ITU/94-13 (corr.)
29 April 1994
ORIGINAL: English

Africa TELECOM 94 closes today: 
strong support shown by the international telecommunications community

Cairo - "We are meeting in Cairo today to witness the birth of wider cooperation 
between the countries of the African continent and the Middle East." It is in 
these terms that His Excellency Mr Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, President of the Arab 
Republic of Egypt addressed an audience of distinguished visitors gathered for 
the opening ceremony of Africa Telecom 94. "This meeting", Mr Mubarak said, "is 
intended to be an embodiment of the common interests of the developing countries 
regardless of their regional affiliation and of their legitimate right - if not 
their duty - to benefit from the state-of-the-art in the field of 
telecommunications."

Organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as part of its 
programme of regional TELECOM events, the Africa TELECOM 94 Exhibition and Forum 
was held from 25 to 29 April 1994 at the Cairo International Conference Centre.

Guests of honour included His Excellency, Mr Soliman Metwally Soliman, Minister 
of Communications, Transport and Civil Aviation, and Ambassador Joseph Verner 
Reed, Under Secretary-General of the United Nations who delivered a message on 
behalf of Dr Boutros Boutros-Ghali. 

"Integrating Africa regionally and globally: a challenge for telecommunications 
and development" was the theme chosen for Africa TELECOM 94 - reflecting the 
ITU's commitment to the challenge of reversing the growing disparity in 
telecommunications development between the African and Middle East region and 
the rest of the world. 

A high level of government support was shown on the eve of the official opening 
when Ministers and Directors-General attended a private tour of the Exhibition 
to view the 286 exhibitors who were displaying their latest products and 
services. Throughout the week, over 11,000 telecommunication professionals 
visited the Exhibition halls.

Running in parallel with the Exhibition, the Forum sessions were addressed by 
leading experts from both the public and private sectors and attracted 
participants from almost half of the ITU Member countries.

The programme included plenary sessions addressed by keynote speakers and 
interactive panel and workshop sessions from which extremely positively feedback 
has been received. This new format encouraged lively debate on vital issues 
concerning the telecommunication infrastructure of Africa and the Middle East - 
including: the support required and constraints involved for development and 
installation; healthcare telematics; user needs; private networks and 
applications; tariffs; low cost technical approaches; broadcasting and TV 
coverage; regional cooperation and training.

The next TELECOM event will be TELECOM 95 - the world exhibition and forum which 
will take place in Geneva during 3-11 October 1995.  The next regional TELECOM 
event will focus on the Americas in 1996 with venue and date yet to be decided.  

EVENT STATISTICS

Visitors: 11 783 from 75 countries

Ministers: 54

Delegates from Administrations: 204

Directors-General: 72

Ambassadors: 31

Chief Executive Officers: 331

Exhibitors: 2 512 exhibitors from 285 representing 48 countries

Exhibition space: 13 000 m2

Forum speakers: 210 from 64 countries and 27 international organizations

Forum participants: 1 119 from 95 countries

Accredited press: 193 journalists from 26 countries of which 
		  94 representing the international press