After months of planning and preparation, the 39th Public ICANN Meeting in Cartagena, Colombia is now history.  As the local hosts of the meeting, our company, .CO Internet S.A.S., had the great honor of welcoming nearly 1,000 Internet leaders from every corner of the world as they came together to consider, discuss, debate, and co-create the policies and protocols of Internet governance that will drive the Internet forward in the 21st Century.

While opinions may differ on certain of ICANN's positions and on the progress that was made in moving forward a variety of agenda items, there is one thing that the vast majority of attendees seem to agree on – the fantastic time they had enjoying the food, culture, warmth and hospitality of Colombia and her people.

Need evidence?  I think some of the photos from ICANN 39 tell the story quite nicely!  Have a look!

Colombia is a country with a rich history and culture, abundant natural resources, and warm, passionate people.   With the second largest population in all of South America and a long constitutional tradition, the Colombian government has worked diligently over the past ten years to transform the country’s business, political and socio-economic climate – and to lead the Colombian people toward a new and brighter future.

In recent years, Colombia has enjoyed an unprecedented increase in global trade, foreign direct investment, consumer welfare and quality of life.  In fact, while tourism continues to decline elsewhere around the world, during the past five years, tourism in Colombia has nearly tripled!

The convergence of the world’s Internet community in Cartagena during last week’s ICANN meeting was symbolic of yet another major transformation currently happening in Colombia – a digital revolution of sorts. 

In a video presentation to ICANN delegates, Colombia’s President, Juan Manuel Santos boldly described a $2.8 billion dollar government initiative called “Vive Digital” (translated in English to mean “Live Digital”) to help the country to expand its information and communications infrastructure and to radically expand Internet use over the next four years -- quadrupling the number of Internet connections.

For more of the details about Vive Digital, you can read the full transcript of an informative and inspiring presentation about the initiative made by Diego Molano Vega, Colombia’s Minister of Information Technologies and Communications (translated into English from Spanish).

According to Minister Diego Molano, studies consistently show that there is a direct correlation between Internet penetration, technology use, job creation, and increased prosperity.  While Colombia’s level of technological development is average for Latin American countries, the government recognizes that the more technologically advanced Colombia becomes, the more accelerated the pace of economic growth it will enjoy. 

This said, to increase the country’s competitiveness, democratic development and economic prosperity – Vive Digital will accelerate the rate of use and implementation of technology in Colombia.  This includes, among other things, increasing the percentage of homes connected to the Internet; increasing the number of connected micro, small, and medium-sized businesses; increasing the number of municipalities connected to optical fiber networks; and creating technology programs for individuals, teachers and micro businesses focused on Colombia’s lowest social and economic strata.

As the administrator of the .CO domain, .CO Internet is committed to doing our part to support Colombia’s vision of technological transformation.  Since the launch of .CO five months ago, Colombians are feeling a greater affinity to the .CO domain extension than ever before in the history of the Internet  -- and they are registering significantly more .CO domain names at price reductions of up to 60%.  

Recognizing that the .CO domain is a unique digital asset with broad global appeal, Colombia made the bold decision to share this precious resource with the global Internet community.  As a result, after just a few short months, today Colombia’s domain is powering the dreams, ideas, hopes, interests and aspirations of hundreds of thousands of people in 200 countries around the world – people who are leveraging .CO to create exciting new opportunities for their lives and their livelihoods online.

With a significant portion of every dollar we earn going to fund initiatives like Vive Digital  – the globalization of .CO is providing a meaningful, tangible return on investment to the people of Colombia.  It also supports ICANN’s grand vision of transforming the structure of the global DNS -- inspiring greater innovation, consumer choice and global economic opportunity -- and helping to pave the way for the new gtld's to follow suit in the months and years to come.

We’re living in an era of infinite possibility – and unprecedented opportunity.  Exciting, yet unimagined, things are in store for both Colombia – and the citizens of the world who are inextricably bound to one another by this fantastic little thing called the Internet.  

At .CO Internet, it’s hard to describe our passion and excitement about the future – and the opportunity we have before us to help change peoples’ lives for the better.  And with this, I’ll end this blog post – and simply share with you a video clip of our CEO, Juan Diego Calle, taken during the Gala Celebration of the ICANN 39 Public Meeting.  Inspired and inspiring, I think this clip will give you a good sense of the man of vision who is behind our company – and the direction we will be going in 2011 and beyond.

In the (one day to be) famous words of Juan Diego Calle, “God Bless the Internet!”