AFRALO Workshop in IGF Vilnius

Workshop # 61

New gTLDs and IDNs for Development

Tuesday 14 September 2010

09:00 – 11:00

LITEXPO, Hall 5, Room 3

Summary

The panellists addressed the following items:

• The new gTLDs program, history, opportunities and barriers in developing countries;
• The IDNs ccTLD fast track implementation
• The impact of new gTLDs and IDNs on the development of poor countries and  communities,
  

The debate demonstrated the existence of a big concern about the real impact on needy countries and communities. Questions were raised related to:

• the possible number of applications for new gTLD from the developing countries and the poor communities
• the effective impact of the new gTLDs and IDNs on the development
• the barriers linked to :
  • application cost,
  • technical infrastructure requirement such as IPV 6 and DNSSEC
  • process complexity of the application
  • technical human resources
    

Another major issue linked to the program inclusiveness was debated: there were still Worries about conducting studies prior to implementation (feasibility), during and after implementation to see if we are going in the right way or not.  For example is it the best choice to open a single round for an unlimited number of applications rather than successive rounds for a limited number of applications so that we can correct what needs to be corrected after the experience of each round?