because when we participate in ICANN and we effectively participate, we are able to make changes and this is all that I wanted to say. It was really great teamwork; the job that was done was amazing and everybody contributed wonderfully and it was really, really amazing.

Tijani Ben Jemaa: So in our meeting in Brussels, we really concentrated on discussing the statement that we prepared. So we separated then into two teams so that we could also include other recommendations within the final draft of that statement. These things are being worked on little by little, more and more.

Abdelaziz Hilali: Thank you so much, Tijani. And thank you so much for your words, because it is true. AFRALO’s participation is, in fact, extremely important, Okay, if there are no other comments, unless Mohamed you want to say something about Brussels? Because we are now starting to cover item 5, so this is the summary of Brussels meetings and activities. So we have Tijani, Didier, Mohamed, and Dave. So, if anybody would like to say something in regards to that?

Mohamed El Bashir: Yes, I congratulate them for the good statement that was made on behalf of AFRALO and the fact that the statement is considered by the Board of ICANN, and we are hopeful a final decision will be fitting with the proposal contained in that statement. So I just want to say thank you to those involved and it is a pity I could not make contribution.

Abdelaziz Hilali: Well thank you so much, Mohamed. So as we said, in Brussels we had, for the very first time ever, the biggest turnout of our delegation. We had Yaovi, for example, who was representing NomCom and so, the point is, and there was participation in all ALAC meetings, which was something very important to do. We attended every single meeting and we were able to inform every one of our activities.

We also had the joint ICANN / AFRALO meeting, where we were able as well to share a lot of our activities. And, as we were saying, the African participation was very remarkable and very present. Not only so much in the participation, though, but on the quality of the work and on the important subjects that were dealt with, especially with our discussions with At Large.

Maya: And bear with me, please, in English for a moment, there was some interruption noise. One second.

Abdelaziz Hilali: So is there anyone who would like to add anything on the Brussels meeting activities, besides everything we have spoken about so far? Now what I did want to say in regards to the working group on new gTLD supports, I would like to tell you that we did have a meeting on Wednesday and it was very fruitful. And, well, what I’d like to add is that a lot of these meetings took place with AFRALO, but the important thing about a lot of these meetings, that we had very important officials that always attended our meetings, such as Cheryl, for example, who attended a lot of our meetings.

And many other officials that were very interested in AFRALO activities. And so we now just have a lot of work to continue doing after the Brussels meeting. And so, now, we are going to be working on how it is that we can help to modify the (inaudible 00:25:14) in order to have an increase in participation in a lot of the other activities, which is one of our goals. And so that is an important project as well.

But I will talk about more of these AFRALO activities towards the end of the meeting. You know, like I said, there are many things that we want to work on, and always the problem is that we lack financing. So, if there are no other comments, we’ll go to the next item. And yes, Yaovi, what did you want to say?

Yaovi Atohoun: I was present in the NomCom meeting in Brussels, and it is important that I mention this. There were many of us present, many of us candidates present in that meeting. And so it was important that we take part, as well in those meetings in Brussels.

Abdelaziz Hilali: Alright, if we have no other comments, we’ll go to item 6. So item 6 is the update on the At Large Board selection process, any information on that, either Tijani, Yaovi, or Baudouin would have something to say about that?

Tijani Ben Jemaa: Well I was a member of the first team, but Baudouin and Yaovi were members of the BCC. As you know, the goal of this is to be able to select an At Large Director, a Board Director, excuse me, but being selected by At Large. So I know there was a small problem in one of the changes that they made. As you know, the At Large director has to start at the same time as the Board director, so there were some issues with those changes.

As you know a Director is elected for six months; that is something that would not work, because nobody would do that. And so, what ICANN says, the term supposedly last for six months and then the process starts for the new election. The point of what I’m telling all of you is that I want to make sure that everybody participates in the open consultation period so that your voice is heard, especially if you disagree with the way the selection process is going to work.

Baudouin Schombe: I know that Cheryl was present in a lot of the meetings and I know that we already have a statement of interest because we had our NomCom meeting tonight. So we will be releasing that statement of interest in regards to the selection process.

Abdelaziz Hilali: Baudouin, do you want to add something else?

Baudouin Schombe: I do agree with what Tijani said. So if you have any comments on what Tijani just said, then we are all ears, but it is true that this is a very confusing selection process, so.

Abdelaziz Hilali: Any other comments?

Dave Kissondoyal: I do have a question. Tijani, has the possibility of elections happening every three and a half years been considered?

Tijani Ben Jemaa: Well, I mean that is something that was considered, but there were many things that we were supposed to include in the public comments. I know that this was a proposed idea. So basically, according to ICANN now, the person is elected for six months and then for the following term after that.

Fatimata Seye Sylla: So how is this going to work when it comes to At Large, then?

Tijani Ben Jemaa: Well, like I said, this is what the staff told us, and I did say to them that it was not acceptable. Because the issue is that there are people who always want to change positions when it comes to At Large. So it does make the process very difficult. Right, the issue is that rules have not been established.

Fatimata Seye Sylla: Right, but is ICANN going to allow this when it comes to At Large? Is this something that is going to be permanent?

Tijani Ben Jemaa: So, in regards to what we want and the changes that we want, like I said to you Fatimata, we have to include these in the public comments. That is the only way that we will be able to make changes. I know that we all want to make comments and that is something that we should be doing.

In regards to that, I think we have a concern about how the changes are going to take place. I think that we, perhaps, could release a comment coming from AFRALO in regards to this subject. Well, what I recommend is that we encourage so that everyone makes comments, and everybody voices their opinion and then we take it from there.

So in regards to public comment, what we can do, then, is include the fact that the preference is three and a half years and that that is included in the ICANN bylaws. And so what we can do then is have an AFRALO statement prepared where we actually show AFRALO’s position. That’s something that we can do.

Abdelaziz Hilali: What was that?

Fatimata Seye Sylla: Does ICANN count each individual comment?

Tijani Ben Jemaa: Yes they do.

Fatimata Seye Sylla: So whenever they see a comment, then, they take that into consideration.

Tijani Ben Jemaa: Well, I mean I can tell you that, you know, they take that very seriously. If there are eighteen that are voting yes for something and two that are voting no for something that is something that they will take seriously.

: Well, right, but there is also a consideration because there is also the comments that come from ALSs as well. So they will take the majority of comments from the ALSs, I know that there will also be the comments from ALAC and At Large, and then they take all that into consideration.

Fatimata Seye Sylla: So they weigh down all the comments, is that what you’re saying, and take a common point? I mean, you know, the issue is that everyone at some point should agree on this specific point or item.

Tijani Ben Jemaa: Right and this is what I was saying. Is ICANN taking this as individual comments or are they taking serious if there are specific statements from each region?

Fatimata Seye Sylla: So, what I am asking you is does it have more weight if there is an actual statement from our region versus several comments?

Tijani Ben Jemaa: No, that’s not my point.

Fatimata Seye Sylla: So, like I said, it’s a matter of, it’s a matter of what, then? How it is that they weigh down the comments. And this is really the issue.

Tijani Ben Jemaa: Well, once again, Fatimata, in regards to your question. Public comments are released and ICANN does count each individual comment. If you are able to convince several people to actually voice out their opinions, it is those people that make the changes, and that is what counts with ICANN. Because it is a matter of how many people you’ve been able to convince. So each person, each ICANN structure, needs to participate in these public comments, and that is the way it works.

Fatimata Seye Sylla: Well, I mean, you know there are comments for ALS, but should we not also release a statement in regards to that? You know, the issue is that I am still not quite sure of how that works. Well, Tijani, I think in this case, in our case, we should release an actual statement that comes from our region, and I think that is something that would actually work. In regards to the selection process, we make the decision to issue a whole statement coming from the region in regards to how we want the terms to be set in the bylaws. And I just want to agree with what Dave said.

I propose that we release an AFRALO statement in regards to this subject; and then people, when they make any individual comments, they can feel free to do so. But we should release an AFRALO statement in regards to that. Did everybody hear what was said? I said that in regards to the Board selection process that we release a statement that comes from our region specifically and then, if there are people who want to make individual statements, they can feel free to do so. I think that would be a good way to go about doing this. So is that something that we can agree on?

Mohamed El Bashir: I concur.

Fatimata Seye Sylla: So Tijani, there is a majority then, that would like to issue a general statement. Didier wanted to say something, I know.

Didier Kasole: Okay, so I think there is a majority. We will have a generalized AFRALO statement. So then we will take the position of proposing a three and a year half, excuse me, three year term, and that we will be seeing that in the minutes of today’s meeting then.

Fatimata Seye Sylla: But you know, once again, if there are other ALSs that want to participate, they can. Right, but we have thirteen people now, from the ALSs present, I think we have more than the quorum, so I think we can go ahead with that. Okay, so I think that we can continue.

Abdelaziz Hilali: Let’s go ahead and continue. I know that we will be having another meeting in an hour. And so, I think that this is an issue that we should definitely bring up in that meeting. Very well, now we are in Item 7, and these are the new ALS applications. So, if Fatimata would like to give us some information in regards to that?

Fatimata Seye Sylla: So, I know that we have, I know, the first application doesn’t have anything to do with us, and then the second application, by Binary Egypt, we have not received due diligence yet. But it was found that it was not an organization, it was more of a company, so it is not going to be accredited.

So it will not be accredited. We will be contacting, then, the organization and we will actually ask them to join the business group association, which would be more appropriate for them. So we have already sent them an email, and we will be waiting for their response. And once again, we are talking about Binary Egypt.

Abdelaziz Hilali: So, very well. Recent and upcoming activities of ALAC that is Item 8, so, if there is anybody that would like to say anything in regards to Item 8? Very well, so if there is anybody that would like to say anything about Item 8, about the recent and upcoming activities of ALAC? Okay, Hawa, if there is something you’d like to say?

Dave Kissondoyal: This goes to what Tijani said; there are a lot of public comments. In Brussels, the Board had decided to open up public comments about the bylaw modification and amendments. So that’s part of the public comment period. So, we really want to engage everybody to comment, because it is something new. The Board has decided in Brussels that it was necessary to at least compensate the Chair of the Board.

As you know, the chair of the Board is not compensated. And so this is why this public comment has been posted, to ask for comments in regards to that. But the point is, there are many, many issues at hand right now, where you can give your comments. So really what I ask is that all of the ALSs, especially everybody in AFRALO, to make their comments. That way, AFRALO will be present in the decision making in ICANN, and that is all I needed to say.

Abdelaziz Hilali: Very well, thank you.

Maya: Hawa, was there something you wanted to say? Mohamed can you hear me, because I cannot hear you?

Abdelaziz Hilali: Well then the point is that we all need to participate more in the consultation period, because it is not just participating in something once a year. I also think that a lot of us, right before the meeting, we update each other, and we encourage each other in order to be able to be more engaged; and, you know it is important that we go to the ICANN site a few times a week to see what is going on and to see what the new items are, so that we can really start contributing.

And I really encourage everyone to do this, because it is really rather important because ultimately, it is important that we all contribute to all of these public consultation periods. It is very, very important that we do. Now is there anybody else that would like to say something?

Tijani Ben Jemaa: Yes. In regards to the public comments, we always get I know the announcements and usually in our letters we get the information about the public comments; so even if you don’t go to the ICANN site, you can always contribute to these public comments, and that’s all I wanted to say.

Abdelaziz Hilali: Thank you, any other comments?

Fatimata Seye Sylla: I’m sorry, this is Fatimata, I did not hear what you said previously.

Tijani Ben Jemaa: I said that because we all get announcements via email, it is not even necessary to go to the ICANN site, because you can even participate every time you get your announcement emails because there are always links in these emails. In conclusion, we must all participate in the public comment periods. That is very important. And that is the whole point. And that was really the point on participation. Well, I hope that we really take that seriously and that we really start seeing more participation.

Abdelaziz Hilali: Very well, next item, so, Item 9 then, Item 9, any other business? Okay, and did somebody want to say something on Item 9?

Michel: I just wanted to say, I want to congratulate everyone once again for the work in Brussels. I think that it is important that AFRALO needs to continue working and shining the way that they have done, so we are able to be more present in many of the ICANN issues. I know that we presented a lot of important projects, such as we mentioned previously, and that is really all I wanted to say.

Abdelaziz Hilali: Thank you Michel. Yaovi?

Yaovi Atohoun: Well, you know, this goes to the visa issues. I know that it took about a week for me to get a visa. But in the last Brussels meeting, I realized that it was important to really work on those issues as well, because I know that many of us have difficulties when it comes to that. I know that I was supposed to get my visa at the beginning of May, and I still have not gotten it yet. And so, I was really lucky, because I got it at the last minute, almost. So, the point is, we need to start working as well on these visa issues, because that is something that is very important for travel.

Abdelaziz Hilali: Does anybody have any comments in regards to that?

Yaovi Atohoun: Yes, I will then be sending everyone a survey to fill out for everybody that was present in Brussels. I want everybody to fill it out. And in the bottom portion where you can include your comments, I really want you to talk about this visa issue, because that is very important. Because in regards to this visa issue, I know a lot of the times, ICANN has not been too aware of the difficulties; so, obviously if there is such a big public meeting where many of the ICANN participants are going to be present, that is an issue that they need to deal with. So I will be sending that survey to all of you.

Tijani Ben Jemaa: Okay, Aziz, any other comments?

Abdelaziz Hilali: Okay, and what I did want to tell you, Yaovi, is that I did fill out the survey, I just did not participate, excuse me, write anything in the comments. Okay, so what I wanted to talk to you guys about is the ICANN budget and unfortunately there is not much allocated for AFRALO, from what we saw in Brussels. So it is not normal, at the same time, that we are ignored in that way.

So our voice was heard, because the Board did decide to give us a bit of opening and to take into consideration our activities. I know that I had asked for a workshop, and so we have now had our workshop validated; so we now have all of that set and our workshop is ready to start and that is very, very good. And the only thing that we need now is financing for that workshop, because we have been working on that for a while.

This workshop is about development for new gTLDs. I know that this is something very related to the outreach activities. I know that we had also set the goal to do more outreach activities, which we were not able to do because of lack of financing in some instances. So I wrote ICANN finance that we would have to wait for the next ICANN meeting in the African region to start this, we could not wait for that, very well.

I know that in Brussels, I know that we worked on many of these subjects and I know that these are subjects that we have worked on very much in many instances. And it is something that is very, very dear to us. I just hope that, at some point, we are able to really implement many of these new projects because we do have more finance support.

Tijani Ben Jemaa: But outreach activities, you know, there is other things that we can try to do. Not if it is just an ICANN activity. I can tell you that at the end of the Board meeting Friday, they had told us, you know, the floor is open, what are the activities you want to work on? So like I said, we are done preparing the workshop. At this point, we just need the financing for the workshop. At this point, we just need the financing. And that’s all I wanted to say.

Abdelaziz Hilali: Right, but if it is not financed, it means that ICANN does not want to do it, and that is the whole point, is that not right? You know, if we don’t get any financing, the answer is “no”, that they do not agree with carrying it out. You know, the point is, it would be an ICANN activity as well. It would be something important where ICANN is being represented. I know that we spoke about this ad nauseam in Brussels. If there is no financing, it means that they don’t want to make it happen, and that is what it is.

Well, the issue is, it is at least something and we should try to work on this. You know the point is, we have to continue working on this, we can’t just give up and say “well, you know, it didn’t happen, it didn’t happen”. It is just the opposite. We have to take into consideration what the committee tells us. And that is what is important. You know, and what strategy we are going to implement in regards to this.

Tijani Ben Jemaa: Right, but you know, I think that at the same time, we need to have more discussions on these activities, and what else it is that we can do. That is how I see things.

Abdelaziz Hilali: Right, but what I am telling you is that we can’t stop here, we need to continue working until we accomplish that goal.

Tijani Ben Jemaa: Right, but you know, it’s either we get the financing, or we don’t.

Abdelaziz Hilali: Very well. Go ahead, Fatimata, what were you going to say?

Fatimata Seye Sylla: I think that, you know, now that we have heard and done all of these things, it is really time to start finding other ways to work on this.

Tijani Ben Jemaa: So you think we should write to At Large and ALAC and talk to them about these issues?

Fatimata Seye Sylla: Right, that’s what I’m saying.

Tijani Ben Jemaa: Well, then it is a matter of writing to the appropriate people and seeing what we can get in regards to that.

Abdelaziz Hilali: Now does everybody agree with that, that we write to the appropriate people to see what we can accomplish in regards to the financing for the workshop?

Pastor Peters: No the workshop is something that has been prepared, but because of lack of financing, they’ve not been able to establish it. So at this point, there are going to be letters that are going to be written by Tijani to the appropriate people in At Large and ALAC to see what support can be acquired for the workshop?

Abdelaziz Hilali: Right, there has been no venue chosen because there has not been any financing acquired for the workshop as of yet. And so at this point, the discussion is about finding ways to, finding financing for that workshop and for many of the other activities. (Inaudible 01:15:55) so if you have a venue in mind, that - let me go ahead and tell them. What is your name again, Peter, right? Peter, the workshop is going to happen at IGF, and so that is the venue that was already chosen. Okay. Alright.

Dave Kissondoyal: Well, what I propose is that we can maybe write to Kevin Wilson. I think that today, we made many decisions, so I think it would be a good idea to get in contact with Kevin Wilson to really request to get a financing for the workshop at IGF. We should all be sending that official letter from AFRALO, where we will be asking for financing and where we are hopefully able to get the financing for that workshop.

Tijani Ben Jemaa: Yes, but I already wrote to Kevin. Right, because he asked me to send him, once again, activities with the budget. So we can re-write to him again and tell him that once again, in today’s meeting, we have insisted on getting special financing for the workshop, which has already been approved, which we have already finished preparing, but that we are still lacking the financing.

Baudouin Schombe: Well, what I propose personally is that we wait a while and then we send out that letter, very well.

Abdelaziz Hilali: Well very well. Since Kevin is already aware of a lot of the activities that our region is already working on. Tijani already sent the budget of the activities that are happening including the workshop. So the suggestion is to wait for a little while before sending that letter.

Dave Kissondoyal: So maybe the idea would be to send, like a reminder letter, and so then in the letter emphasize the fact that in this AFRALO meeting, there was major discussion on the financing for the workshop.

Abdelaziz Hilali: Yes but, there is also the fact that in Brussels, there was a promise that a lot of these problems were going to be solved. And so then, emphasizing that in this July 7th Teleconference; there was major discussion on the financing issue.

Dave Kissondoyal: Right, but you know that he carries out whatever orders he gets. So you know, he also has to follow orders as well. That is something that I definitely want to clarify. But you know, the point is that they already know we are working on this project. So at this point, we need to wait just a moment, I know that people have left on vacation, and worse comes to worst, we will at least write a letter stating that in this teleconference there was great concern raised in regards to the financing issues; because everybody is ready to work and participate in many of these projects. Okay?

Abdelaziz Hilali: Very well, any other comments? Once again, in regards to this issue, this project; what I can tell you is that Kevin was ready to support a lot of us and a lot of these projects. And because Tijani and Fatimata have done a lot of work, I definitely think it would be good for Tijani to really write an official letter, but an official letter that voices our concerns as ALSs where we discussed a lot of these issues on financing.

And so, we should give ourselves a couple of weeks to work on this. And that is what I wanted to say. That is the comment I had to make. Right, you know, like I said, the budget that we had asked for originally, it was not a lot. We had asked for very little money, so I unfortunately, not everybody from AFRALO will be present in IGF, but the point is that we are looking for diversity; diversity from the regions, from the people. So we asked for financing for that at least.

Right, well, you know, why not write directly to ICANN about these activities and then take it from there? For the moment, we will try to see if we can have discussion with Cheryl, but for the moment, I think that will be what we will be doing. We have to be a bit more diplomatic about how to handle this situation, obviously. But Tijani and myself, we will be working on something. Go ahead, Baudouin, we are listening to you now.

Maya: In just a moment, for English. We are getting a question from one of our participants; unfortunately we cannot hear the question because of the connection. So just a moment in English, we are trying to get the question from the French channel.

Baudouin Schombe: Right, you said Michel’s idea is good and you said something about ICANN, is that right?

Abdelaziz Hilali: Okay, Baudouin, can you try to repeat again, please, because it is really bad communication.

Baudouin Schombe: What I was saying is that it would be a good idea to, before each of the monthly meetings, speak amongst the ALSs to see what it is that we come up with to start working on moving along a lot of these projects that we have, through email for example. And that is what I was trying to tell you. The point is to be in communication and to communicate before the monthly meeting.

Abdelaziz Hilali: Very well. In regards to the last subject, to send the financing letter, it is good that we do not wait past ten days or so, so we are able to really work on that letter, nevertheless.

Tijani Ben Jemaa: Go ahead, Aziz, what did you want to say? We can’t hear you very well, Aziz, continue. Any other comments, because the communication is getting worse and worse. So, unless you have any other comments, okay, no other comments then, very well. So we are done with the meeting, and everyone have a great day, and thank you for attending. Take care everyone, bye-bye, and the meeting is over.

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