ICANN and UNESCO Working Together Towards Successful Implementation of IDN ccTLDs

MARINA DEL REY, CA - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO have agreed to work together to further strengthen and promote multilingualism in cyberspace, and facilitate the successful implementation of IDN ccTLDs.

ICANN and UNESCO, in a letter of intent, have Identified the first area of joint collaboration in furtherance of the December 2009 Cooperation Agreement. Under the LOI, both parties will cooperate, each in its area of expertise, to develop a reference table of country names and abbreviations for the benefit of UNESCO's Member States and countries whose official languages are based on Cyrillic Script.

A press release by ICANN stated that other languages and scripts are expected to follow.

The exact scope of the project is yet to be finalized, but the proposed table would be non-binding in its use. While the existence of a table may assist applicants for IDN ccTLDs in identifying strings, ICANN's IDN ccTLD Fast Track application process and requirements would not be modified as a result of this project.