AFRINIC exists to expand the Internet for the sustainable development of Africa. One of the prominent ways in which AFRINIC implements this vision is through major events held around the continent to champion this debate. It is for this reason that AFRINIC hosted the 31st meeting, dubbed AFRINIC-31. The meeting took place at the Tatalona Convention Center, Luanda, Angola from 2nd – 6th December 2019.
Opening the event was Mr. Christian Bope, the AFRINIC Chairman who stressed the importance of embracing IPv6 as Africa seeks to join the rest of the world in advancing Internet connection in the face of IPv4 exhaustion. Mr. Bope introduced AFRINIC’s new CEO Eddy Kayihura to the AFRINIC and African and global Internet community.
José Carvalho da Rocha, the Angolan Minister for Telecommunications and Information Technologies during his opening remark at the meeting emphasized his government’s commitment to Internet development and its contribution to socio-economic development. The Minister emphasized the need for multi-stakeholder participation as an essential and critical element in the success factor in Internet development. He pointed out the need for an ICT strategy that works for all irrespective of their station in society.
The highlight of the event was the policy discussions where various policy proposals were presented and deliberately upon. The policies are:
- Multihoming not required for ASN
- Adjusting IPv6 PA Policy
- Abuse Contact Policy Update
- AFRINIC Policy Development Process Bis v5
- Resource Transfer Policy
- M&A Resource Transfers
- IPv4 Inter-RIR Resource Transfers (Comprehensive Scope)
- Impact Analysis is Mandatory
- Internet Number Resources review by AFRINIC
- AFRINIC Number Resources Transfer Policy
- Chairs Elections Process
For most of the presented policies, they did not reach consensus and the suggestions were referred back to the working committees. The event concluded with a Gala Dinner sponsored by Internet Technologies Angola and a closing ceremony.