The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has agreed that ".中国'', meaning China, can officially begin use as a domain name next year, Jiefang Daily reported.

The China Internet Network Information Center made the announcement on Tuesday, saying it will provide a more convenient method for netizens who only use Chinese to surf the Internet, the report said.

At the annual ICANN meeting held in Paris, its executive council reached an agreement that other languages including Chinese can be adopted as Top-Level Domain Names. The decision means non-English Domain Name suffixes will appear online besides the traditional ones in English such as ".cn'', ".com'', and ".net'', the report said.

Next year Chinese enterprises can register online domain names by using complete Chinese characters that is made up of the Chinese name of the company and ".中国''. Meanwhile, Chinese Internet users can input the Chinese characters to reach the company's Website, the report said.

(Shanghai Daily July 3, 2008)