UAE's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority's (TRA) has proposed the activation of '.Arab' generic top-level domain name. The 11th meeting of the Executive Committee of the GCC eGovernment was held in Manama, Bahrain, on January 16 and 17 saw participants discussing guidelines of the GCC e-Government Strategic Plan as well preparations for the third GCC eGovernment Conference, Exhibition and Conference that will be held in Abu Dhabi in the last quarter of 2013. The meeting discussed the memorandum of the General Secretariat concerning the adoption of the guiding strategy for the GCC states in the area of eGovernment, and reviewed a number of future Gulf activities. Salem Al Suwaidi, Deputy Director General for Information and eGovernment Sector, who headed the TRA delegation, said: "This meeting is an important step on the joint path of the GCC journey in general and the GCC eGovernment in particular." TRA has proposed the creation and use of '.arab' or Arabic equivalent domain will ensure greater regional identity and over time will help to bridge the digital divide by encouraging Arabic content development and ease of navigation for those people who only read and write in Arabic. Internet Corporation for Assigned Numbers and Names (ICANN), the international body that oversees Internet names, announced in November 2009 that it will accept applications for non-Latin alphabet domains. The League of Arab States is the official applicant for the .ARAB generic domain with ARI Registry operating as the backend registry services provider. Emirates 24|7
