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Arabic Domain Names – the Saudi Arabian Experience

National Committee for Information Society (NCIS) and Communication and IT Commission (CITC) of Saudi Arabia

Domain names are a crucial part of using the Internet. The introduction of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) is very important, and it occurred after several years of continuous effort by the whole Internet community, with the launch of the IDN ccTLD fast track in Nov 2009.


The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by SaudiNIC (Saudi Network Information Center), has been very active in supporting Arabic domain names since 2000. It has gained valuable experience and contributed heavily in this area. The aim of this workshop is to highlight some of our latest efforts and contributions in supporting the use of the Arabic language in domain names and email addresses. This will be done via highlights of some of the contributions at different levels:


• Introduction about DNS and Domain names
• Glance at the Arabic Domain Names Journey
• IDN Assessment Reports
• Arabic Emails Pilot Project (Raseel -Phase I and Phase II)
• Arabic domains universal acceptance challenges

Speakers / panellists

Mr. Raed Alfayez, Director of SaudiNIC, CITC, Saudi Arabia

Link to WSIS Action Lines
  • C1. The role of public governance authorities and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development
  • C8. Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content
Link to the Sustainable Development Process
  • Goal 8: Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all
  • Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries
  • Goal 17: Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
Session 230
  • Thursday, 09:00 – 10:45
  • Room C2, ITU Tower
  • Country Workshop

WSIS Forum 2016 | WSIS Action Lines: Supporting the Implementation of SDGs
2–6 May 2016, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Place des Nations, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland