Yamoussoukro — The 11th meeting of ECOWAS Telecommunications and Information and Communication Technologies Ministers (Telecoms-ICT) from the 15 Community Member States ended at Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire, yesterday.
Prepared for four days in the Ivorian capital by a high-level experts' meeting, it sought to review the strategy for the implementation of priority regional projects slated for the next five years. It was also aimed at informing participants of the progress made in regional broadband connectivity programmes and in the harmonization of the Telecommunications and ICT regulatory framework in the Community at large.
The deliberations focused on a number of issues, including termination charges, on incoming traffic among ECOWAS States. In that regard, taking due account of the positions and specificity of each Member State, the meeting decided to put forward to the ECOWAS Commission a recommendation to conduct a study on the impact of the charge within the Community. "The study's findings should be submitted to the next Telecommunications/ICT Ministers meeting for a timely decision", the final report of the meeting enjoined. The ministers also considered and adopted the draft regulation on conditions for access to submarine cable landing stations in West Africa. The text, comprising 16 articles, provides ECOWAS States with the necessary tools for addressing issues of confidence relating to landing stations and submarine cable access.
In that regard, the countries of the hinterland raised the issue of rights of way between Member States, the resolution of which would be necessary to facilitate access to submarine cable landing stations, among other things. The meeting therefore recommended a study to develop a harmonized regulation on the rights of way by learning from existing best practices, particularly that of Rwanda. This activity will be included in the strategy for the implementation of priority Telecoms-ICT projects in the ECOWAS region for the next five years. As a matter of fact, the Ministers adopted a strategy paper in that regard outlining the priority projects to be implemented in the coming years. The text transforms into programmes the five initiatives of the West African region that were classified by order of priority during the ECOWAS experts meeting held in Lome, Togo last March.
This document, which gives an update of all the areas for the efficient implementation of the identified projects in synergy with other ongoing projects, also sets out clear objectives that build on the strategic areas identified by ECOWAS, and outlines the broad guidelines without beclouding the implementation, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. Finally, the Ministers recommended the creation of a Directorate of Telecoms- ICT and Post sectors by the third quarter of 2012 in order to build ECOWAS operational capacity and enhance the planning and monitoring of the activities of these sectors at the Community level. It is also worth noting that during the meeting, the ICT Component of Preliminary Report Phase II of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) was presented to the Ministers. The programme is piloted by the African Union Commission (AUC) whose representatives made brief PIDA presentations to the ministers.
Besides the African Union, the following institutions were also represented at the meeting: the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the Pan African Postal Union (PAPU), the West Africa Telecommunications Regulators Assembly (WATRA), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the National Union of Telecommunications Companies of Cote d'Ivoire (UNETEL), the West African Telecommunications Conference (WATC), the African Registry Consortium (ARC), the Information and Communication Technologies Sector Operators Group (GOTIC), and the Initiative for Internet Governance in Cote d'Ivoire (IGICI).
