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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='color:#1F497D'>Friends and Colleagues,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='color:#1F497D'>A gentle reminder for the below Call for Members and Observers to Join the New Middle East and Adjoining Countries Strategy Working Group (MEAC-SWG). The call will remain open until </span><b><span style='color:#C00000'>Friday 3 June 2016 at 23.59 UTC</span></b><span style='color:#1F497D'>. If you are interested in joining as a “member”, you are kindly requested to fill out the attached Expression of Interest (EoI) and send back to <a href="mailto:meswg@icann.org">meswg@icann.org</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='color:#1F497D'>And thank you to all those who have shown interest so far in joining the MEAC-SWG either as members or as observers.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='color:#1F497D'>Thank you,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><span style='color:#1F497D'>Baher Esmat</span></b><span style='color:#1F497D'> and <b>Fahd Batayneh</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='color:#1F497D'>Global Stakeholder Engagement, Middle East<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='color:#1F497D'>ICANN<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Sent:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Friday, May 20, 2016 6:33 PM<br><b>Subject:</b> Call for Members and Observers to Join the New Middle East and Adjoining Countries Strategy Working Group (MEAC-SWG)<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'>Friends and Colleagues,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'>As you may know, ICANN’s regional strategy (<a href="https://community.icann.org/display/MES/Documents">Middle East Strategy</a>) was developed by the regional community in a bottom-up multistakeholder fashion to serve the needs of the region in accordance with ICANN’s remits and what it does and works on. The inaugural group consisted of 22 members, and developed a strategy that stretches from 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2016.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'>And as the strategy’s mandate is coming to an end, the regional community; via public consultations over a webinar + a session at ICANN 55 in Marrakech + the MEAC ICANN mailing list, have requested ICANN to renew the strategy for another 3 years starting 1 July 2016 until 30 June 2019 via a dedicated working group. The new MEAC-SWG will cover the 22 Arab States, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. The MEAC-SWG will conduct all of its work in English as it is the common language of this region.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'>And in order to define the work modalities of the new strategy working group (named as “Middle East and Adjoining Countries Strategy Working Group [MEAC-SWG]”), the community requested developing a Charter document to define this. Attached is the Charter document that will define the work modalities of the new MEAC-SWG.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'>This is a call for “members” and “observers” to join the new MEAC-SWG as defined in the Charter document. The call for MEAC-SWG members will remain open until <b><span style='color:#C00000'>Friday 3 June 2016 at 23.59 UTC</span></b>. If you are interested in joining as a “member”, you are kindly requested to fill out the attached Expression of Interest (EoI) and send back to <a href="mailto:meswg@icann.org">meswg@icann.org</a>.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'>Thank you,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b>Baher Esmat</b> and <b>Fahd Batayneh</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'>Global Stakeholder Engagement, Middle East<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'>ICANN<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>