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28 April 2009
As a continuation of the Pre-CODIST events, today the 28th of April 2009, there are four workshops running in parallel; The 1st Follow-up Workshop on WSIS, Tunis+3; Legal and regulatory framework for the Knowledge Economy; ECA -Workshop on Capacity Building on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Africa; and AFREF Workshop: Revamping the implementation Plan.
For the “Legal and regulatory framework for the Knowledge Economy” workshop, opening remarks were delivered by representatives of the workshop organising partners,Mr. Pierre Ouedraogo, Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), Mr. Jon McNerney, Internet Society (ISOC) and on behalf of Ms Cécile Barayre-El Shami, UNCTAD. Mr. Ouedraogo informed participants that “OIF expects that the workshop will be an opportunity for sharing best practice on cyber legislation, legal and regulatory frameworks that can in turn help in implementing national and regional e-strategies”. In his opening remarks, Mr. McNerney advised that the workshop provided “an excellent opportunity to collaboratively consider and identify legal and regulatory frameworks for ICTs in Africa as the development of legal and regulatory frameworks that promote an open and trusted Internet are essential not only to promote access but also to ensure that this access effectively contributes to economic and social development in Africa”. In remarks read on her behalf, Ms Cécile Barayre-El Shami noted that this “meeting provides an opportunity for all of us to revisit the important question of how best to regulate the information economy in Africa and that “the creation of an enabling legal and regulatory environment is critical to the effective implementation of e-government strategies and to the development of e-commerce at national and regional levels.”
The Director of ICT, Science and Technology Division (ISTD), Ms Aida Opoku-Mensah informed participants about the significance of the workshop and expected outcomes including the creation of a conducive environment for the knowledge economy. She stressed that “the creation of an enabling legal and regulatory environment is critical to the effective implementation of national and sectoral e-strategies”.
On the WSIS follow-up workshop, Ms Opoku-Mensah reiterated the significance of developing indicators to monitor progress in the use of ICTs for development. She stated that “the development of relevant indicators requires the concerted effort at the national, regional and international levels involving many stakeholders”. She reminded the participants that the WSIS calls upon international and regional organizations to assess and regularly report on universal accessibility of nations to ICTs, with the aim of creating equitable opportunities for the growth of ICT sectors of developing countries. She also reminded the participants that the objective of the workshop is to review the analysis made by ECA from the input provided by Member States on the 11 WSIS Action Lines.
In his keynote address, Professor Clement Dzidonu, Chairperson, GAID-Africa Network, recalled the key milestone events that took place from the mid-1990s as being the launch of the AISI in 1996, the ADF-99 meeting on addressing the challenges of the information society and the Geneva and the Tunis phases of the WSIS meeting. He goes on to say that ‘these events of which the ECA has been a key mover, has no doubt change the landscape and the language of how African countries should go about promoting their developmental agenda in the emerging information and technological age’.
In her opening remarks for the Building STI capacities workshop, the Director of ICT, Science and Technology Division (ISTD), Ms Aida Opoku-Mensah informed participants that for two years ECA has been developing the “Access to Scientific Knowledge in Africa (ASKIA)” initiative to support and promote access to scientific knowledge by the African scientists, decision makers, students and researchers. She stressed that the “new e-platform hosted by ECA will facilitate all dimensions of policy-formulation and implementation of cyber-strategies across UNECA’s activities and serve as a “convergence platform” that can bring diverse stakeholders together and address innovation bottlenecks throughout the continent”.
Lastly, in opening the AFREF workshop the Director informed the participants about the significance of AFREF, what ECA is doing in support of AFREF, the purpose of this workshop and what is expected from the workshop. She emphasized the need to discuss and endorse the implementation plan proposed by ECA and AUC, placing particular emphasis on the proposed management structures, formalizing coordinating arrangements between the various partners and stakeholders and building capacity in Africa for the successful implementation of AFREF. This was echoed by Mr. Chaibi Thameur (Science and Technology Expert at the AU Department of Human Resources, Science and Technology (AU/HRST)) who emphasized the significance of AFREF and informed the participants of the creation of an AU/ECA Joint Task Force to work with the AFREF International Steering Committee to implement the Light House project on AFREF. In closing the AFREF workshop, Ms Aida Opoku-Mensah informed the participants that "ECA is committed to the AFREF programme, which is in the Commission's 2008-9 work programme and will ensure that the AFREF initiative is rolled out based on a strong advocacy and outreach programme".
Key recommendations from these workshops will be presented during CODIST I in the respective sub-committee sessions.
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