CircleID

ICANN has welcomed the Tunis Declaration adopted during the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in relation to the Internet's ongoing technical coordination. The decision by the WSIS to recognize ICANN's existing multi-stakeholder model ensures that the stability and integrity of the Internet's naming and addressing system will be preserved.

Commenting on the conclusion of the Summit, Paul Twomey, President and CEO of ICANN said: "the outcome means that more than a billion Internet users can have confidence in the ongoing stability and security of the Internet's core infrastructure and workings.

"We are pleased that our efforts for continued globalization of ICANN and its mandate is identified as important in the outcome and we welcome the acknowledgement that the Internet operations remain independent of day to day politics and political influence."

Broad stakeholder participation is the key to ICANN's effectiveness as an international technical coordination body, as is the ongoing improvement and evolution of the organization's mechanisms and processes. The WSIS process has highlighted the important role that governments have to play in public policy issues related to the Internet and as an evolving body, ICANN welcomes discussion related to the development of the existing mechanism for governmental participation.

ICANN looks forward to dialogue during its upcoming international meeting to be held in Vancouver, where among the topics of discussion will be how the role of ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) could be improved within the existing multi-stakeholder mechanism, and what measures need to be taken to make our cooperation more effective, including ensuring the participation of developing countries. 

Related topics: DNS, ICANN