On June 21, the Regiton conference – focused on the development of the domain name registration industry – was held in Yerevan. Andrey Vorobyev, Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, took part in the event. During the conference, Vorobyev spoke about ongoing collaboration between Russian and Armenian domain registries, particularly in the advancement of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) and the implementation of Universal Acceptance. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Cyrillic domain .РФ and the 10th anniversary of the Armenian IDN domain .հայ.
Together with Kristina Hakobyan, a member of the Board of Directors of ISOC Armenia, AndreyVorobyev presented the initiatives of the Universal Acceptance Regional Coordination Group of CIS and Eastern Europe. These efforts, along with other joint activities, were recognized at ICANN83 during a session commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Universal Acceptance Steering Group.
AndreyVorobyev also extended an invitation to Armenian students and early-career professionals to take part in the Summer School on Internet Governance, which will begin on July 14.
A central event of the conference was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ and the administrator of Armenia’s national domains .AM and .ՀԱՅ – the Internet Society. The document was signed by Andrey Vorobyev, Director of the Coordination Center, and Andranik Aleksanyan, Director of the Internet Society.
The purpose of the Memorandum is to establish, develop, and reinforce professional cooperation in managing national domain zones and the internet, promote the exchange of expertise, and support the implementation of joint initiatives in these areas.
“We have formally reaffirmed the longstanding strategic partnership between the national domain registries of Armenia and Russia. Our cooperation is aimed at expanding internet adoption, improving the quality of address space utilization for the benefit of internet users, enhancing cybersecurity, and preventing the unlawful use of the internet and national domains. In support of national domain system development, we have committed to mutually beneficial exchanges of non-confidential expertise, analytical and statistical data, and perspectives on internet evolution, domain zone operations, domain name regulation, and other areas of shared interest,” said Andrey Vorobyev.
To conclude, Vorobyev presented his Armenian colleagues with a commemorative frame containing a special edition postcard released to mark the 15th anniversary of the .РФ domain.
