World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)

Africa Regional Preparatory Conference

Concluding Remarks by Mr. K.Y. Amoako,
Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa
Accra, Ghana
4 February 2005

Your Excellency, J. H. Mensah, Senior Minister and Representative of the President of the Republic of Ghana,
Honourable Ministers,
The African Union Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Introduction

We have spent a busy and productive three days in Accra discussing the issues on the agenda for the Second African Regional Prep-com for the World Summit on the Information Society.

I think we can say that we achieved much of what we set out at the beginning of this Conference.

I am particularly impressed by the participation, dynamism and the forward-looking resolutions tabled by the Civil Society representatives, the gender caucus, media, the private sector and the African Youth ICT4D Network.

Above all, we have laid solid foundations for a united African negotiating position at the second phase in Tunis.

In that regard, I wish to express my support for the creation of a Ministerial Committee of Permanent Cooperation on Information and Communication Technologies under the supervision of the NEPAD/ICT Cluster Coordinator.

This ministerial committee will aim on the one hand, to harmonize African positions at international fora, and on the other, to bring synergy at the regional level to the multiple initiatives relating to the creation of an inclusive information society. It will also ensure the follow up of African policies and programs in the field of ICTs.

To this end, ECA will continue to provide advisory support to service the meetings of this African Ministerial Committee in charge of ICTs.

I also urge the African ministerial committee to set up a sub-committee which will work on legal and regulatory frameworks and capacity development for internet governance - this will allow Africa to tap into the global e-business environment.

Way forward:

I want to turn now to the future and the key steps we most take between now and Tunis.

1. Financing.

From our deliberations we are agreed that financing the information society in Africa will require a multidimensional approach that involves regional economic communities, and regional financial institutions.

I therefore wish to express ECA's support for the digital solidarity fund as endorsed by the AU Heads of States Summit held in Addis Ababa in July 2004 as complementary to existing mechanisms for financing the Information Society.

We, at ECA, concur with the proposal that this should be a global fund for all of the developing world and not just Africa.

Furthermore, we have agreed that we must distinguish between projects and initiatives that will be supported by our development partners, those supported by African governments as well as the private sector. There will also be an increasing role for public private partnerships.

Additionally, we are agreed that financing the information society will require gender-sensitive budgeting and the establishment of financial investment schemes and facilities (which do not restrict women only to micro credit) and the allocation of targeted funds for gender and ICTs.

Community level and rural access also needs to remain at the top of the agenda as we head to Tunis. Our aim should be for Africa to eventually provide ICT access within walking distance of all its people.

Governments need a strategy on how to generate internal resources for funding their own activities and particularly learn to tap into resources, both financial and technical and human from the African Diaspora. ECA is, therefore exploring the option of harnessing the Diaspora potential with the International Office for Migration (IOM).

In other areas, Africa will need Development Cooperation support to increase ICT access in education and health and to sustain the information society in the long-term.

2. Regarding Regional Integration and approaches to building the infrastructure for the information society, I wish to reiterate President Kagame's opening statement, which urged further action on this front.

With a strong sub-regional strategy to develop ICT infrastructure, our countries will yield economies of scale, create better markets generate demand and capital.

Consequently bilateral ties can consolidate these benefits accrued from the sub-regional and regional levels. The role of NEPAD, AU and the RECs in this regard is crucial.

The African Academia will need to be supported as incubators and innovators for the information society.

I am pleased to announce that ECA has since Geneva, launched an African Academia Research Network and an R&D project for developing innovative applications for the Information Society, which is distinctly African.

3. With regard to Internet Governance, this meeting has all seen agreement on the need for African countries to take up the urgent challenge of becoming major actors in the Internet Governance discourse and to help shape how it will assist our development goals, particularly in trade and the business environment.

Vote of thanks:

This event would not have been possible without the generous support of the Government and people of Ghana and the members of the WSIS Accra National Organizing Committee.

I wish to thank H.E John A. Kufuor, President of the Republic of Ghana, and the Vice-President H.E. Aliu Mahama.

H.E Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, H.E Mohamed Ghannouchi, Prime Minister of the Republic of Tunisia, Members of the Council of State of the Republic of Ghana, Honourable Ministers, and the Ministry of Communication of Ghana, The African Union represented by the Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology

Let me also express my thanks to our local and international partners, such as Canada, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), La Francophonie, UNESCO for their generous financial and logistical support toward this event.

Lastly, special thanks to my staff for assisting the Government of Ghana in hosting and organizing this conference.

My dream is to see a time when Information Society issues are no longer the burden of ministries of ICTs but a shared responsibility of ministries of trade, commerce, finance, tourism, education, health and agriculture. That is the challenge facing all of us here today.

Let's work together to make this a reality.

I thank-you for your attention.