Program

View the Middle East DNS Forum 2018 Program Overview and Full Agenda

Program Overview | Detailed Agenda & Slides

Overview of the agenda for the Middle East DNS Forum 2018 over the course of two days

Opening Ceremony – Dignitary keynotes from the Information and Communications Technology Authority (local host) and ICANN.
The Domain Name Industry: A Global Perspective – Highlighting latest trends in the domain name industry in light of the 1200+ New generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) introduced over the past few years.
Geographic Top-Level Domains Panel Discussion– City TLD operators sharing their experiences.
Domain Name System (DNS) and Cybersecurity – A keynote on the role of ICANN’s Security, Stability and Resiliency (SSR) team in engaging with global security community on issues pertaining to DNS abuse and misuse. This will be followed by different talks on DNSSEC deployment and the Root Key Signing Key (KSK) rollover.
Data Protection Regulations in Turkey – Bringing perspectives from Turkish stakeholders on data protection regulations in Turkey with input from ICANN on the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and how it is affecting the domain name industry.
Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs): What is Still Missing for Full Adoption – Exploring the world of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs); where they stand and what should be done for their universal acceptance.
Middle East country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) Market Trends – Regional ccTLD operators, registrars and backend service providers sharing perspectives on local market trends.
Short Talks – 15-minute talks focusing on:
- ICANN’s Nominating Committee’s role in bringing new leaders to ICANN.
- The Middle East and Africa DNS Entrepreneurship Center: what it does, and how the regional DNS industry in both the Middle East and Africa can utilize its services and expertise.
Workshop on DNSSEC and KSK Rollover – Targeting technical audience interested in DNSSEC and the KSK rollover. This is a standalone workshop with the objective of explaining these technologies in a friendly environment and why they are essential to the security, stability, and resiliency of the Internet’s unique identifier systems.

Full Agenda | 25-26 April 2018 | Ankara, Turkey

TIME	SESSION	SPEAKERS
8:00 – 9:00	Registration
9:00 – 10:30	Opening Ceremony	Dignitary keynotes from the Information and Communications Technology Authority (local host) and ICANN. Master of Ceremony \| Baher Esmat \| VP, Global Stakeholder Engagement, Middle East, ICANN Omer Fatih Sayan \| Chairman, BTK Nick Tomasso \| Managing Director – Middle East and Africa – Istanbul, ICANN Sally Costerton \| Senior Advisor to President and SVP, Global Stakeholder Engagement, ICANN
10:30 – 11:00	Coffee Break
11:00 – 12:30	The Domain Name Industry: A Global Perspective	Highlighting latest trends in the domain name industry in light of the 1200+ New generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) introduced over the past few years. Moderator \| Mert Saka \| Manager, Registry Services and Engagement, ICANN Panel \| How the TLD Space Looks Like Mohammad Zeidan \| General Manager, Neustar MENA \| View Slides Raedene McGary\| Head of Policy, CentralNIC \| View Slides Mukesh Chulani \| Senior Manager, Registrar Services, ICANN \| View Slides
12:30 – 13:00	Short Talks	Convener \| Baher Esmat \| VP, Global Stakeholder Engagement, Middle East, ICANN Talk \| The DNS Entrepreneurship Center (DNS-EC) Hadia ElMiniawi \| Director, DNS-EC \| View Slides Talk \| ICANN’s Nominating Committee Nadira Alaraj \| NomCom Member \| View Slides
13:00 – 14:00	Lunch
14:00 – 15:30	Efforts for Improved Security and Stability of the Domain Name System (DNS)	A keynote on the role of ICANN’s Security, Stability and Resiliency (SSR) team in engaging with global security community on issues pertaining to DNS abuse and misuse. This will be followed by different talks on DNSSEC deployment and the Root Key Signing Key (KSK) rollover. Moderator \| Luna Madi \| Communications Director, EMEA, ICANN Keynote \| The Now and Future of Cyber investigations Dave Piscitello \| VP, Security and ICT Coordination, ICANN \| View Slides Panel \| DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) Patrick Jones \| Senior Director, Global Stakeholder Engagement, ICANN \| View Slides Attila Ozgit \| Director, NIC.TR Chamseddine Riahi \| DNS Engineer, ATI (.TN) \| View Slides Mohamed Abou Abed \| DNS Expert
15:30 – 16:00	Coffee Break
16:00 – 17:15	Geographic Top-Level Domains: Sharing Some Experiences	City TLD operators sharing their experiences. Moderator \| Mert Saka \| Manager, Registry Services and Engagement, ICANN Panelists Abdurrahman TIG \| General Manager, Medya A.S. (.istanbul/.ist) \| View Slides Maxim Alzoba \| Special Projects Manager, FAITID (.MOSCOW/.MOCKBA) \| View Slides Ronald Schwaerzler \| CEO, Domain Worx (.wien/.koeln/.cologne) \| View Slides
17:30 – 19:00	Cocktail Reception

TIME	SESSION	SPEAKERS
8:00 – 9:00	Registration
9:00 – 10:30	Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs): What is Still Missing for Full Adoption	This session will explore the world of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs); mainly where they stand at, and what should be done for their universal acceptance. It will also explore the world of IDNs in Applications, and shed light on an end-user perspective of what still can and must be done Convener \| Baher Esmat \| VP, Global Stakeholder Engagement, Middle East, ICANN Talk \| The 2017 IDN World Report Giovanni Seppia \| Manager, External Relations, EURid \| View Slides Talk \| Update on ICANN’s IDN Work, UASG, and the TF-AIDN Fahd Batayneh \| Manager, Global Stakeholder Engagement, Middle East, ICANN \| View Slides Talk \| IDNs in Applications Raed Alfayez \| General Manager, Internet Services, Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) \| View Slides
10:30 – 11:00	Coffee Break
11:00 – 12:30	Middle East country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) Market Trends	This session will talk about ccTLD Best Practices. It will provide insights from both the wider Asia-Pacific region, and some regional ccTLD players who have implemented new best practices. The session will also explore how such best practices can help promote the local country code Moderator \| Hadia Elminiawi \| Director, DNS-EC Talk \| ccTLD Best Practices from the Asia Pacific Region Leonid Todorov \| General Manager, APTLD \| View Slides Panel \| ccTLD Experiences from the region Wafa Dahmani \| Chief Engineer, Tunisia Internet (ATI) \| View Slides Banu Acartürk \| Director, Administration and Finance, NIC.TR \| View Slides Bashar Al Abdulhadi \| Founder and CTO, KuwaitNET \| View Slides Munir Badr \| Founder and General Manager, AEServer
12:30 – 13:00	Short Talks	Convener \| Baher Esmat \| VP, Global Stakeholder Engagement, Middle East, ICANN Registrants Rights in the Domain Name Space Su Sonia Herring \| NCUC Member \| View Slides
13:00 – 14:00	Lunch
14:00 – 15:30	Data Protection Regulations in Turkey	Bringing perspectives from Turkish stakeholders on data protection regulations in Turkey with input from ICANN on the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and how it is affecting the domain name industry Moderator \| Faruk Bilir \| President, Turkish Data Protection Authority Talk \| GDPR in the Context of Domain Name WHOIS Nigel Hickson \| VP, IGO Engagement, ICANN \| View Slides Panel Leyla Keser Barbar \| Director, IT Law Institute, Istanbul Bilgi University Cem Kubilay \| Microsoft Cengiz Paşaoğlu \| Board Member, Turkish Personal Data Protection Authority
15:30 – 16:00	Closing Session	Convener \| Baher Esmat \| VP, Global Stakeholder Engagement, Middle East, ICANN Closing remarks by ICANN and Local Host

We would like to express our gratitude to members of the Middle East DNS Forum Program Committee (PC) for working on the agenda, and for their valuable contributions along the way.