28 March 2006
Representatives from members .au, .cn, .cx, .hk, .jp, .kr, .mn, .my, .nu, .nz, .sg, .tk, .tw, NeuStar and Afilias, observers CENTR, ICANN staff, sponsored guests from .ws, prospective members .ki, as well as representatives of numerous other ccTLDs attending ICANN, met in Wellington New Zealand on 25 March 2006 for the Annual General Meeting of APTLD.
The meeting, held in conjunction with ICANN Wellington, enjoyed presentations from a range of speakers on matters including the WSIS/IGF process, and progressed a number of important APTLD issues, the key being the General Manager’s position. These are discussed below.
Internet Governance Forum
Chris Disspain (.au) and Markus Kummer, IGF Secretariat, formed a panel to discuss recent events including the first steering meeting of the Internet Governance Forum, arising from the WSIS process that concluded at Tunis in November 2005. The discussion reflected on where the IGF has come from and the timetable for 2006 leading to the first full meeting of the Forum.
APTLD generally continues to support the ICANN model as the most appropriate form of multi-stakeholder governance for DNS. This position appears to be in accordance with the development of the IGF to date.
General Manager position reported back
Following the agreement at APTLD Amman to employ a General Manager, the Board updated members on the appointment process. The Association looks forward to making an announcement of an appointment shortly. The establishment timeline was extended due to later advertising in some member countries, and the number and quality of applicants.
Other Presentations
Fay Howard, the general manager of CENTR, gave a presentation to the meeting on CENTR’s recent activities, membership status and the changes in the European ccTLD management industry in the past five years.
Kim Davies from IANA presented an update on IANA’s recent progress in improving services to the ccTLD community, and briefed the meeting on plans for improvement. IANA’s focus is on improving outreach and engagement with the community to deliver better services.
Ching Chao gave an update on the progress of the .ASIA sTLD process being run through the DotAsia Organisation.
Members also received reports on the Secretariat’s work since the previous meeting, a financial report, discussed revisions to the APTLD Constitution and a new set of bylaws, the meeting programme for the remainder of 2006, and plans for an APTLD Training School.
The AGM ratified the online ballot for four Board members, and welcomed new directors Jaeyoun Kim (.kr) and Jonathan Shea (.hk) to the Board. The meeting bid farewell to retiring directors Professor Hulian Qian (.cn) and Chan-ki Park (.kr) from the Board, and thanked them for their long and diligent service to APTLD.
Principal officers were elected for 2006-2007. Peter Dengate Thrush (.nz) was re-elected Board Chairman; Shariya Haniz Zulkifli (.my) was re-elected Senior Vice Chair, Yumi Ohashi (.jp) was re-elected Vice Chair (Membership) and Jaeyoun Kim (.kr) was elected as Vice Chair (Treasurer).
Members and visitors from .au, .cn, .hk, .ki, .mn, .nz, .tk and .ws shared details of the operation of their ccTLDs, including policy and technical issues, management structures and registration and other Internet statistics.
APTLD sincerely thanks hosts InternetNZ for their sponsorship and hospitality in the course of the meeting in Wellington.
The next Members meeting of APTLD will be held in the far West of the region, around June 2006.
Peter Dengate Thrush
Chairman, APTLD