24-28 October 1999
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
"The Challenge to Africa of
Globalisation and the Information Age"
| Information and communication technologies (ICTs), The Information Age, knowledge societies and the information economy pervade all aspects of everyday life in 1999, except in most of Africa. What has become the central feature of modern life globally is hardly felt in Africa, other than in elite circles of some capitals. If Africa remains on its present course, with the lowest teledensities in the world, with the fewest computers of any region, isolated from the information and knowledge available at the fingertips elsewhere, it has no chance to compete globally. ECA and its partners have been working with African countries on these issues for several years now through the African Information Society Initiative (AISI), an action framework for building African's information and communication infrastructure. However, with each passing day the gap between Africa and the rest of the world in this area increases. Systematic work in this area must intensify in order to meet the enormity of the challenge. By concentrated activities at both national and regional level, ADF'99 proposes to enhance the implementation of AISI three years after its adoption. National level: the ADF’99 preparatory process will include the elaboration of work programmes based on national information and communication infrastructure (NICI) policies and plans in African countries. The programmes will be presented at the Forum and implemented in the year 2000 at the country level with assistance from ECA and its partners. The forum will also highlight best practices from the national level. Regional level: the Forum will update the regional vision of the AISI by concentration on a selected set of subthemes of particular importance to member States as the new millenium begins, under the overall theme of The challenge to Africa of globalisation and the Information Age. |
