São Paulo – The minister of Information of Egypt, Tarek Kamel, announced yesterday (15th) that his country was the first destination to request an Internet domain in Arabic. The statement was made during the opening of the Internet Governance Forum, promoted by the United Nations (UN), in Sharm El-Sheikh.
Domain ".مصر" (.egypt) should be the first in Arabic since the authorisation of internet addresses in non-Latin characters was allowed, in October this year.
“This is a great moment for us. Now the Internet speaks Arabic,” said Kamel at the event. To the minister, the domain should “offer new routes for innovation, investment and growth” to speakers of Arabic.
The population of Egypt, in North Africa, is around 80 million, among them 15 million Internet users.
*Translated by Mark Ament
