Chehade began by apologizing to stakeholders in the Asian region, as he found that ICANN did not have a presence there when he visited 1 year ago. He noted that now ICANN has an Asian hub office with 14 staff members and thus ICANN is fulfilling its commitment to globalize the organization. After discussing various ICANN activities, he spoke about the recent NTIA announcement and addressed [[Lawrence Strickling]], the administrator of IANA for the US Government, directly several times, thanking him for the US Government's stewardship and faith in ICANN and the multistakeholder model. He also mentioned that the stakeholder community should not only focus on the globalization of IANA, but should discuss how ICANN's own accountability should evolve as well without US oversight. | Chehade began by apologizing to stakeholders in the Asian region, as he found that ICANN did not have a presence there when he visited 1 year ago. He noted that now ICANN has an Asian hub office with 14 staff members and thus ICANN is fulfilling its commitment to globalize the organization. After discussing various ICANN activities, he spoke about the recent NTIA announcement and addressed [[Lawrence Strickling]], the administrator of IANA for the US Government, directly several times, thanking him for the US Government's stewardship and faith in ICANN and the multistakeholder model. He also mentioned that the stakeholder community should not only focus on the globalization of IANA, but should discuss how ICANN's own accountability should evolve as well without US oversight. |