H.E Choi, Yanghee, Minister of Science, ICT and Future Planning, Republic of Korea
Your Excellencies, Ministers and Ambassadors
Secretary General, ITU,
Heads of Delegation
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen
Mr. Chairman on behalf of Uganda, I wish to congratulate and thank the government of the Republic of Korea and its people for hosting this ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2014 and for all the courtesies extended to us since our arrival. Further, we pledge to work with you Mr. Chairman and all other delegations towards achieving a successful conference.
Mr. Chairman, I would also like to thank the ITU secretariat for their valuable contribution in ensuring the success of this conference.
Mr. Chairman, let me also use this opportunity to thank most sincerely Dr. Toure, the outgoing Secretary General and his team for providing strategic and steadfast leadership of the Union during their tenure. My government notes with deep satisfaction, that the Union has since grown in strength and stature in achieving its mission and objectives.
Mr. Chairman, at the national level, the rapid growth of the ICT sector has made Uganda more competitive and resulted in efficient and effective ways of doing business in both the productive and social aspects of the economy. We have put in place a robust ICT policy, legal and regulatory frameworks that have resulted in significant achievements which include among others;
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Connecting all our major towns with optic fibre and extending it to the borders of our neighboring countries. In addition Uganda has achieved 100% voice coverage at the lowest level of our administrative units
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Establishment of computer labs and internet connectivity in our secondary schools and institutions of higher learning,
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Establishment of e-government network that currently spans Government institutions. Each of the Districts in Uganda have a website.
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Complemented private sector efforts by facilitating the establishment of community access points and provision of community ICT training. Our Post Offices have been provided with ICT facilities.
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Provision of telemedicine facilities and internet access to our hospitals and major health centres.
Mr. Chairman, the government took cognizance of the challenges associated with ICTs, and as part of its remedial strategy, has enacted cyber laws and established a sector specific Computer Emergency Response Team in partnership with ITU to build confidence in the use of ICTs. In addition, Data Protection laws, National Information Security and On-line Child Protection frameworks are being developed.
Uganda firmly believes in collaboration with ITU Members States and international agencies in furthering its strategic objectives and benefiting from lessons learnt thereby. To this end, we have worked with a number of development partners and Governments like the World Bank, Commonwealth Telecommunication Organization, the Republic of China and the Republic of Korea. šSome of the support and collaborations include;
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Development of an e-government master plan,
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Establishment of a Government Information Access Centre
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Establishment of BPOs and IT parks.
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Establishment of ICT innovation centres and centers of excellence,
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Extending last mile connectivity to the rural communities.
In order to foster Innovation and Partnerships, the Government through the Regulator put in place the Annual Communications Innovations Awards which recognises initiatives of the individuals and institutions in ICT Innovation.
The strategic plans of our long term national development goals are set out in our Vision 2040 which assumes the existence of a vibrant knowledge economy, enabled by widespread use of ICT, specifically broadband. Some specific ICT strategies and projects highlighted in the Vision 2040 are:
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Regional high-tech cities with associated ICT infrastructure including both physical ICT networks and human resource capacity.
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Provision of e-government services to improve service delivery.
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Funding support for ICT start-up businesses and provision of an enabling environment for their growth.
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Creation of research labs, innovation hubs and creative spaces.
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Bridging the gap between industry and academia through collaboration with international partnerships on various research projects.
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Software development, hardware assembly and manufacturing.
The Government of Uganda is an active actor in the various global and regional organizations on telecommunications/ICT developments, and we pledge to remain active.
Mr. Chairman and distinguished Heads of Delegations, I wish to re-iterate my Government's request to you all to support Uganda's candidature for election to the ITU Council representing Region D. Once elected, we shall diligently work towards providing strategic leadership within the Council as we have done in the past. I therefore, respectfully request the valuable support of your governments for our candidacy.
In conclusion, I wish all delegates fruitful deliberations in the coming three weeks.
Thank You.
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