DODOMA: TANZANIA'S push to have a competitive digital economy in the world is on doorstep following the completion of the national Digital Economy Framework (DEF) has been completed.
This was confirmed on Tuesday by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Communication and Information Technology, Dr Mohammed Abdula. Addressing a special meeting of the Tanzania National Business Council's (TNBC) Digital Transformation Working Group (DTWG), Dr Abdula said his ministry and non-state actors have, for quite some time, been working on the framework.
"Now the framework is in place awaiting clearance for implementation," he confirmed. He added that the framework is another example of concreted joint efforts of representatives of the private and public sectors. "It is a product of many meetings of technical groups from both sides," he said.
He explained that in order for the nation to have a solid digital foundation, the government worked with various stakeholders drawn from the private sector, universities, social groups and the development partners.
Explaining on the importance of working together between the public and private, Dr Abdula said the efforts helped in realising the national vision in this regard. He said the statistics show that registered telephone lines went up from 55.7million lines in April 2022 to 62.3million in April 2023. Internet users also correspondingly rose from 29.9 million to 33.1 million.
The TNBC Executive Secretary, Dr Godwill Wanga, commended the efforts explaining that the present success is proof of the importance of the public private sector dialogues.
He also said the successful drive to focus on ICT is not coming out of vacuum. He said the 12th TNBC national meeting, that was chaired by President Samia Hassan, called for research on emerging digital technologies to facilitate realisation of the 4th Industrial Revolution and research on Digital or Crypto currencies so that Tanzania is not left behind.
He said the TNBC has formed eight working groups to promote digital transformation namely, business environment, industries, tourism, agriculture, finance, forestry, blue economy and digital economy.
