Dear Colleagues, The RIPE NCC is pleased to announce the RIPE NCC Regional Meeting, Middle East, to be held 7-9 December 2003 at the Metropolitan Palace Hotel, Dubai, U.A.E. Registration for the Regional Meeting opens 8 October 2003. Attendance to the RIPE NCC Regional Meeting is open and free of charge. However, attendees are responsible to cover their own travel and accommodation costs. To register, please see: http://www.ripe.net/cgi-bin/dubai-reg The RIPE NCC Regional Meeting will focus on Internet resource allocation and Internet management issues including: - How to participate in and influence IP address management policy-making; - The industry self-regulatory open structures and processes used by the RIPE NCC and the global Internet community; - Are we running out of IPv4 address space? - Root name server operations: who is involved? - Domain Name management on the Internet; - The internationalisation of Domain Names. The Regional Meeting draft agenda can be found at: http://www.ripe.net/ripencc/regional-meetings/dubai-2003/plan.html RIPE and the RIPE NCC will explain their roles in the administration of the Internet infrastructure as well as specific aspects in managing and operating the Internet infrastructure. The discussions will be directly related to the particular needs and concerns surrounding these issues in the Middle East region. The current meeting agenda reflects our intentions. However, it requires active participation from the local community to discuss specific issues of the region. The RIPE NCC has reserved several presentation opportunities for those with local knowledge of Internet management and operational issues affecting the Middle East. If your organisation wishes to provide a presentation or suggest a relevant topic, please send your proposal by e-mail to: <contact@ripe.net> The RIPE NCC is one of four Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) that provide Internet resource allocation, registration services and co-ordination activities that support the operation of the Internet globally. The RIPE NCC is an independent, not-for-profit membership organisation that provides services to members in its service region currently covering Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and African countries located north of the equator. Any further questions about the RIPE NCC Regional Meeting, Middle East can be sent directly to: <contact@ripe.net>. Regards, Sabrina Wilmot Membership Liaison Officer RIPE NCC