The Second Central Asia Peering and Interconnectivity Forum (CAPIF 2) was held in Tashkent on September 19-20, 2023. The Forum was organized with the participation of the Ministry of Digital Technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan together with Uzbektelecom JSC, as well as INHA University in Tashkent and was designed to support regional cooperation in the development and growth of the Internet in Central Asia, Iran and neighboring regions.

The participants discussed the main topics for the promotion of peering and IXP (which is the main point of connection and traffic exchange) in Central Asia. These include legislative and regulatory issues, opportunities for regional and international connectivity, funding and resources for IXPs, CDN hosting, and network security, stability and resilience, including RPKI. Internet measurement tools are also emphasized. The workshop was organized by Uzbektelecom and INHA University in Tashkent.

The official opening ceremony was addressed by Oleg Pekos, First Deputy Minister of Digital Technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The opening ceremony was also attended by Managing Director Hans Petter Holen, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Uzbektelecom Akmal Arifjanov and Rector of INHA University in Tashkent Muzaffar Jalalov.

Oleg Pekos stressed that the widespread digitalization of various sectors of the economy, digitization of government agencies, the surge in economic activity and the wide attraction of foreign investors were the direct result of the increase in the number of domain registrations in the .UZ zone over the past 6 years, which amounted to 200%.

Akmal Arifjanov noted that on the initiative of the Ministry of Digital Technologies a tripartite memorandum was signed between RIPE NCC and Uzbektelecom. In accordance with this memorandum, starting from March 2023, Uzbektelecom employees are taking online courses &quot;IPv6 Basics&quot; and &quot;IPv6 Advanced&quot;. He stressed that these educational programs will allow Uzbektelecom specialists to master modern technologies and standards in the field of Internet protocols, following the world&#39;s best practices.

The session &quot;Connectivity in Central Asia&quot; brought together leading experts and key participants from Central Asia, including Kazakhtelecom JSC&#39;s Deputy Director for Innovations Nurlan Meirmanov, Kyrgyztelecom JSC&#39;s Technical Director Myrzabek Shadybekov and Tajiktelecom JSC&#39;s Director Daler Gairatov.

The K-root server launch ceremony was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Digital Technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Emil Gimranov, General Director of UZINFOCOM Single Integrator, and Vahan Hovsepyan, External Affairs Specialist at RIPE NCC.

In subsequent sessions, participants discussed important aspects of network security and Internet stability, including measuring and securing the Internet, improving network security using post-quantum encryption, using the RIPE atlas to determine the quality of connectivity to external Internet services in Central Asia, and an update on RPKI (Public Key Infrastructure).

It was noted that this forum is designed to strengthen interaction and exchange of experience in the field of telecommunication technologies and network security in the Central Asian region, contributing to Uzbekistan&#39;s role as an IT hub in the Central Asian region.

FOR INFORMATION:

- CAPIF 2 is a two-day event for network engineers, peering coordinators, ISPs, cloud administrators and data centre operators, featuring meetings, presentations and networking sessions.

- Central Asia is a landlocked region with great potential to become a crossroads of Internet connectivity for other regions and countries including China, Iran, Russia and the Caucasus.

- RIPE NCC has 30 years of experience in bringing together key players in the technical Internet community and is the regional Internet registrar for Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. RIPE NCC allocates and registers Internet numbering resource blocks and ASNs for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and other organisations.

- RIPE NCC is also a non-profit organisation that works to support the RIPE (R&eacute;seaux IPEurop&eacute;ens) community and the wider Internet community.&nbsp;

Second Central Asian Peering and Interconnectivity Forum (CAPIF 2) takes place in Tashkent