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<font face="Calibri" size="3">Dear all,<o:p></o:p></font></p>
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<font face="Calibri" size="3">Please find the news release on the <span style="text-align: justify;">IXP </span><span style="color: windowtext;">"Technical Aspects” workshop, which was held i</span>n collaboration between the Internet Society and the African
Union Commission (AUC) i<span style="color: windowtext;">n Djibouti from 18-22 October 2014.</span></font></p>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri;">The Internet Society Collaborates with the African Union Commission to Conduct Workshop in Djibouti to Support Internet Exchange Points in Four African Countries<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Workshop part of African Union’s African Internet Exchange System project <br>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">[Djibouti 23 October 2014] – The Internet Society is pleased to announce that, in collaboration with the African Union and Djibouti Telecom, it organized an </span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: Calibri;">Internet Exchange
Point (</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">IXP) “</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Technical Aspects” workshop in Djibouti </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">18-22 October 2014. The workshop, which drew participants regionally from
Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti, </span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: Calibri;">provided adequate technical and administrative awareness needed to set set-up, operate, and administer an </span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: Calibri;">IXP.</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span lang="FR" style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span><b><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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<span lang="FR" style="font-family: Calibri;">The objective of the workshop was to create the requisite local technical expertise to support the IXP interconnections and operations. Participants </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">were given </span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: Calibri;">hands-on
training on interconnection techniques equiping them with the right tools to become the </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">future network engineers who will be directly or indirectly involved in the operation of future IXPs.</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">More than 25 n</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: Calibri;">etwork engineers attended the workshop, with participants from the telecommunication and Internet sectors </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">from
the <span style="color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">Ministry of Telecommunication and Postal services of South Sudan, MTN- South Sudan, RCS –Communication South Sudan, Zain- South Sudan</span>, the <span style="color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">Ministry of Communication and
Information Technology of Ethiopia, Ethio-Telecom</span>, the <span style="color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of Somalia and Djibouti Telecom.</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The workshop is part of the African Union (AU) African Internet Exchange System (AXIS) project to support the establishment of IXPs across Africa. The AXIS project aims at keeping Africa’s local Internet traffic local to
the continent by providing capacity building and technical assistance to facilitate the establishment of IXPs in Africa. As countries establish their own IXPs, local Internet traffic will be routed locally rather through exchange points generally located off-continent,
creating downward pressure on costs and stimulating growth in and distribution of local Internet content. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">This </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">workshop is a follow up of the <span style="color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">Best Practices Capacity Building workshop that has been conducted by the Internet
Society from 24-25 June 2014 at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where participants </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">formed a taskforce to enhance the establishment and management of IXPs in their respective countries.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">The closing ceremony was attended by his Excellency Mr. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ahmed Youssouf Elmi </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">Interim Secretary
General of the Ministry of Communication in Charge of the Post and Telecommunication; his Excellency Mr. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Kassim Wayiss, Interim Director General of Djibouti Telecom as well as representatives from AUC and the Internet
Society.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">Over the past two years, the Internet Society in partnership with the African Union Commission has been deeply engaged </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">in the AXIS project and has over the
time conducted capacity building training in 27 countries followed by technical assistance in 26 countries in order to facilitate the establishment of Internet Exchange Points in Africa.</span><b><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">About the African Union </span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The African Union has 54 Member States. The vision of the African Union is a peaceful, integrated, prosperous Africa, driven by its own citizens to take up its rightful place in the global community. For more information,
visit </span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.au.int" style="color: purple;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">www.au.int</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; font-family: Calibri;">About the Internet Socie<a name="_GoBack"></a>ty<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Internet Society (www.internetsociety.org) is the trusted independent source for Internet information and thought leadership around the world. It is also the organizational home for the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). With its principled vision, substantial technological foundation and its global presence the Internet Society promotes open dialogue on Internet policy, technology, and future development among users, companies, governments, and other organizations.
Working with its members and Chapters around the world, the Internet Society enables the continued evolution and growth of the Internet for everyone. The Internet Society African Bureau is the Society’s on-the-ground expertise for Africa and the AU’s operational
partner for the AXIS project.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Media contact: Betel Hailu, hailu@isoc.org</span></p>
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