Summit of the Organisation of African Unity, July 1996

Declaration on AISI

African Heads of State Declaration on AISI

Building Partnership for the African Information & Communication Initiative:
We, the undersigned heads of government, representing all the African people solemnly agree to create a continent­wide African Information & Communication Initiative and call on all friends of Africa to help build the African Information Society. Observing the direct links between quality of life and information richness, and noting with satisfaction the already substantial interest of some African countries, as well as the support of the international community world wide, but observing the still massive under investment in the needed resources in Africa, it is requested that all possible parties form a strategic alliance to reduce the world largest examples of information inequalities. Only by a combined effort involving the world's public, governments, media, NGOs, international donors and the business sector, will it be possible to address the problems which eliminate the potential for planetary unification through the emerging information infrastructures by excluding Africa's people citizenship in the global village. As the top decision makers in African government, we pledge our utmost support for the continent's African Ministers of Planning in their efforts to establish plans for the development of National Information Infrastructures and expect that all other institutions around the world cooperate with them in formulating a strategy for building Africa's Information Society

CM/Res. 1676 (LXIV) COUNCIL OF MINISTERS RESOLUTION ON IMPLEMENTATION OF AFRICAS INFORMATION SOCIETY INITIATIVE (AISI) The Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity, meeting in its Sixty-Fourth Ordinary Session in Yaounde, Cameroon, from 1 to 5 July 1996,

Convinced of the need to fully exploit the potential of the information technology to effectively and equitably integrate Africa in the global economy and accelerate the socio-economic development of the Continent,

Recognizing that building Africa's information infrastructure and decision support systems to enable African leaders, policy-makers and the civil society at large is a necessary condition to positioning Africa in the world's rapidly expanding global economic system, enhancing policy information and speeding up the process of economic integration in the Continent,Taking Note of resolution 812(XXXI) of the African Ministers Responsible for Economic and Social Development and Planning of the Economic Commission for Africa adopting the framework for the Implementation of the African lnformation Society Initiative,

Convinced that the African Information Society Initiative will enable the creation of new jobs and enhance the quality of life of the people. Further Convinced that the building of the African Information Society will require major commitment and cooperation of governments, the business sector and international development agencies,

Committed to building and strengthening of the African Information Society:

1. CALLS UPON Member States to take immediate measures to implement Africa's Information Society Initiative and incorporate the action framework of the Initiative to build Africa's Information and communication infrastructure in their development plans and programmes;

2. FURTHER CALLS UPON Member States to utilize the capacities and experiences of national, sub-regional and regional African centers of excellence for the implementation of the Initiative;

3. URGES the international Community, in particular regional organizations such as the Pan-African Telecommunication Union and Regional African Satellite Communication System, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, bilateral and multilateral development partners, to realize the goals of the Initiative;

4. FURTHER URGES the international financial institutions, in particular the World Bank and Africa's development partners to use Africa's Information Society Initiative as a guiding framework for their intervention in the area of information and communication in Africa.