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ECA, Government of Egypt commit to foster ties in ICT development
ECA Press Release No. 02/2012 Addis Ababa, 19 January 2012 (ECA) - The Government of Egypt and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to participate in the development of Information and Communication Technology to foster the implementation of action lines of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
The MoU was signed by Mr. Abdoulie Janneh – United Nations Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary of the ECA and Mr. Mohamed Salem – the Minister of Communications and Information Technology of the Republic of Egypt, in light of the Egyptian proposal to host the review meeting together with the World Telecommunications Conference (WTDC) in 2014.
According to ECA’s Information and Communication Service, the document also stipulates that the Parties will co- operate to undertake different activities related to ICT development in Africa and Egypt in particular with a general objective of creating an enabling environment for ICT development in the continent.
While Mr. Janneh hailed the MoU as a new dawn for the consolidation of the long- standing collaborations between ECA and Egypt in promoting the Information Society development in the continent, the Egyptian Minister commended the central role that the Commission has played in formulating and disseminating some of the policies that have helped put Africa on the global information society.
Mr. Janneh cited a number of examples to demonstrate the potential of ICTs in enhancing government services and democratic processes.
“The role ICTs played in recent popular revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia are cases in point. However, technology alone will not turn these goals into achievements.
Technology is just a tool to empower people to make progress. It is an enabler.
That is why the issue of political leadership and putting in place the right legal and regulatory environment are important”, he said.
He praised Egypt’s experience and expertise in ICTs, saying it could help other African countries develop the sector because “organizations don’t adopt technology infrastructure – leaders do that”, he said.
He urged leaders to adopt new models to increase effectiveness of their governance system including enabling communications at all levels and engaging the society at large.
“In this regard, as you know there has been an ongoing debate whether the Twitters and Facebooks of this world have changed the way we do the business of politics, and whether they shape the future of democracy”, he recalled.
The MoU calls for joint capacity building activities, including the organization of the African Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF),
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© 2012 Economic Commission for Africa
participation in the COMESA sub-regional consultation on the African Cyber Security Convention and technical support programmes to member countries of the Nile Basin Initiative.
The Internet Governance space in Africa was very active during the WSIS process with regional meetings held from 2002 to 2005 in Bamako, Accra, Addis Ababa, Cairo, Johannesburg, Douala and Tunis. Moreover, within the IGF global initiative, Africa has hosted IGF in Egypt (2009) and in Kenya (2011), explains Ms. Aida Opoku-Mensah.
Ms Opoku-Mensah is the Director of ECA's ICT, Science and Technology Division (ISTD) whose department will ensure the implementation of the MoU on the side of the ECA.
Presently, there are four ongoing regional initiatives in Africa. They include the West Africa Internet Governance Forum (WAIGF), the East Africa Internet Governance Forum (EAIGF), Forum de Gouvernance de l'Internet en Afrique Centrale (FGI-CA), and the Southern Africa Internet Governance Forum (SAIGF).
AfIGF aims to be a platform for an inclusive multilateral, multi-stakeholder and multilingual discussion on issues pertinent to the Internet in Africa in general and Internet Governance issues in particular through increased awareness and enhanced capacity on Internet Governance for African users to ensure that all stakeholders are well prepared for contribution and interaction.
Issued by:
ECA Information and Communication Service P.O. Box 3001
Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Tel: 251 11 5445098 Fax: +251-11-551 03 65 E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.uneca.org
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