Address

by K.Y. Amoako
Executive Secretary
Economic Commission for Africa
Addis Ababa, 10 May 2003

Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a real pleasure to welcome you to Addis Ababa and the ECA for this first African Stakeholders Network Steering Committee (SC) meeting of the UN ICT Task Force.

I must also thank each of you for accepting to serve as members of the African Stakeholders Network. Your decision to spare some of your valuable time on this initiative is greatly appreciated. We, at ECA, look forward to a close collaboration with you as we work to promote the ICT for Development agenda in Africa.

Let me also take the opportunity to thank our partners and partner institutions for being here with us today. I speak of our long-standing collaborator Canada, represented here today by Industry Canada and the Canada Fund for Africa. I would also like to thank the UN ICT Task Force, its Africa members and the secretariat for the support they have given ECA in organizing this event.

The creation of the Task Force is based on the UN's commitment to building digital opportunities globally, especially with respect to deploying or using ICTs in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals.

It also builds on global initiatives such as the G8 Dot Force and other processes such as the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). In Africa, particularly important is the NEPAD continental framework where ICTs have been identified as one of the key programme areas to be addressed.

This Network was created to assist the Task Force in an important task, at a critical time in the development of an information society in Africa. Essentially, it must play a lead role in lobbying to ensure that UN-efforts to bridge the digital divide in Africa are better coordinated, more coherent and committed to knowledge sharing.

It also has a vital role to play in the implementation of the AISI - the African Information Society Initiative; which is the framework for ICT for development activities on the continent, and which guides the programme for ECA's work in this area.

Activities include awareness building, connectivity, content and application development as well as the formulation and implementation of national, sectoral and regional strategies.

We, at ECA, believe that the African Stakeholders Network provides a significant bridge between the work of the UN ICT Task Force and the AISI. It can help strengthen partnerships, create greater synergies and avoid duplication of efforts with regard to ICT for development initiatives on the continent, thereby maximizing the positive impact on people's lives and enhancing their welfare.

The genesis of the African Stakeholders Network began when ECA, with support from the Task Force secretariat, held a meeting to launch the African Stakeholders' Network (ASN) here in Addis in January 2002. Since then several activities have been conducted.

In addition, ECA, as the secretariat of the Network, has initiated a series of online discussions with key stakeholders in Africa as part of the efforts to develop a platform from which other activities could evolve.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

What are our expectations from each of you as ASN Members? Overall we hope you can be ICT Ambassadors for Africa, addressing four overarching issues, based, I hope, on an implementable action plan that will emerge from this meeting.

First, how do you collectively and individually strengthen and support ICT for development in Africa?

Second, how do you assist in securing political will at the highest level for activities within countries? As you know there is still a wide awareness gap on ICTs among policy and decision-makers. So how can that be addressed?

Third, what in your estimation can be done to develop multi-stakeholder partnerships in this area?

And finally, how can we ensure that Africa has a voice internationally on ICT issues? Africa's voice and position here is still weak. How can we assist in augmenting and amplifying the African voice in the international arena? How can we lobby to ensure that Africa's concerns are properly addressed at the World Summit on the Information Society?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This event is preceding the Committee on Development Information (CODI) meeting, which is one of seven technical committees established by the ECA Conference of Ministers to provide guidance to the Commission. CODI deals specifically with development information, including ICTs, statistics, libraries and geo-information, and generally ensures ECA's effective implementation of AISI.

The theme for this event, starting on Monday, is Information and Governance.

Governance as you all know is an issue of particular relevance to the current situation in Africa and is gaining increasing importance as countries strive to strengthen both their economic and political reforms. These changes are also taking place within the context of a rapidly evolving Information Society throwing up certain unique challenges and opportunities for our continent. I hope some of you will stay on for CODI and help enrich the discussions between our Member States and African information experts.

Let me end here and leave you with these thoughts, which I hope can help to guide your discussions.

I eagerly wait to hear of your recommendations and how ECA can assist.

Once again welcome to Addis.

I wish you fruitful deliberations.

Thank you.