Brigitte Weidlich
8 May 2008
Windhoek — ABOUT 400 delegates from 33 countries are meeting in Windhoek to discuss how to use information and communication technology (ICT) to advance socio-economic development in Africa through open and freely available software, e-learning, and using ICT for environmental risk management.
Opening the conference yesterday, Education Minister Nangolo Mbumba said an ICT educational programme, called Techn/Na!, had been rolled out at schools and vocational training centres.
"Valuable lessons can be learned from countries like India, which heavily invested in education and ICT to achieve sustainable socio-economic growth.
The use of ICT with innovation as a driving force can curb poverty and rural under-development," Mbumba said.
Deputy Information and Communications Technology Minister Raphael Dinyando said it was important to foster e-commerce and e-government while at the same time enhancing rural access to information technology.
"We have drafted the Information and Communications Bill and another legislation, the Use of Electronic Communications and Transactions Bill.
Our Ministry's focus is to leapfrog Namibia into the information society in terms of ICT development," he said.
The goals of the conference are to narrow the digital divide between Africa and Europe, to facilitate European-African research co-operation and exploitation of research results, to promote knowledge sharing between commercial organisations, government agencies and the research community, support international co-operation and to open up the European Research Area (ERA) to Africa.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Namibian. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
