Efem Nkanga
15 May 2008
Cairo — As stakeholders gather in Egypt to seek Information Communications Technology solutions that will take the African continent to the next level of development, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union ITU, Dr Hamadoun Touré has stated that what Africa needs is more investment and not charity.
Toure who stated this at a forum convened at the ongoing ITU Telecom Africa Forum in Egypt to discuss the progress of the $55 billion US dollars investment commitments in the bid to connect Africa by 2015 said "Investment, not charity, is the solution for Africa 's development."
The Connect Africa Summit which seeks to help the continent meet its connectivity goals has identified the catalytic role of ICTs in meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals by 2015 according to Touré .
"Seven years before the 2015 target for achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, we need to be bold. We need to devise the strategies that will enable us to achieve these goals.
"Information and communication technologies have a crucial role to play in achieving these goals, for example, through e-education e-agriculture and e-health," Toure said, adding "African countries need modern, reliable broadband infrastructure in order to create jobs for economic growth." A total of $55 billion US was earmarked speed up the processes that will drive the expansion ,to expand ICT connectivity and services to the entire continent by 2015 including a goal of .interconnecting cities to broadband by 2012 One of the participants, Mr Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau, highlighted some of ITU's key actions to include the establishment of Centres of Excellence, youth scholarships and Internet training centres for Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries in Africa with the support of the Government of Spain. He also highlighted a policy and regulatory harmonization initiative underway in Africa with the support of the European Commission -. He also announced the recent launch of the Village Phone Direct manual, co published in six languages with the Grameen Foundation, which is designed to help local partners implement their own village phone projects. Other focus of the Connect Africa initiative announced by him include massive infrastructure development across the continent especially filling the gaps in backbone networks, improving rural connectivity with an added emphasis on connecting African villages, adoption of key regulatory measures for affordable, widespread access to ICT services, providing appropriate ICT services and applications and strengthening capacity building
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