Guest of Honour, Prof Edward Kisiangáni, Permanent Secretary Broadcasting & Telecommunications, Ministry of Information, Communication & Digital Economy,
Mr. David Mugonyi, Director General, Communications Authority of Kenya,
Mr. John Omo, ATU Secretary General,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen.
It is a great pleasure to address you here today in Nairobi, at the 1st African Preparatory meeting for the 2025 World Telecommunication Development Conference.
Allow me to start by thanking Kenya for hosting this important meeting. It is a real pleasure to be where many of us consider the bedrock of innovation and startups, and a champion of digital transformation in Africa.
When I took office, it was my resolve and vision to close the digital divide, bridge the skills gap, and accelerate sustainable digital transformation. This is aligned with the mandate that Member States gave us at WTDC-22 and at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference.
In line with the five priorities of ITU-D in the Kigali Action Plan arising from the WTDC, together as a team in the Telecommunication Development Bureau – the BDT, we have set forth projects and special initiatives to ensure that we meet the objectives of membership to implement the outcomes of the conference. Building on previous work, in the last one year, we have launched projects in the various thematic areas, all tailored to the needs of countries and regions at large, with impact.
To share a few examples from the Africa region, we have supported 8 countries to enhance e-waste data harmonization and assisted 16 countries in the SADC region and in Kenya to develop their National Emergency Telecommunication Plans as frameworks to help them to better manage natural disasters when they strike. We further launched the Early Warnings for All initiative in 7 countries, following in the steps of the UN Secretary General's call to ensure every person in the world is protected by an early warning system by 2027. In our Emergency and Environment work, apart from providing training, we also supported Mozambique and Malawi to respond to disaster and other cases, used live disaster connectivity maps to provide information on the connectivity available on the ground during times of disasters.
Many of you may recall that early last year, we selected 14 ITU Academy Training Centres – with 5 from Africa - and an additional 5 Digital Transformation Centres selected with support of Cisco, bringing the number of those in Africa to 8, out of the total of 14 DTCs. This is part of the framework we have put in place to bolster digital skills of membership in the dispensation of the fast-changing technologies.
To ensure inclusive and secure telecommunications and ICT services, we intensified CyberDrills across the region in addition to establishing CIRTs in Zimbabwe and Lesotho to strengthen cybersecurity. Her Cyber Tracks and our Child Online Protection programme have equally helped to ensure vulnerable groups are not left behind in this important area of safety online.
GovStack, a project borne out of the support of our partners - Estonia, DIAL and GIZ - is supporting countries build public digital infrastructure to enable citizens easily access to digital services and applications. Together with you members, we have also achieved progress in areas as diverse as providing infrastructure analysis and programme support for school connectivity through Giga.
Enhancing inclusivity of women and young people is part of the moral fabric of our programme work.
Let us also not forget that Africa is sitting on a gold mine. This gold mine is its young demographic coupled with their talent and potential. With almost 60 per cent of the population below 24 years of age, young Africans are expected to make up 42 percent of the world's youth. We need to seize the momentum.
We must engage the youth and empower them to ensure their meaningful participation on digital matters. ITU's Generation Connect initiative is a platform that I call you to support to propel the youth.
Innovation remains central in our agenda, considering its pivotal role in digital transformation of economies. The Alliance for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which I launched last year has taken off with the selection of Network of 17 Acceleration Centres and an 18-member Board unveiled three days ago. You will be happy to note that Kenya's ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo is one of the eight Board members from Africa. They are drawn from Egypt, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
At the global level, we have at least 26 ongoing projects to progress the work in the areas of priority to members in Africa.
I thought I would give you a flavour of what we have in store for the membership and the assurance of our focus on the most pressing needs.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Our work is cut out. One third of the world's population is still offline. 740 million are from Africa. This is layered with gender and the urban-rural divides that persist. The cost of connectivity continues to be a barrier to achieving universal connectivity.
To conquer these inequalities, we focused on raising funds to stimulate implementation. One our most significant achievements last year was mobilizing close to 23 million Swiss Francs from partners to implement projects. I must pause here to sincerely thank the EU which remains one of the most significant contributors and partners in our work.
This is addition to the efforts under the Partner2Connect Digital Coalition – P2C- banner. Through our P2C Matchmaking Roundtables at the Regional Development Forums, we are supporting partners to operationalize their pledges by linking the pledges made to concrete country and region-specific needs. We held the Regional Development Forum for Africa in Ethiopia last October. I would like to use this opportunity to thank Ethiopia for so graciously hosting us at this momentous meeting.
There is much more required of us, with Africa still considered the least connected continent with 12% of the rural population having no mobile network coverage at all, and another 16% with only 2G coverage. This means that almost 30% per cent of the rural population in Africa cannot access the Internet.
On the hindsight, research shows that digital can accelerate 70% of the 169 targets of the SDGs. Africa's Agenda 2063, and the accompanying Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (2020-2030), are all in our hands. In the face of the ever-so-rapidly changing times, I urge this forum to seriously consider the technological advancements and mechanisms as potential catalysts to accelerate Africa's development.
Emerging and new technologies can be a game changer. Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, Big Data, Internet of Things, among others, are those catalysts we must keep an eye on. To reap their benefits, we must rapidly address the gaps in infrastructure, data, skills, regulations and policies that will support their uptake.
Partnership and collaboration at all levels with all stakeholders is they key advancing digital transformation and universal connectivity for a better world. I call on you to encourage more private sector and academia from Africa to join ITU-D as sector members so that together, we can forge ahead toward a sustainable digital future.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As I conclude, let me urge all of us, in our ongoing work and in preparation for WTDC-25, to forge for a more inclusive digital transformation of Africa.
With that, I wish you fruitful deliberations.
Thank you.
