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AFRICA
TELECOM 90:
3 to 9 December, Harare, Zimbabwe
AFRICA
TELECOM 90, which was jointly organized by the ITU and the Posts and Telecommunications Corporation of Zimbabwe (PTC), was held at the Harare International Conference Centre and the Sheraton Hotel in Zimbabwe. The event was spectacularly successful, with inbound and outgoing flights to and from Harare being fully booked, the hotel capacity of the city being stretched to the limit, and the Conference Centre being entirely occupied by international and Zimbabwean organizations.
AFRICA
TELECOM
90 was the second regional telecommunication Exhibition and Forum staged by the ITU at the invitation of an African country. The event was inaugurated on 4 December 1990 in the presence of His Excellency the Hon R.G. Mugabe, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe.
Some 1,500 people – including 29 Ministers, Ambassadors, 145 Directors-General of Telecommunication Administrations and over 550 executives and engineers from 94 countries – crowded the vast Auditorium of the Harare International Conference Centre for the joint opening of
AFRICA
TELECOM
90 and the African Telecommunication Development Conference.
The aim of the African Telecommunication Development Conference was to develop strategies and plans for establishing telecommunication infrastructures for African countries, as a tool for the integration of their economies.
"Mobilizing resources for development" was the theme chosen for
AFRICA
TELECOM
90. It well reflected the goal the ITU and the PTC had set themselves in highlighting the necessity of balanced telecommunication services geared to the needs, nature and technical requirement of developing countries.
AFRICA
TELECOM
90 comprised an Exhibition and a Forum. The Exhibition was attended by about 11,000 trade visitors, and featured seven national pavilions and 124 Exhibitors from 22 countries, who between them took some 3,000 m2 net of Exhibition space.
The accompanying Forum attracted over 550 participants from virtually all administrations on the African continent and from the private sector worldwide. Seven Ministers were among the 45 high profile speakers who developed topics of a financial, and technical nature under the overall theme of the Forum "Development Strategies for Resources, Management and Technology".
The Forum culminated in a session chaired by the Hon Mrs Victoria Chitepo, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Information, Posts and Telecommunications, who said "The structural adjustment programmes sweeping through African states and the economic liberalization programmes being pursued leave little scape-goats to those who previously shunned investment on pretexts that the African investment climate is hostile. Opportunities abound for the establishment of joint ventures for the manufacture of appropriate equipment ‘on site’ for a ready market. Joint ventures are the ideal vehicle for the transfer of technology".
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