‘CONNECT AFRICA’ SUMMIT OPENS IN KIGALI

Partnerships Announced to Develop Information and Communications

Technology in the Continent as World Bank Announces Doubling of Financing

(Received from a UN Information Officer.)

KIGALI, 29 October 2007 -- The "Connect Africa" summit, which brings together leaders from Governments, industry, international financial institutions and civil society on how best to accelerate connectivity in Africa, opened today in Kigali, Rwanda, with calls for partnerships and a regulatory framework conducive to investment.

“This meeting illustrates the power and potential of public-private partnerships”, said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a message delivered for him by Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Sha Zukang.

The partnership involving African Governments, the private sector and development banks “augurs well for the hopes and aspirations of all of the people of Africa in a better future”, Mr. Ban said.  “I am encouraged by your determination to act, as evidenced by your engagement in this Summit, with its focus on implementation.”

“Narrowing the digital divide is part and parcel of our global efforts to achieve development for all,” the Secretary-General said.  The benefits of information and communications technology (ICT) must be made available to all regions, especially in Africa, the one region not on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, Mr. Ban said.  (For full text of the Secretary-General’s remarks, see Press Release SG/SM/11244-AFR/1608-DEV/2643 of today’s date.)

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, who opened the Summit, said Africa needed to harmonize its ICT regulatory framework to attract investments, build capacity and information technology training, and make high-speed broadband connectivity reach out to all African communities.

Africa was “a living contradiction that must be corrected”, Mr. Kagame said, because despite quick cell phone propagation and availability of roaming services, cheap broadband Internet was taking too long to reach African consumers.  He called for a close working relationship between Governments and the private sector to speed up integration of technology into economic growth strategies.

Hamadoun Touré, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), appealed to African Governments to encourage a “business-friendly and attractive” policy and regulatory environment that would foster innovation, competition and investment.

Africa was open for business and looking for partnerships, Mr. Touré said, adding that "ICT is a catalyst, an enabler in all sectors of the economy in Africa", as well as "the accelerator to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015".

The President of the African Development Bank, Donald Kaberuka, also called on African leaders to put in place regulatory frameworks that helped to enhance growth instead of creating barriers to growth.  He said it was important for African countries to seek partnerships with the private sector to bridge the digital divide, adding that his Bank had committed some $1 billion in 30 countries in Africa, to help put in place ICT infrastructure in the continent.

The President of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, said Africa needed to reform itself to eradicate the barriers that had left it with no tangible development, despite billions of dollars invested by the donor community.  “With the $2 billion and no reform in our systems”, Mr. Wade said, he might be saying the same words at the next summit, because there was a risk of no tangible development.

Hartwig Schafer, the Director of Operations for Africa for the World Bank, said the Bank would double its commitment for ICT infrastructure in Africa to $2 billion over the next five years.  Financing would support Government-business partnerships, especially for affordable high speed Internet and connectivity of rural areas and small towns.  The Bank would also partner with universities, regional regulatory associations and ICT institutions to offer training and capacity development for regulatory staff across Africa.

The World Bank in the past years had provided $1 billion to Governments and the private sector to expand infrastructure, Mr. Schafer said.  It was financing a host of connectivity initiatives, including part of the cost for the $253 million Eastern Africa Submarine System project, which will connect the region with the rest of the world via a fibre-optic undersea cable system.

Under-Secretary-General on Economic and Social Affairs Sha Zukang said the question was one of scalability:  how to bring about the large-scale adoption of ICT that would put African countries on a path towards knowledge-based societies and prosperous economies.

“A true knowledge-based economy will not happen without a critical mass of ICT-skilled workers”, Mr. Sha said, adding that the United Nations would work closely with key organizations of the United Nations system, as well as the private sector, to develop a consortium for capacity-building in Africa focused on training for education, health, e-governance and e-entrepreneurship.

Various partnerships were launched today.  ITU and Microsoft launched “Global View”, a Microsoft Virtual Earth-based online platform to track and help accelerate ICT development projects in Africa.

ITU and Microsoft signed a memorandum of understanding outlining how they will work together to deliver applications and services in Africa and support skills development and capacity-building programmes.  In addition, ITU and Microsoft will collaborate on providing digital opportunities for youth, providing access to computer technology training as well as opportunities to gain work experience in the industry.

GSM, the global trade association representing over 700 mobile phone operators around the world, announced that the mobile industry plans to invest more than $50 billion in sub-Saharan Africa over the next five years to provide more than 90 per cent of the population with mobile coverage.  MTN, Orange, Vodacom and Zain subsidiary Celtel are among the mobile operators planning to invest heavily in the expansion and enhancement of their networks.

Some 900 delegates, including six African Presidents, 53 ICT ministers and 19 ICT companies, are attending the summit, which will conclude tomorrow.  The Presidents of Malawi, Bingu Mutharika, of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, of Burkina Faso, Blaise Kompaore, and of Djibouti, Guere Ismail Omar, are also attending the meeting.

The event is organized by the International Telecommunication Union, the African Union, the World Bank Group and the Global Alliance for ICT and Development, in partnership with the African Development Bank, the African Telecommunication Union, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the Global Digital Solidarity Fund.

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For information media • not an official record