The Minister for Communication, Dr Edward Omane- Boamah yesterday launched the Regional Development Forum as well as the Africa Regional Preparatory Meeting for the World Technology Development Conference for Africa under the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in Accra. The Union is an International Global Information Technology representative of the United Nations (UN) which consists of 191 members with the responsibility of standardisation and regulation of Information Technology.

The Minister expressed that, Ghana had been chosen to host the projects as a result of its benchmark in the Information Communications Technology (ICT) sector taking into consideration her being listed among the top ten for ICT development in Africa.

He hinted that, the programme would create a platform for an open dialogue with various academicians, industries, and relevant organisations.

He was however elated to express the fact that the Telecommunications sector continued to make remarkable strives in Africa. He added that 45% of internet traffic was now handled locally with a capacity of almost 25%.

Touching on broadband development, Dr Omane Boamah said there was a 780 km optic fibre network that is being built to cover all the Districts and Constituencies of the country. The Regional Development Forum (RDF) was intended to deliberate trends in the Telecommunications sector, Information Communications Technology in Africa, Broadband applications and cyber security.

On the other hand, the Regional Preparatory Meeting for the World Telecommunications (WTCA) Development Conference for Africa was to access the implementation of priority regional initiatives and the identification of priority areas.

He said the Regional Development Forum was set to commence on the 1st of October, 2013 whiles the World Telecommunications Development Conference for Africa was also slated for the 4th of October, 2013 at the Accra International Conference Center (AICC).

Source: ISD