ICANN and the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) of Thailand recently formed an alliance to strengthen collaboration and translation efforts.
Under the memorandum of agreement signed at ICANN’s 54th Public Meeting in Dublin, Ireland between ICANN President and Chief Executive Officer Fadi Chehadé and ETDA Chief Executive Officer Surangkana Wayuparb, the two organizations will coordinate and collaborate to identify and translate ICANN materials into Thai for the local community.
This is envisioned ensure that relevant content from the internet is accessible to the Thai community.
“This MoU is another step forward in ICANN’s globalization efforts, as we work with local communities to help address the language needs of markets where English is not the main language,” Chehadé said.
“Together, we can help to overcome any language barriers and ensure that this is not an impediment to participation in ICANN and our policy development processes.”
Surangkana affirmed that it aligns with Thailand’s national strategy to a digital economy society by 2017.
“It reduces the digital divide of our Thai community due to the language barrier. It also enhances our community’s capacity, enabling us to participate in global discussions more effectively once the language barrier is broken down. We believe this will be one of the game changers for the future of local Thai community engagement,” she said.
ETDA is a close partner with the ICANN Asia-Pacific Hub and a proponent of the multistakeholder model in Thailand, according to Kuek Yu-Chuang, Vice President and Managing Director for ICANN Asia-Pacific.