ICANN Wants to Engage India

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The Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is looking at a new level of engagement with the Indian government and sections of the Indian Internet industry in order to help the country upgrade its role in the global Internet regime.

Among other initiatives towards this end, ICANN would soon launch a series of public events in the country. Details of the events would be announced by 18 September 2004. "For us the question is how do we remain global and also locally relevant. It is in this context that we are looking at organizing events in India," said Paul Twomey, president and CEO, ICANN.

Stating that India's current role in the global Internet space was miniscule compared to her size and potential and that the country was not considered an important player in the Internet space, Twomey told CyberMedia News that India has the talent pool and business acumen needed to grow on the Internet. "India has a talent pool but that pool is seen more strong on the software side and not perceived strong on the network engineering side. Maybe the Indian technical education system should pay more attention to honing network engineering skills of people here," he said. Twomey was all praise for India's adherence to rule of law and its free and fair judicial system that he said were important for the growth of Internet.

Twomey, who is in India to hold discussions with the Internet community as well as government officials, found his audience quite receptive to the ideas that ICANN propagates in its quest for building a truly global Internet governance structure. According to Twomey, ensuring the security and stability of Internet and making ICANN a truly global organization remained the organization's biggest challenges. Another key challenge was to make people see value in a single interoperable Internet model.

Ravi Shekhar Pandey for CyberMedia News