Mr David Mugonyi, Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Communications Authority of Kenya,
Eng. John Tanui MBS, Principal Secretary State Department of ICT and Digital Economy of Kenya, represented by Mr. Dickson Gisiora, Director in charge of Cybersecurity, Ministry of Information and Digital Economy, Kenya,
Mr John Omo, Secretary General of the African Telecommunications Union,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen.
It is a great pleasure to welcome you to the Regional Preparatory Meeting for the Africa Region.
I would like to thank the Communications Authority of Kenya for hosting this important meeting.
as well as the first of African Preparatory Meetings for WTDC-25, organized by ATU. I attended the first one here in Nairobi.
As you know, Africa is the world's most youthful continent, with 60% of the population aged below 25. It is a continent in motion and the giant has awakened, it is essential that Africa's voice is heard at WTDC-25.
I call upon all our member states and sector members to continue to participate actively in our Working Groups of TDAG and I thank the Chairs of these groups.
They will be sharing their reports at this meeting.
Now, we are making great progress on the Kigali Action Plan, thanks to the broad range of stakeholders partnering with us as documented in the State of Digital Development and Trends in the Africa region report, which I launched at yesterday's Regional Development Forum.
I am proud of the key role ITU continues to play in developing Africa's ICT sector through various initiatives such as GovStack, our Digital Public infrastructure model, infrastructure mapping, digital capacity building and many others.
ITU has provided technical assistance to Togo, Kenya, Gambia, Rwanda, and Lesotho, in the area of GovStack and we are seeing more and more African countries using the tools we have developed to serve their needs.
ITU is also supporting African Member States in developing national cybersecurity strategies and providing training to improve responses to cyber-attacks.
We have delivered training workshops and technical assistance on spectrum management and emerging technologies through the Policy and Regulation Initiative for Digital Africa, PRIDA.
ITU is also leading pillar three of the Early Warning for All initiative and has supported Rwanda, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Mozambique in using ICTs to develop EW4All roadmaps as well as helping 16 members of the SADC region to identify their priorities in the use of ICTs for disaster management.
The 29th Conference of Parties (COP29) held in Azerbaijan in 2024, had outcomes that call for Member States to address climate change and disaster mitigation. Digital, and especially new technologies like AI have a role to play, and hence this needs to have this in context of the RPM discussions.
With support from COFED and EU, ITU helped 11 countries in central Africa to strengthen their capacity in ICT policy and develop legal and regulatory frameworks conducive to sustainable development and digital transformation.
We have carried out market assessments to help member states foster regulatory environments for universal meaningful connectivity and digital inclusion for all.
Countries that have benefitted include Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho and South Sudan.
ITU is also strengthening the capacity of Member States to produce and collect high quality, internationally comparable statistics based on agreed standards and methodologies.
In collaboration with development partners, ITU has also helped develop e-waste management strategies for a circular economy benefitting Botswana, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.
Two weeks ago, I was in Abidjan for the launch of the Africa Broadband Mapping project which is initially helping 11 countries identify infrastructure gaps for internet connectivity.
Africa has most of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Land Locked Developing Countries (LLDCs) in the world. 28 of the 44 LDCs and 15 of the 32 LLDCs are in Africa. In other cases, some countries are both LDCs and LLDCs.
The outcomes of the LDC5 and the upcoming LLDC3 in Turkmenistan in August 2025, provide key considerations in the discussions as countries prepare for WTDC-25.
Digital technologies are pivotal in helping LDCs and LLDCs as well SIDS, given their unique challenges.
You may recall that, in January 2023, soon after taking office, I launched the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance Initiative which has since established 17 Acceleration Centres.
Six of these are here in Africa, namely in Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
They are unlocking innovation for sustainable digital transformation and driving digital transformation through a unique ecosystem-thinking approach as well as enhancing innovation, entrepreneurship and the digitalization of economies.
Allow me to mention the ATU Africa Innovation Challenge.
ITU is proud to be part of this initiative, and which has become such a powerful platform for spotlighting the continent's brightest minds.
I am especially excited that the fourth edition is focused on AI and that, for the first time, the winners have the opportunity, to meet, engage and to take part in a training programme.
The achievements of the young innovators attest to Africa's immense potential for creative problem-solving especially by using new and emerging technologies.
Over the next four days, these finalists will refine their technical capabilities at Strathmore University's iLabAfrica.
The immense potential of AI is leveraging advanced technologies to bridge digital divides and impact communities, and these young innovators will now play a part in that enterprise.
As we look towards WTDC-25, I encourage the participation of Membership in the Telecommunication Development Advisory Group (TDAG) in May 2025, and Inter-Regional Meetings (IRMs) scheduled for July and September 2025.
In conclusion, yes, we have a long way to go in bringing digital transformation in Africa, but our ongoing efforts are making a real difference.
Thank you.
