Africa participates in the Canadian Government Technology Exhibition and Conference (GTEC) for the second year

30 October 2006

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), in collaboration with the Canadian ePolicy Resource Centre (CePRC) and under the Global ePolicy Resource Network (ePol-NET), facilitated the participation of over 54 e-Government and ICT Policy makers from 25 African countries in the Canadian Government Technology Exhibition and Conference Week (GTEC) 2006. GTEC Week, which has just concluded, was held from 23 – 27 October 2006 in Ottawa, Canada.

The Canadian GTEC event, launched in 1993, is recognized as Canada's most significant forum on the use of technology to improve government services and operations. The event features an annual Distinction Awards program and gala, a comprehensive Professional Development Forum, and the GTEC Exhibition and Showcase of IT products, services, and solutions. The conference program and extensive trade show are attended annually by an estimated 7,000 professionals including delegates (senior business and government officials) from more than 40 countries. In addition to the three-day conference, CePRC organized with other Canadian Government Agencies a two day long session for the African participants.

The Hon. Madam Neneh MacDouall-Gaye, Secretary of State for Communication, Gambia, made a presentation highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of e-Government in Africa. The presentation outlined the challenges of implementation of e-Government policies in Africa and examined the need for greater partnerships, particularly in relation to good governance, poverty reduction and the drive to achieve the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals.

On the relevance and impact of the GTEC week, a delegate from Mozambique, Mr Salamao Manhica, director of ICT policy implementation stated, “The Canadian approach to e-government is excellent, it is one of the few examples in the world of ever increasing satisfaction of citizens with public services”. Ms Christine Anyango Agimba, Kenya’s Deputy Solicitor-General reiterated, “As a legal expert, I can appreciate the practical policy considerations and issues to focus on in developing a more effective policy/regulatory framework and relevant laws to promote e-Government in delivering services to citizens”.

In a collective statement, the francophone African countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Senegal and Tunisia represented at GTEC this year, also called on CePRC and ECA to ”consider Senegal’s proposal to host a follow-up to GTEC for francophone countries to share their e-Government experiences, promoting south-south cooperation”.

The Officer-in-Charge of the ISTD, Ms. Aida Opoku-Mensah who represented ECA at GTEC and Ms Wendy Ace, Executive Director of CePRC, announced the launch of GTEC Africa to be held in the second quarter of 2007. The event aims to showcase African successes in the use of IT to promote e-Government for service delivery to citizens.

The Economic Commission for Africa, with support from the Government of Canada set up the African regional node of ePol-NET working in partnership with Industry Canada and the Canadian ePolicy Resource Centre (CePRC).

For more on GTEC: www.gtecweek.com