Addis Ababa — The African Union Commission (AUC) in cooperation with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) are hosting the fourth African Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF 2015) this week from 6-8 September 2015, following the Ministerial Conference on Communication and ICT (CCICT-1) that took place from 31 August to 4 September last week.
In her remarks at the opening of the Specialised Technical Committee on Communication and Information Technologies (STC-ICT), Ms. Fatima Denton, Director of the ECA'S Special Initiatives Division said,
"We are standing at the threshold of an historical landmark, the ushering in of Sustainable Development Goals and the commitment of more than 190 nations to a successor treaty to Kyoto in Paris, this December, in the fight against climate change."
She further indicated the ongoing efforts to implement Agenda 2063 under the leadership of the African Union Commission and stressed, "Of equal significance is the review of the ten year implementation of the World Summit on the Information Society outcomes."
"We have the urgent exercise of taking stock of development issues and we cannot do this in isolation of the ICT sector and its unique role in triggering Africa's transformational agenda," underscored Ms. Denton.
She urged the meeting to address the need to enhance connectivity to improve regional economic integration.
For his part, addressing the fourth African Internet Governance Forum, Mr. Jimmy Ocitti, Director of the Public Information and Knowledge Management Division, said, "the key to making Internet Governance a success at both the sub-regional and regional levels is dependent on the take up and active participation at the national level."
Mr. Ocitti also noted that without investment in ICT, the continent will stay on the periphery of the global knowledge economy.
He highlighted a number of achievements, such as the adoption of the African Union Convention on Cybersecurity and Personal Data Protection, which he said "is the result of ECA and AUC efforts in the last four years, mandated by the Conference of Ministers in charge of ICTs through the Oliver Tambo Declaration."
He affirmed ECA's continued efforts to work closely with all stakeholders in implementing the outcomes of the AfIGF2015 recommendations under discussion this week.
The AfIGF has assembled participants from around the continent, as well as external partners to discuss Africa's collective common position on Internet Governance and share best practices based on the results of national and sub-regional consultations in order to chart the way for the continent's participation in the next Internet Governance Forum (IGF) to be held in João Pessoa, Brazil, in November 2015.
The meeting of the Specialized Technical Committee on Communications and ICT, brought together for the first time, ministers in charge of ICT, information, media and broadcasting, thus putting emphasis on convergence and the fact that ICTs play the role of a key driver and enabler for cultural, social and economic development.
Also present was the Honorable Deputy Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services of South Africa, Prof. Hlengiwe Mkhize; as well as Ms Mary Uduma, Chair of the Nigeria Internet Group; and Moctar Yedaly, Head of the Information Society Division of the AU.
The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) serves to bring people together from various stakeholder groups as equals, in discussions on public policy issues relating to the Internet.
For more information on IGF please visit http://www.intgovforum.org
