The following communique was agreed upon by the APTLD Board on 15th Sept 2002 at the APTLD Meeting in Kuala Lumpur. Would appreciate publication/ posting at the appropriate fora.

- ramesh -

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ASIA PACIFIC TOP LEVEL DOMAINS

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

14th & 15th September 2002

The APTLD, meeting in Kuala Lumpur, notes recent steps taken by the ERC to form an Assistance Group to develop the country code Supporting Organisation as suggested by the ccTLD AdCom.

The APTLD is pleased to see that the ERC is proceeding to develop the Supporting Organisation, which has long been recommended by the ccTLDs. We welcome the creation of the Assistance Group to further develop this important work, provided the scope of discussions undertaken by the Assistance Group is sufficiently broad to facilitate the creation of a Supporting Organisation that properly meets ccTLD needs and those of the rest of the global Internet community.

We look forward to working closely with the Assistance Group, the ERC and our ccTLD colleagues on this matter. APTLD expects to issue detailed comments on the Second Interim Implementation Report.

We also enjoyed a valuable discussion with the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Governmental Advisory Committee concerning ICANN reform and on-going cooperation between the APTLD and the GAC. This is the continuation of ccTLD outreach to other members of the global Internet community that began with the ccTLD-GAC workshop in Bucharest in June 2002.

The APTLD recognises that the GAC is the appropriate body to represent governments within ICANN and we look forward to on-going cooperation with the GAC, particularly at the regional level.

On behalf of the APTLD,

Ramesh Kumar Nadarajah

Chair

Asia Pacific Top Level Domains