 So thank you so much for taking the time for this interview and we welcome you to Qatar. And first we'd like to know about the role of ICANN and what ICANN does. So can you tell us a brief about it? Sure. ICANN is a global coordinator of the Internet domain name system. That includes all domain names and it includes all Internet addresses and it also includes what are called the protocol and parameter registries. And we're a coordinator of that with policies. We have some operational roles but we mostly work with all the different operators around the world. Okay. So in which countries do you operate and which countries do you have you worked in? Well we have working relationships with 240 countries and territories in the world. Virtually every country and territory wants to have what's called a country code operation and if they have that then they're coordinating with us because we coordinate the root of the Internet. Alright so but you're a non-profit organization, non-government organization also? Yes we're a non-profit multinational organization so we have legal establishment in California, in Europe and we have staff spread in different places around the world. That's great. So how do you see the future of ICANN as an organization? Will it evolve in the future do you think? Sure I see ICANN evolving and growing with the Internet. We're very much shaped and driven by the ICANN community. We're a multi-stakeholder organization and so we have many different stakeholder groups that include groups such as the ISPs or the country code operators or the governments that have formed the government advisory committee, civil society, nonprofits all different kinds of business groups etc. We're a very rich multi-stakeholder organization and I see that continuing but we see more parties getting involved in working with ICANN particularly with international domain names helping to spread far and wide around the world. Okay so what's the impact of the internationalized domain names in the region? How do you see the impact happening in the Arab region? Sure well the uptake has been very good. As we see we're thrilled to see Qatar launched here in Qatar and we hope that that will be very popular amongst users and businesses here. That's up for the local users to decide. Other countries in the region are adopting internationalized domain names as well and around the world we have 22 internationalized domain names have been entered into the route already and there's others that are in the application pipeline. So the program is off to a good start and it helps the users because if for example you're using your keyboard in Arabic that word processing or document well then you can type a web address in Arabic if the company or the group, the website has an Arabic address without having to switch keyboard modes. So it's really about user convenience and it's about operating in your own language. So how does that impact the availability or probably the increase of Arabic e-content in the region? Well we'll see. You know the program is still early in terms of it's only been in the last year that we've been making these additions to the route. So we haven't heard any formal reports on content. We've heard it is popular. Like for example in Russia I think they added over a half million new domain names in Cyrillic just in the first six months. So very successful program which obviously shows the popularity in that geography and we'll see in others. But at least it gives consumers and businesses the choice. Okay. And there has been a meeting between ICANN and some governments regarding the new GTLDs. So can you update us on the progress that's taking place now regarding the new generic top level domains? Sure. There's a group of governments called the Government Advisory Committee that has approximately 109 governments involved that advises the ICANN board and that's defined in our bylaws which is a multi-stakeholder document that our board must consider advice from what we call the GAC or Government Advisory Committee. So we just had a meeting for two days in Brussels and it was one of the first formal pre-consultations between the board and the GAC. We had excellent discussions. No final decisions were taken but before we went into the meeting the GAC provided 28 pages of detailed information on changes they would like to see in the program and the ICANN board met with them and met privately and had many intensive sessions to try to see which areas that some changes might be made in and hopefully there'll be more news on that front soon. Okay. So what's the benefits of the GTLDs and some people can say that they're confusing. Is that true and why do you think they're useful? Well, you know, in general technology benefits humans when it gives them more choices and when humans can go and innovate and the beautiful thing about the internet and technology is that when you open up new spaces and new technical options you often can't predict where that innovation is going to go which is why we call it innovation because it's not predictable, it's creative. So fundamentally we just see it with more choices to consumers and when ICANN was established in 1998 it was drafted in the original concept papers the white paper and the green papers that we should be creating new generic top-level domains to add consumer choice. We have done that. We've already added others to the root of the internet and this will be the third round of adding new generic top-level domains when the program opens. Okay. So for the IPv6 what's the ICANN role in speeding the adoption of the IPv6 in the region? Sure, we have a limited role I would say in speeding adoption we do some awareness. Clearly we have an important technical role in allocating and assigning the IPv6 addresses to the regional internet registries that then assign and allocate them to their customers and members in their regions around the world. So we have mostly a coordination role globally in allocating. We do some education and some outreach but most of that's really done by our partners the regional internet registries and by the technology companies around the world that are pushing the adoption and embedding IPv6 into their technology and their offerings. And for those who are not really aware about the difference between IPv6 and IPv4 so can you tell us the difference in a brief? Sure, technically the difference is that IPv4 addresses are 32 bits or zeros and ones in computer terms and IPv6 addresses are 128 bits or numerically IPv4 we have approximately 4.3 billion addresses and ICANN has allocated all of those to the regional internet registries except for a small block that we handle technically in some coordination roles. On IPv6 there's more IPv6 addresses than there are stars in the universe. There's 340 trillion, trillion, trillion because the number is approximately two raised to the power of 128. So my final question would be when do you expect the GTLDs application process to start and what are you doing in that regard? Well we're working extremely hard with our board, with the GAC. We've worked very hard historically with all the different groups in the communities that have provided input and we're seeking to resolve the last issues in the program successfully so that the board can reach a decision. The program will launch after the board takes a decision to do so and we can't predict at this time when that will be because it depends on exactly how they choose to work on any remaining issues and the staff's role and the organization's role to support the board in that deliberation process and develop the documents and what we call the draft applicant guidebook and other information for the program. That was really an insightful interview. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Thank you very much.