:: Abidjan ARTD Conference

(AF-RTDC-96)

International Telecommunication Union

Telecommunication Development Bureau

African Regional Telecommunication Development Conference

(AF-RTDC-96)

Abidjan (Cote d'voire), 6-10 May 1996
Recommendation African Information Infrastructure

a) The African Regional Telecommunication Development Conference (AF-RTDC-96), considering
the document Africa's Information Society Initiative, adopted at the thirty first session of the ECA Conference of Ministers responsible for economic and social development and planning;

b) Resolution 31, Kyoto, Telecommunication Infrastructure and Socio Economic and Cultural Development, particularly the recent spectacular progress, and particularly the convergence of telecommunication and computer technologies and services, has transformed telecommunications into an agent of change for the information age;

c) the ITU/BDT Buenos Aires Action Plan Programme 12: Development of Telematics and Computer Networks as well as the growing number of informatics initiatives and projects taking place in Africa recognizing
the growing strategic importance of information infrastructures and their potential for improving the quality of life for every African; promoting the economic integration of the region; and improving trade and other linkages with the global community.

Urges administrations to note the critical importance of telecommunication networks for the exchange of multimedia information and to facilitate and promote the development of electronic communications and networks such as the Internet by adopting the appropriate regulatory, tariff and service provision policies, requests the ITU to sensitize African governments about the relevance of information infrastructures and, in collaboration with other development partners, to assist in the establishment of national policies for information infrastructures in African countries.