• The collaboration to contribute to maintaining a more secure and resilient Domain Name System (DNS) at both the regional and global levels.
• Both organisations to organise UA training and capacity-building events for relevant stakeholders in the Arab states.
• Arabic-speaking internet users will be able to navigate and communicate on the internet using a chosen domain name and email address that best aligns with their interests, business, culture, language, and script.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Arab Information and Communication Technologies Organisation (AICTO) to support the use of Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) and to promote Universal Acceptance (UA) in the Middle East.

IDNs enable people around the world to use domain names and email addresses in local languages and scripts, including those in Arabic (e.g., تونس بريد@مثال.موقع، .).

Universal Acceptance is key to supporting this use by ensuring that all domain names and email addresses – regardless of the script, language, or character length – are accepted equally by all Internet-enabled applications, devices, and systems. This includes supporting all IDN country code top-level domains (ccTLDs), as well as new and long generic top-level domains (gTLDs).

When UA is achieved, Arabic-speaking internet users will be able to navigate and communicate on the internet using a chosen domain name and email address that best aligns with their interests, business, culture, language, and script. It also has important economic and social benefits by increasing an end user’s ability to access and connect to e-commerce, local communities, and public services.

Together, the collaboration will contribute to maintaining a more secure and resilient Domain Name System (DNS) at both the regional and global levels.

Filling the gap

Mohamed Ben Amor, General Manager of AICTO, said that the use of Arabic language top-level domain names remains below the potential of the regional market and its ambitions.

“The recognition of the Arabic language by major email platforms also remains low in comparison with what is done with other main languages in the world. This shows what we call ‘digital linguistic divide or gap’,” he said.

Moreover, with the contribution and the expertise of ICANN, he said that AICTO will be able to mobilise all the necessary resources at the regional scale to reposition the Arabic language at its true value and so to fill this gap.

“This effort will certainly have positive economic impacts on the regional ecosystem.”

Improving trust and confidence

Göran Marby, President and CEO of ICANN, the internet can be local and global at the same time.

“This is a great opportunity for ICANN and AICTO to work together to help the Arabic speaking communities access the internet in their local languages and scripts. It is an equally important opportunity for us to collaborate with AICTO to further improve the trust and confidence on the internet at the regional level.”

Some of the joint activities that will be explored under the MoU, include organising UA training and capacity-building events for relevant stakeholders in the Arab states.