The Welsh government has announced that when the countries gTLDs are launched, they will replacing their .gov.uk domains with .wales and .cymru.
The announcement was made by the Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones Monday at the ICANN meeting currently underway in London.
Jones said he was âthrilled that Wales will finally have a natural home on the Webâ and the new gTLDs will be economically and culturally beneficial and promote and encourage the use of the Welsh language online.
âNames are an important part of how we communicate our identity to each other. And thatâs why Iâm so pleased that from September we will be able to register domain names in .wales and .cymru â we will finally have a way of using our websites and email addresses to reflect the identity we feel in our hearts.
âThatâs why I am also pleased to announce here today that the Welsh Government will be moving our online presence from .gov.uk to the new domains as part of our renewal of how we serve and interact with citizens in Wales.â
Additionally, bodies that rely on the Welsh government for funding will also be expected to change their domains to the new Welsh gTLDs in time.
In his speech during the opening of the ICANN meeting, Jones explained how Wales and Welsh was different to England and English, noting how the Welsh value their autonomous government and independence in sport, particularly rugby and soccer.
There was also a performance from the Welsh choir Only Men Aloud who are to become the first performing artists with a .wales/.cymru domain.
Sunrise for the two gTLDs is due to launch in September and General Availability in spring 2015.