"AfriNIC 14 Public Policy Meeting 4– 10 June 2011, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Plenary Sessions: Opening Ceremony "

The African Network Information Centre (AfriNIC) is pleased to announce that its 14th bi-annual meeting scheduled for the 4th to 10th of June 2011 has started at the Kunduchi Hotel in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. This meeting's main themes are IPv6 deployment in Africa, Cyber security and Interconnecting Africa.

The Opening Ceremony was held in the morning of the 8th of June 2011, and was officiated by the Dr. Florens Turuka, Ministry of Communication, Science and Technology, in the presence of Professor John Nkoma, Director General of the Tanzanian Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA), Alain Aina, Acting CEO AfriNIC and Dr. Viv Padayatchy, Chairman AfriNIC.

This year, the first day of the Plenary Session coincided with the World IPv6 Day, initiative of the Internet Society (ISOC). A dedicated panel, titled "What are the biggest hurdles for a Service Provider to deploy IPv6 in Africa" was debated in the afternoon. A group of expert panelists took questions from the community on deployment of IPv6 in Africa, best practices and success stories.

AfriNIC-14 is a platform for all Internet industry players to discuss the latest development in global best practice for managing Internet number resources in the African region. Primarily targeted at the technical community, governments, regulators, civil society and existing AfriNIC members, the meeting is also open to anyone, including end users of the Internet. AfriNIC-14 also will play host to vibrant policy discussions where all the stakeholders present can contribute to the development of management and distribution policies for Internet number resources.

The 4th AfriNIC Government Working Group (AfGWG) meeting and a workshop for Law Enforcement Agencies is scheduled for the 10th of June 2011. The aim of this meeting is to strengthen the collaboration between AfriNIC and African Governments and Regulators, in order to create a dynamic framework to address general Internet governance challenges faced by the region, and specifically those related to the role of governments with respect to Internet number resources. The agendas of the meetings comprises of discussions on Africa post IPv4 Global depletion, the transition to IPv6 and its challenges in Africa and the way forward. The meeting will also be an opportunity for governments and regulators to share their thoughts and experiences as well as setting up structures to aid in the deployment of IPv6 in their respective countries.

AfriNIC-14 also provided free tutorials, trainings, and presentations on sector relevant issues such as IPv6, Cyber security, Internet resources management and Internet governance, from the 4th to the 6th of June. Please note that the AfriNIC-14 meeting is held jointly with AfNOG-12.

For more information on AfriNIC-14 see http://meeting.afrinic.net/afrinic-14/ or email meeting[at]afrinic.net.

Note to Editors:

The African Network Information Center (AfriNIC) is the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for Africa, responsible for the distribution and management of Internet number resources throughout the African region. AfriNIC is a non-government, not-for-profit, membership based organization, based in Mauritius that serves the African Internet Community.