What's New
Extraordinary Conference of AU ICT Ministers | 6 November 2009 |
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have contributed to change the lives of ordinary Africans and will continue to be an invaluable tool for the socio economic development and integration of the continent. This was the view expressed by African Union Ministers in charge of Communication and Information Technologies (CITMC), gathered on Thursday 5 November in Johannesburg, South Africa.
By taking into account the importance of the ICT sector in economic growth during the past year, Africa needs to come up with concrete financial and political recommendations on critical issues that will accelerate the development of the ICTs as an industry and as a catalytic tool for development, and to deal with challenges being experienced. The ministers commit themselves, among other things, to “integrate ICT into national imperatives programmes including education training system and public administration with a view to produce a critical mass and increase skilled human capital to promote access and use of ICTs at 10% growth rate per annum’’. They are also willing to work together to promote the use of Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) as they are critical national resource, whilst ensuring that the technical and administrative operations are at international standards to foster trust and use of African Domain names in order to bring financial , economic and socio cultural benefits to Africa. Recommendations were therefore made to urge the AU Commission, UNECA, RECs, Member States and specialized institutions with all other African ICT stakeholders to establish appropriate institutional arrangements and mechanism to interconnect ICT backbones including national and regional Internet Exchange Points with the objective of lowering the tariffs and providing a better quality of service; and also to” direct the Ministers of Finance to work in close cooperation with the Ministers in charge of ICTs in order to identify innovative funding mechanisms to enable Member States to contribute to the African Union Communication and Technologies Fund. These recommendations will be forwarded to the African Union Heads of State and Governments when they meet in January 2010 in Addis Ababa for their 14th Ordinary Session, whose theme will be “Information and Communication Technologies in Africa: Challenges and Prospects for Development”.
Latest News Headlines
| RESOLUTIONS OF THE 2ND ANNUAL MINISTERIAL COMMISSION MEETING OF THE NEPAD E-AFRICA COMMISSION Read full article » |
| Meeting of ICT Ministers from NEPAD e-Africa Commission Members States Read full article » |
Newsletter Subscription
Stay informed on our latest news!
Featured Videos
