Beckstrom suggested that bringing more countries to the table was the best way of ensuring the long term future of the Internet.

"Not only is it an issue of convenience, but it's an issue of what's right, the right to express their names in their own cultural language, " said Mr Beckstrom.

Beckstrom, in earlier remarks to conference participants, recalled that many people had said just three to five years ago that using non-Latin scripts for domain names would be impossible to achieve.