The Development Information Services Division (DISD) of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) will be holding an experts meeting on ICTs, Trade and Economic Growth from 29 to 31 May 2006 at the United Nations Conference Center, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The aim of the meeting will be to launch a study on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), Trade and Economic Growth to be undertaken in six African countries. The study stemmed from the ICTs, Trade and Economic Growth initiative that was launched on 16 March 2006 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by ECA under the auspices of the Global ePolicy Resource Network (ePolNet), established by Canada in 2002 as part of the G8 African Action Plan in support of NEPAD. As a follow up to the recently concluded World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the proposed study aims at measuring the impact of ICTs on macro-economic growth in African countries.

Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal and South Africa have been identified to be part of the country level studies. A team of two experts composed of an ICT expert and a trade expert will be identified for each one of these countries to undertake the research.