Betty Mould-Iddrisu was speaking at the opening of the two-day summit organised by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), in collaboration with the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). She made the address on behalf of Commonwealth secretary-general, Kamalesh Sharma.
“Without a robust telecommunications network citizens cannot access health services remotely or obtain a good education for their children who are located in remote communities. We must help lift the smallest and most vulnerable and most in need off the bottom rung,” she said.
Experts in the field of telecommunications and ICT, private sector representatives, international aid agencies and civil society organisations are meeting discuss the theme: “Ensuring effective connectivity for a socially inclusive and a commercially vibrant Africa.”
This summit also offers participants the opportunity to explore Africa as a fertile emerging market for ICT business, to gain up-to-date insights into current trends in technological advances, and compare national ICT strategies.
The secretary-general is encouraging the global network of Commonwealth member governments and associations such as the CTO, COMNET-IT and the CBC to work in partnerships with the wider international community to help Africa to reduce its digital divide.
Mould-Iddrisu reiterated this by saying: “The Commonwealth is not a resource-rich organisation, in money terms. But its networks, and the goodwill that it generates, can be worth a great deal.”
Over the coming months the Commonwealth Secretariat will be delivering a series of workshops designed to build capacity in the Development and Implementation of National ICT Strategies, a necessary pre-requisite before any major investment in ICT can be made.
Top government officials from more than 58 countries, including non-Commonwealth countries are attending the meeting to discuss Africa's march towards ICT development.
The CTO is an international development partnership between Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth governments, business and civil society organisations. It provides the international community with effective means to help bridge the digital divide and achieve social and economic development, by delivering to developing countries unique knowledge-sharing programmes in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the specific areas of telecommunications, IT, broadcasting and the Internet. It has a specific focus on private-public partnerships.
