[soac-newgtldapsup-wg] quick update - my first impressions of the Brussels meeting

[Avri Doria <avri@xxxxxxx>]

Hi,

One person's view of where we are at on support for applicants in Brussels.

I think things are going well for the cause of Applicant support at this 
meeting.

Alice, as the GAC point person on the issue, made a very good statement of the 
importance of this work to the GAC and as is done in their scorecard linked it 
to the work we were doing.  She made a point of our interim report having been 
a focus for the GAc.

Katim, the Board point person on the topic, indicated that the Board too saw 
this work as important.  Sebastien also gave supporting words on the work being 
done and even encouraged GAC members to come and help witht he work.  I thought 
this was great.

The conversation was extensive and it got into the details of price reductions 
as well as other forms of support.

A most interesting comment was made by Peter about the Board now being open to 
consider price reductions for certain applicants.  When Sébastien ask him to 
repeat that to make sure we had heard correctly, Peter quoted the GNSO's 
Implementation guideline N:

> ICANN may put in place a fee reduction scheme for gTLD applicants from 
> economies classified by the UN as least developed.



So we are on track.

But, the focus is really on us.  The Board is asking for our status and date 
for delivery of the final report.  I passed the request for a status report on 
to the co-chairs, but in the meantime did give Katim the general structure of 
how we going about doing the work and our schedule of work.

This group is seen as key by both the Board and the GAC as the place where the 
work is being done and from which the recommended solutions will emerge.  We 
have convinced people how important our work is, and now they need to results - 
real soon now.

I hope others who are here add to this and if any more news comes my way, will 
pass it on.

a.