From: "Manal Ismail" <manal@tra.gov.eg>
To: "dnstransition@ntia.doc.gov" <'dnstransition@ntia.doc.gov'>
Date: Sun, Jul 16, 2006 9:17 AM
Subject: Comments on DNS Transition, Docket No. 060519136-6136-01 ..

Egypt recognizes the initiative by the US Government of issuing this
Notice of Inquiry, and welcomes the opportunity to respond to the
request of the Department of Commerce, specifically the National
Telecommunications and Information Authority (NTIA), for comments on
"The Continued Transition of the Technical Coordination and Management
of the Internet Domain Name and Addressing System."
Egypt acknowledges the outcome of the discussions on Internet Governance
during both phases of the United Nations World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS) and believes it is of significant relevance to the
ongoing process.
Egypt has been closely following the ICANN process since its start in
late 1998. In March 2000, Egypt hosted the first ICANN round of
meetings in the region and since March 2002, Egypt has been actively
participating in the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) of ICANN.
Egypt highly recognizes the efforts and progress done by ICANN to
achieve greater efficiency and responsiveness and to effectively involve
all stakeholders. In specific, Egypt recognizes ICANN's efforts in
fostering competition in the domain names market, in enhancing bottom-up
coordination and in improving equitable representation by involving
different regions and interest groups. Egypt further recognizes the
effort done by ICANN concerning Multilingualism and notes that more
effort is still needed in this respect in order to meet the needs of the
international internet community.
In this context, and in view of the upcoming expiration of the
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the US Department of Commerce
and ICANN, in September 2006, Egypt believes the following should be
well noted:
* The Internet was developed and promoted by the industry with its
technical pioneers; and should continue to develop freely.
* It is evident that the Internet has evolved into a global
facility, the management of which should be multilateral, transparent
and democratic, with the full involvement of all stakeholders including
governments, the private sector, the civil society and international
organizations.
* No single Government should have a pre-eminent role in Internet
governance, rather an international mechanism for coordination should be
adopted especially as related to public policy issues.
* Internet management should ensure an equitable distribution of
resources, facilitate access for all and ensure a stable and secure
functioning of the Internet, taking into account multilingualism.
* ICANN has so far performed a creditable job in managing domain
names and IP addresses as well as coordinating among root server
operators. ICANN should remain focused on those functions necessary to
maintain the security and stability of the Internet.
* The progress done by ICANN to involve all stakeholders, taking
into account governmental input communicated through the GAC and
individuals' input expressed via the ALAC, is highly welcomed; however
stronger involvement of the international community with all its
stakeholders is still needed.
In this respect, Egypt believes that the US Department of Commerce
should work closely with the international community and ICANN on a
transition plan aiming at establishing an independent internationalized
ICANN based on public-private partnership and actively interacting with
governments.
Manal Ismail
Egypt GAC Representative