Asian Bureau 

APRICOT 2009 was held in Manila, Philippines from February 18th to 27th.  APRICOT (Asia Pacific Regional Internet Conference on Operational Technologies) provides  a forum for key Internet engineers and operators in the region to learn from their peers and other leaders in the Internet community from around the world. Held annually, the ten day long summit consists of seminars, workshops, tutorials, conference sessions, birds-of-a-feather (BOFs), and other forums all with the goal of spreading and sharing the knowledge required to operate the Internet within the Asia Pacific region. Further details about APRICOT  are available on the APRICOT website.

Co-located with APRICOT 2009 were a series of other meetings, including AP* Retreat, APNIC and APTLD. Rajnesh Singh, Regional Bureau Manager, spoke at AP* and the APNIC Internet Governance session.  John Schnizlein, Technology Program Manager from ISOC’s Standards and Technology Department, was also in attendance at the APRICOT and APNIC meetings. ISOC provided fellowship support to APRICOT to allow individuals from the developing economies in the Asia Pacific region to attend APRICOT and interact with their peers.

The AP* Retreat is a regular gathering of Asia Pacific organisations who meet (usually twice a year) at regional events to exchange knowledge and provide updates on their programmes and activities. The event is valuable as it provides an overview of what major Internet related organisations are doing in the Asia Pacific region. Singh provided an update on ISOC’s global and regional activities.

ISOC sponsored the Internet Governance session organised by APNIC. This was divided into two parts, with the first being Philippines focused, and the second covering regional/global issues. The second part was headed by John Klensin providing a presentation on IDNs, followed by APNIC’s Paul Wilson on Internet Governance issues relevant to APNIC, N. Ravi Shanker from the Indian Government on India’s Internet Governance focus (and the results of IGF Hyderabad), followed by Singh on ISOC’s Internet Governance focus and its priority areas.