The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) participated in the Asia Pacific Top Level Domain Association (APTLD), which was hold in Hong Kong on February 17-18, 2011. Around 80 representatives from 21 ccTLDs and 16 other organizations met to exchange ideas on issues related to marketing, organizational framework and registration policies, security, and organizational updates. The Annual General Meeting of APTLD was held in the afternoon of February 18, 2011.

Mohammed Al Zarooni, aeDA Director in the TRA, delivered a speech in the meeting discussing the role of the .aeDA on how to develop and execute policy; grow, develop and market the .ae namespace; and accredit and manage .ae Registrars. Al Zarooni also explains that that .aeDA is eager to educate the public, deliver and promote the .ae domain name and represent .ae at international forums.

H.E. Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim, TRA Director General said, “The .aeDA is responsible for the setting and enforcement of all policies with regard to the operation of the .ae ccTLD as well as overseeing the operation of the Registry System.”

During his speech, Mohammed Al Zarooni highlighted the new changes in the Technical Operation of the .ae ccTLD, he also explained the reasons behind these changes stating that the .aeDA brought changes to the ae ccTLD in order to align with international best practices. The .aeDA introduced the ‘Registry ‐ Registrar Model’ to the .ae ccTLD, to provide clarity of the roles within the industry, and to introduce competitive pricing and service models for Registrants.

Mohammad Al Zarooni delivered his speech in a session that was moderated by Yaling Tan (.CN) and included Debbie Monahan (.NZ), Andrei Kolesnikov (.RU), Hye Jin Pak (.KR), Ryan Tan (.SG), Jon Lawrence (AusRegistry), where they presented different registration policies in their ccTLD.

APTLD (Asia Pacific Top Level Domain Association) is an organization for ccTLD (country-code Top Level Domain) registries in Asia Pacific region. APTLD was originally established in 1998, and in 2003 legally established in Malaysia.

APTLD works as the forum of information exchange regarding technological and operational issues of domain name registries in Asia Pacific region. Also, as an interface to other international Internet coordinating bodies, APTLD fosters and elevates participation of AP ccTLDs in these global forums, as well as acting in the best interest of APTLD members in global Internet policy making process.