Recently, Turkmenistan hosted a large-scale forum Turkmentel 2020, which brought together major international organizations, companies, as well as experts in the field of information and communication technologies.

Mikhail Anisimov, head of stakeholder relations in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia regions of the domain name and IP address management Corporation (ICANN), who made a presentation on cybersecurity at the forum, kindly agreed to give an exclusive interview to the correspondent of "Turkmenportal".

- Mikhail, in your opinion, what is the significance of the Turkmentel 2020 conference in the regional agenda of the Internet communications and data protection industry?

- The Turkmentel 2020 conference is certainly one of the most significant events for the region, as it brings together participants from many countries and raises important issues in the field of telecommunications and information technology development. It is extremely important for all industry participants to maintain a dialogue and exchange best practices.

- Does ICANN have experience working with Turkmenistan? If so, in which specific projects. If not – are you considering a partnership or support in the future, and how can this manifest itself?

- ICANN maintains contacts with the Coordination center of the national domain of Turkmenistan. We plan to expand our joint work in the implementation of key technologies such as DNSSEC, support for internationalized domain names, further development of Internet infrastructure elements, and participation in joint research projects. In addition, it is very important that representatives of our entire region (and Turkmenistan in particular) take a more active part in the process of developing policies and procedures, in discussing trends and directions for the development of the domain industry. This is the only way to take into account the opinions of all interested parties.

- How do you assess the challenges and opportunities of the Central Asian region? In your opinion, what is necessary for the region as a whole to strengthen its position in cybersecurity and expand the geography of the Internet?

- One of the main problems of the Central Asian region as a whole is its geographical distance from other regions, and as a result, it is not well connected to the world Internet. This is also evident in the work of the address system – the DNS root servers are located in other regions -and receiving address information from them occurs with a significant delay. In addition, it is extremely important to ensure the integrity of the transmitted data and protect the address system from various attacks, for which it is necessary to implement technologies such as DNS security extension (DNSSEC). In addition to technical challenges, there are also humanitarian ones: the Internet is growing at a tremendous speed, it affects various aspects of our lives, and it uniquely combines the features of both a global and a local phenomenon. In this regard, it is very important that the Turkmen language is fully represented on the Internet, and that the Turkmen culture and national identity are reflected. We are sure that we have a huge number of opportunities for cooperation in these and other areas.

- How did you fill the outgoing year? What are ICANN's plans for the next year?

The outgoing year 2020 was remembered for a radical change in people's working and personal habits and a huge increase in the importance of the Internet as the main tool. The pace of digital transformation has increased dramatically, and at the same time, the responsibilities that are imposed on digital technologies have increased. We carefully monitored how the work of the address system is changing, how traffic is redistributed, what technical problems occurred, and tried to find the most appropriate solution together with all our partners. Next year, we will also continue to monitor changes on the Internet and respond appropriately to them.
ICANN has adopted a strategic plan until 2025, which includes several key areas. Among them: further strengthening of the DNS root infrastructure and assistance in implementing new protocols, development of internationalized domain names and the concept of universal acceptance. We are also making great efforts to develop the Internet governance ecosystem, taking into account the views of all stakeholders, and to do this, we continue to work closely with governments, business organizations, academic and civil society to this end.

- Mikhail, thank you very much for finding the time for us! We wish you personally and the Organization as a whole success in all your endeavors and prosperity in the new year!

- Thank you, likewise!