(update: see More .ASIA)
Just got a note from Che-Hoo, the interim CEO of dotasia org.:
At the ICANN board meeting held in Mar del Plata on Fri (Apr 8), the ICANN board Chairman Dr. Vint Cerf said the followings publicly on stage (quoted from http://www.icann.org/meetings/mardelplata/captioning-BoD-meeting-08apr05.htm):
">>VINT CERF: OH, THAT FEELS GOOD. OKAY. BACK TO WORK.
ALL RIGHT.
THE NEXT ITEM IS REALLY JUST AN UPDATE FOR EVERYONE WITH REGARD TO THE OTHER TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN -- NEW STLDS THAT ARE UNDER CONSIDERATION.
I WANT TO FORMALLY SAY FOR THE RECORD THAT THERE ARE ADDITIONAL STLDS UNDER CONSIDERATION; IN PARTICULAR, .ASIA, .MAIL, AND .TEL, AND THERE ARE TWO OF THOSE, AND .XXX.
OF THOSE, WE HAVE HAD FAIRLY EXTENSIVE DISCUSSION ABOUT .ASIA AND .XXX. WE CONTINUE TO EVALUATE THOSE. THE OTHERS WILL BE ATTENDED TO AS WE CAN GET TO THEM. BUT I WANT TO SAY FOR THE RECORD THAT WE WILL ATTEMPT WITHIN THE NEXT 30 DAYS TO COME TO A CONCLUSION ONE WAY OR THE OTHER ABOUT .ASIA AND .XXX SO THESE WILL BE ON A BOARD CALL SOMETIME WITHIN THAT PERIOD.
SO FOR THE PARTIES WHO ARE AWAITING THE OUTCOME, I WANT THEM TO HAVE SOME SENSE OF ASSURANCE THAT WE WILL ADDRESS THIS MATTER IN AN EXPEDITIOUS WAY."
Good news for .ASIA bid. As most of these community-sponsored TLDs are for special interest/industrial groups like .travel, .mobi, etc. .ASIA is more or less like a joint venture among APxx organizations. It would be a serious issue for .ASIA corporate governance, and see the management team to handle issues like Arabic language, registry-registries-registrars profit sharing model, and many other multi-cultural issues. But through this initiative, the Asia Pacific Internet society may be able to glue together.
It's a tough challenge, one step at a time, and I give it a GO.
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