Internet Society Welcomes Khaled Koubaa to Reston Office for Internship Project

Reston, Va.– 16 March 2007 – The Internet Society (ISOC) welcomes Khaled Koubaa to Reston for his internship project.

Khaled is in the United States as a participant in the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), ‘Leaders for Democracy’ fellowship program run by the U.S. Department of State.

Khaled, a native of Tunisia, is one of 22 young Arab leaders selected for the fellowship and the only member of the group focusing on the Internet as a tool for economic improvement and social communication. The other participants come from Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, the Palestinian territories, Qatar, Syria, and Yemen.

All of the MEPI fellows took part in a one-month academic program at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University and a one-week introduction to politics, government, and democracy in Washington, DC. In addition, the fellows each select an individual three-month professional internship with an independent organization.

Khaled chose to conduct his internship with ISOC. “Because I am so involved in the development of the Internet in the Arab World, the Internet Society is the perfect place for my internship,” he says.

During his time with ISOC, Khaled will focus on the development of a pilot project to engage Arab youth with the Internet and to prepare the next generation to participate in the development of the Net.

In addition, he is interested in talking with members of the ISOC community about involving more representatives of the Arab world with the Internet Society and about issues related to Internet governance.

According to Khaled, his Arab youth project and his involvement with ISOC focus on his interest in bringing the Arabic language to the Internet. “The development of Arabic content on the Internet along with Arabic domain names will help to bring the Internet into Arab communities.”

ISOC president and CEO, Lynn St. Amour says, "The Internet Society is pleased to host Khaled for this internship and we look forward to seeing the results of his work help advance the Internet in the Arab world."

Khaled Koubaa is and independent IT consultant and founder and president of the ISOC Chapter in Tunisia.

About ISOC

The Internet Society is a not-for-profit membership organization founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet related standards, education, and policy.

With offices in Washington, DC, and Geneva, Switzerland, it is dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the benefit of people throughout the world.

ISOC is the organizational home of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and other Internet-related bodies who together play a critical role in ensuring that the Internet develops in a stable and open manner.

For over 14 years ISOC has run international network training programs for developing countries and these have played a vital role in setting up the Internet connections and networks in virtually every country connecting to the Internet during this time.