The Ghana Domain Name Registry (GDNR) on Wednesday engaged stakeholders in the digital sphere in a bid to operationalize the country’s domain name space.

The move is part of strategies by the GDNR towards improving Ghana’s global digital inclusion and ensuring the stability, security, and reliability of the internet ecosystem in the country

The programme was attended by both state and private sector players in Ghana’s internet ecosystem including the National Information Technology Agency (NITA), the Cybersecurity Agency, the Registrar General’s and the Attorney General’s Departments and Ghana Dot Com.

The meeting was to deliberate also on the need for, and modalities towards developing a scheme of provisional registrars for Ghana’s country-code top-level domain, such as ‘.gh,’ and ‘.com.gh'.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sidelines of the programme, Nana Kofi Asafu-Aidoo, Executive Director, GDNR, noted that “these engagements are crucial parts of Government’s programme to operationalize the country’s domain name registry”

“The activities of GDNR are geared towards developing a vibrant and thriving internet ecosystem for Ghana,” he added.

The GDNR was established under the Electronic Transactions Act, 2008 (Act 772) and mandated to manage Ghana’s country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) space, including the licencing and regulation of registries and registrars.

However, work to operationalize the registry as legislated took off in 2018.

Mr Richard Boateng, IT Applications Manager at NIITA, said Ghanaian business entities would derive some advantages from having their domain names registered locally.

He noted that the country had established a more rigorous requirement for registrants, including evidence of business name registration by the Registrar of Companies, among others.

The IT Applications Manager said, “Ghana’s domain name registration scheme is designed to build trust in every domain, and also in order to eliminate occurrences of disputes among entities over domain names.”

He said unlike domain names registered abroad, locally hosted domains would boost local content and eliminate the need to route local internet traffic abroad.

He, therefore, encouraged Ghanaian businesses, other entities, and individuals to register their domains locally.