Highlights Wednesday 30 November

AFRINIC-25 came to an end on Wednesday. With around 240 participants from all over Africa and beyond, AFRINIC-25 was an interesting, informative and successful event.Highlights from the week included training courses and workshops, an afternoon of IPv6-related presentations and a productive and lively policy development day. 

AFRINIC Special General Members' Meeting (SGMM)

The AFRINIC SGMM took place on Wednesday 30 November during the AFRINIC-25 Meeting in Mauritius. Sunday Folayan, Chair of the AFRINIC Board of Directors, opened the meeting and welcomed the attendees.

  • Special Resolutions
    The CEO of AFRINIC Alan Barrett gave an overview of proposed changes to the AFRINIC Bylaws Changes (SR1 to SR20). The CEO's presentation was followed by Sunday Folayan inviting the community to comment on the proposal on the Special Resolution. 

Governance Committee Elections 
The AFRINIC Governance Committee's main role is to advise the AFRINIC Board, AFRINIC Membership, and the community, on matters of governance. The committee was called for by the membership and was constituted for the first time during AFRINIC-25. The committee consists of two people with voting rights appointed by the Board, three people with voting rights elected by the AFRINIC Membership, one non-voting Board member appointed by the Board as a liaison, the AFRINIC legal adviser (non voting), and one or more Secretariat staff (non voting).

Highlights Monday 28 November

AFRINIC-25 was officially opened by Rooba Moorghen Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of  Technology, Communication and Innovation  in Mauritius spoke about the plan for Mauritius to become a hub of innovation and business, a strategy that  includes making Mauritius a smart island through various programs targeting all stakeholders. Ms Moorghen emphasised on the need for everyone to move to the IPv6 as the pool of IPv4 is being depleted in Africa as is the case in other RIRs, especially with the Internet of Things. She thanked AFRINIC for helping the Government of Mauritius with the design of their IPv6 deployment roadmap. 

Sunday Folayan, AFRINIC Board Chair, welcomed the dignitaries and attendees and thanked the sponsors for their support and generosity. Mr. Folayan spoke about AFRINIC and gave an overview of the organisation, the AFRINIC Meetings and highlighted improvements in Board transparency and corporate governance. He also encouraged the attendees to participate in the policy discussions sessions later in the week. 

Barrett, AFRINIC CEO, welcomed the dignitaries and thanked the sponsors and his staff. He gave an overview of the post-IANA Oversight.

Transition world and reassured the attendees that it's still 'business as usual' for AFRINIC and the other RIRs. He talked about IPv4 exhaustion and urged everyone to think more seriously about getting their deployments completed before the IPv4 free pool is exhausted. He spoke briefly about the policy proposals up for discussion on Tuesday and further encouraged everyone to participate in the proceedings.

 

Welcome

Welcome to AFRINIC-25! Kicking off on 25 November 2016, the meeting has been in full swing since Friday, with plenty of Training Courses and co-located meetings to keep everyone busy. The official Opening Ceremony will take place on Monday, 28 November, and we'll head straight into plenary sessions afterwards, as of 11:00 (MUT). Below you'll find a short overview of what's been happening over the last few days.

AFRINIC Local Members' Meeting

The AFRINIC local Members' Meeting took place on 25 Novemberand brought together Mauritian members and key staff members to discuss membership, policies, administrative processes and AFRINIC's news and activities. AFRINIC's Registration Services team gave an introduction to AFRINIC, the Policy Development Process (PDP), current policies and policy proposals under discussion. The team also gave an overview of AFRINIC services and initiatives, including the AFRINIC Routing Registry, RPKI, Reverse DNS, RIPE/AFRINIC Atlas and DNSSEC and talked about IPv4 and IPv6 allocation statistics. They encouraged all members to take the AFRINIC IPv6 and Internet Number Resource Management (INRM) Training courses. The Billing team covered the billing process and spoke about the challenges faced with issues like outdated contact details. The role of the Customer Services team was highlighted and the team gave an overview of processes, projects they have ongoing on member information security and their efforts in trying to maintain up-to-date contact details.

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