The ITU pavilion

Another major highlight (and new initiative) at Africa 2001 was the ITU Pavilion, which was given pride of place in the Exhibition, close to the registration area. Popular with visitors, exhibitors, journalists and Forum delegates and speakers, the ITU pavilion provided not just a meeting place but also a vivid demonstration of how new technologies can be applied in the field, and particularly in rural and remote areas.

At the heart of the Pavilion, ITU built a fully functional community telecentre in order to focus on applications and technologies for rural areas - and this telecentre proved popular with everyone from students to ministerial-level delegates, who collected and sent their e-mail messages from this shared resource. Around the telecentre were clustered a number of exhibitors specializing in communication technologies for rural areas, allowing the Pavilion to act as a one-stop shop where visitors could see all of the pieces of the jigsaw making up a complete picture.

In this way, the ITU Pavilion achieved its aim of helping the Union’s regional Telecom events to become a demonstration not just of the most advanced technologies in telecommunications today, but also of technologies and applications appropriate for rural areas.

A spirit of cooperation

During the week of Africa 2001, non-exclusive Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) were signed by the ITU Secretary-General with Alcatel and Siemens within the framework of the ITU Centres of Excellence (CoE) Initiative. These two European manufacturers will make an in-kind contribution in equipment and capacity building to manage and administer networks in Africa, Arab States, Latin America and the Caribbean.

A third MoU was signed between ITU and Cable & Wireless to commemorate the tenth anniversary of their joint Training Scheme. Under the agreement, the UK operator will extend remote learning opportunities to tele-communication professionals in least developed countries by providing scholarships through the Global Telecommunication University (GTU), ITU’s flagship programme for distance learning.

ITU also initiated a high-impact humanitarian project involving the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to establish a network of three multi-purpose community telecentres in and around refugee camps along the north-western border of Tanzania. Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA) signed a cooperation agreement with ITU to participate in the venture, and WorldSpace Corporation said it would sign a similar agreement shortly, and announced the donation of equipment to the project. Other UN organizations are expected to join the partnership.