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/issue/2017.06

Connecting Asia with One Domain.

Vietnam, a gem in the ASEAN region

The area boasts an online population of aprox. 49M people ... (more below)

.Asia simplifies process for registrants worldwide

No more local ID or address input requirements... (more below)

Youth - largest demographic group of internet users

Large group but disproportionately low representation and voice in Internet Governance ... (more below)

.Asia making inroads in the emerging Vietnamese market

A recent report by Channel News Asia (cna.asia) featured a 97-year-old Vietnamese lady embracing the Internet. She wants to remove the stereotype in society and is proving this by her willingness to learn new things. She obtains all her news from Google, updates her Facebook regularly and uses Skype to keep in touch with her family and friends around the world. She illustrates perfectly the greatest feature of many Vietnamese, curiosity and a willingness to keep learning.

Photo: .Asia at Cloud8 Event in Vietnam: .Asia making inroads in the emerging Vietnamese market

Vietnam is a lively country with a vibrant digitally scene. The country boasts an online population of around 49 million people (Internet Live Stats, www.InternetLiveStats.com), which accounts for 52.7% of the total population. AC Neilson, a global marketing research firm, estimates that Vietnamese spend around 25 hours online per week, which is one of the highest numbers in Southeast Asia. More than one third of the Vietnamese population are Social Media users and this number is expected to reach 50% by 2020. Smartphones, which are used by around 38% of the population, are a major factor contributing to this.

On a recent trip to Vietnam, .Asia was happy to meet some key industry players in the domain name market in Ho Chi Minh City. Our first stop was the office of Matbao, one of the biggest registrars in the region. Their CEO, Huynh Ngoc Duy, explained how the Vietnamese digital market has been growing tremendously over the recent years. "More and more individuals and enterprises are coming to MatBao to register their presence online, we believe this is a sign of things to come and we are excited to see more and more people online too", stated the CEO.

Similar to MatBao, we also see Ecommerce taking off in the region. Retail Ecommerce sales, excluding travel, totaled around US$1.71 billion in Vietnam which is only around 1.1% of total sales and this figure is expected to reach 1.5% by 2020. The lower numbers can be attributed to the weaker infrastructure and the dominance of cash payments but with increasing Government investment and more cashless forms of payment slowly being implemented, the numbers could go even higher.

.Asia was also proud to be part of the Cloud8 event in Vietnam organized by the VinaCIS Corporation, one of the biggest resellers in the region. The event was very well attended, with registrants, startups and enterprises within the technology field in attendance. The vibrant Vietnamese online space was there for everyone to observe, with apps taking center stage and companies providing full-fledged cloud computing solutions. We ended the day by meeting Mr. Hoc Nguyen from P.A Vietnam, another distinguished registrar in the region. He emphasized how Vietnamese value social media and every business here must have some social media presence to succeed.

Walking around the city gives you a glimpse of how much Ho Chi Minh has developed over the years. Choices of eateries are plenty with foreign establishments making their mark, El Gaucho (http://elgaucho.asia/) and New York Steakhouse (http://steakhouse.asia/) being some notable examples. Vietnam is expected to keep investing in its digital space and will be if not already is a superpower in the ASEAN region.

News in Asia

Nominations for the 16th Asia Business Leaders Awards are now open
http://i.go.asia/2sj3mEb

More lower prices products from Alibaba's Tmall for consumers in Hong Kong & Southeast Asia
http://i.go.asia/2tgzeX1

Singapore joined China on the Belt and Road Initiative
http://i.go.asia/2tgQjA9

Regional space in online gaming
website screen capture: www.worldofwarships.asia

worldofwarships.asia

Asian themed restaurant in Amsterdam
Website screen capture: www.happyhappyjoyjoy.asia

happyhappyjoyjoy.asia

Asian cuisine
Website screen capture: www.bacchanalia.asia

bacchanalia.asia

Tiger Frame
Spotlight on: Amur Tigers:

Tiger Frame: Amur Tiger photo
The fortunes of the Amur tiger (also called the Siberian tiger) have been more encouraging than most. This subspecies' natural habitat is mainly in the Russian Far East, in the Primorye Province and ranks among the biggest living cats. Its population had dropped to only 20 to 30 animals in the 1930s and the species was on the brink of extinction. Today, there may be more than 500 Amurs in the wilds of Siberia.

[Photo credit: Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images]

Want to know how you can help turn their fortunes around? Follow Ajitora at www.ajitora.asia and learn how you can help double the wild tigers by 2022!

Tiger Frame: Ajitora.asia Website

.Asia makes registration process simple for registrants worldwide – No more local ID or address input requirement

The new .Asia Charter Eligibility Requirement Policies will take effect July 15th, 2017. This latest policy update will bring a major change to the way .Asia domains can be registered.

Currently, every .Asia domain registration needs to provide proof of locality, such as an address within the region or a regional business ID.

The new registration process starting from July 15th will eliminate the need for locality input. Regardless of your physical location, as long as your website has something, anything to do with Asia, you are eligible to register a .Asia domain.

This means, if you are a Pan-Asia restaurant located in Austin, Texas, you are welcome to register www.gourmet.asia or www.satay.asia without having to provide an Asia based address or ID, and will be able to continue to operate this website without ever having a regional address or business ID.

Youth - the largest demographic group of internet users

Youth is the largest demographic group of internet users. However, their voices are less heard in decision making processes related to the internet. With a dedication to raise the awareness of youth on internet governance and encourage young generations to participate in public policy discussion, Youth Internet Governance Forum (YIGF) has been initiated by youth, and is an integral part of Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF) since its inception in 2010.

YIGF is a 4-day-3 night camp where participants are briefed on issues and assigned to take on the role of different stakeholder groups such as government, private sector, and civil society organizations. During the camp, they are encouraged to think from a new standpoint and different perspectives. It also serves as a preparation camp for them to understand various Internet issues as well as directly participating in the local and global Internet policy discussion platform.

YIGF 2017 Bangkok will be held in Chulalongkorn University from 26 to 29 July 2017, and the theme of this year is "How does social media shape our mind?". Look forward to seeing you in Bangkok.

Event Website: http://www.yigf.asia

Joburg, the City of Gold

The city of Johannesburg (known locally as Jozi/Joburg or Egoli, Zulu for 'City of Gold') is the host of ICANN 59. Gold was discovered in Johannesburg in the 1880s and the prospectors flocked to the area soon after. As Africa's economic powerhouse, it is quite fitting that it is the host city of the second ever policy forum that debuted last year at ICANN 56 in Helsinki

A shorter forum that focuses on the policy development work lets the community concentrate on cross-community sessions and ongoing PDP working groups. Hot issues at ICANN 59 include the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - a session that explores the impact of the GDPR (to be implemented by 25 May 2018) on the domain name industry and its users, and several sessions on Geographic Names at the top level. Intensive work continued on the new gTLD Auction Proceeds CCWG and also the four work tracks on the Subsequent Procedures PDP working group.

The next ICANN meeting will swing back to the Asia Pacific region and Team DotAsia will be at ICANN 60 Abu Dhabi, see you there!

[Photo by: icannphotos @ Flickr]

Go.Asia partnered with Clean Air Network fighting for Healthy Food and Healthy Air

This May, Go.Asia and Clean Air Network (CAN) jointly presented Foodmiles: Healthy Food. Healthy Air. as the thematic campaign of Food Revolution Hong Kong in pursuit of consuming more locally grown food to reduce food miles for better air quality.

Over 10 local restaurants have joined us to launch a menu with locally sourced ingredients to bring consumers a thoughtful cuisine experience. Meanwhile, we created a campaign website www.foodair.asia and called for the "Healthy Food. Healthy Air." Online Cooking Challenge among individuals & influencers by adopting local ingredients in daily meals. Two viral videos were made in April and May to reach over 90,000 views & discussion online.

As usual, with support from our partners such as Credit Suisse & Jamie's Italian HK, cooking activities in schools and a thematic Food Carnival were held throughout May to engage students and families to enrich their awareness about food nutrition, food mile and food waste. As a member of the Dot Asia community, we also extend our influence by promoting our campaign via www.give.asia to introduce to the Asian community.

Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum Bangkok 2017

The APrIGF 2017 is happening soon next month. More than 30 sessions have been lined up with a variety of topics ranging from the sub-themes of Access, Empowerment & Diversity; Cybersecurity, Privacy & Safer Internet; Digital Economy & Enabling Innovations; and Human Rights Online. Check out our latest program agenda online at https://2017.aprigf.asia/program/.

We are also excited to share that the Fellowship 2017 Program is supporting a total of 50 fellows from 19 different economies around the region to attend the meeting. Many thanks to the generous support from our local hosts, Chulalongkorn University and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) as well as the fellowship sponsors APNIC and Internet Society.

Register Now at http://2017.aprigf.asia

[Photo by: Chris Brown, @zoonabar - Flickr, CC:SA]

"GoDream.asia" 3-Day Dream Camp 2017

With growing academic pressure and the competitive nature of Asia's education system, it can put significant stress on young children. Specifically, the Centre for Public Policy Studies of Lingnan University shows that Hong Kong children's happiness hits a new low in 2016. To combat this struggle, Dot.Asia Foundation and DreamStarter Foundation will debut the groups' most ambitious social innovation program that will inspire primary school youths in Hong Kong that even children can be a Changemaker in their school and community.

The "GoDream.asia" 3-Day Dream Camp 2017 will provide a free three-day summer program and competition to around 80 youths. The theme of the "GoDream.asia" 3-Day Dream Camp 2017 is "Our Dream School". Through fun interactive workshops, teams of students will be presented with social innovation ideas to enhance their skills to build confidence, communication, creativity, entrepreneurship and adversity coping. The youths are encourage to work in small teams to propose a new school plan based on the Education Bureau's framework so that they can bring a positive impact to their school life. The teams will present their ideas to a panel of judges to compete for awards and prizes. The winning team will even have a chance to discuss their ideas to government officials and/or become principle for one day.

For more information, please visit www.GoDream.asia (Chinese only).