Today’s blog post focuses on the Asia Pacific Top Level Domain association (APTLD), and their role in supporting the development of the .au namespace. 

Who is APTLD?

The Asia Pacific Top Level Domain association is an AP* (AP star) organisation, meaning they are part of an informal community of internet organisations that exchange information (others include the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre – APNIC, the Asia Pacific Regional Internet Conference on Operational Technologies – APRICOT, the Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team – APCERT, and others).

As explained on their website, APTLD foster the participation of Asia Pacific ccTLDs in the development of global domain name policy and operational issues. APTLD works as a forum for information exchange between ccTLD (country-code Top Level Domain) registries in the Asia Pacific region, and then helps to represent those views at ICANN and other global fora.

APTLD77

The APTLD77 AGM and Members Meeting will be held next month in Melbourne, and is expected to be the most well-attended event yet. With that in mind, we spoke to APTLD General Manager, Leonid Todorov and asked him to provide an overview of what these meetings typically involve:

“Biannual APTLD Members Meetings are a unique platform for the Asia Pacific ccTLD community to get together for meaningful discussion on matters of mutual concern. They deliver technical and policy training and provide capacity-building opportunities which allow members to benefit from knowledge sharing and jointly address various challenges facing the community.”

How does APTLD work with .au?

The team at .au Domain Administration plays an important role in the organisation of these international events. Their relationship is further detailed in auDA’s 2018-19 Annual Report:

“auDA’s main objective in participating in APTLD is to assist it to operate TLDs with best practice across policy, compliance and security to better protect Australian internet users that access internet resources using these ccTLDs.” 

We agree with Leonid that APTLD meetings are a great opportunity for collaboration and, along with auDA, Afilias Australia is looking forward to connecting with industry peers and welcoming attendees to Melbourne in February. 

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Get in touch today at blog@afilias.com.au