THE 13th MEETING of the UNECA/EA-SRO INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS (ICE)

The 13th meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Sub-regional Office for Eastern Africa (SRO-EA) took place in Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles, from 27 to 29 April 2009. The theme of the meeting was “Tracking Progress in Implementing ICTs for Development in Eastern Africa”.

The meeting considered the report of activities of the work programme of the SRO-EA for the biennium 2007-2008, assessed the economic and social conditions of the Eastern African sub-region, in particular, with regard to progress achieved in the implementation of ICTs for development in Eastern Africa and strategies for accelerating the achievement of those objectives, including through regional integration and appropriate mechanisms for enhancing domestic resource mobilization.

The meeting also considered the status of preparation and implementation of Multi-Year Programmes of cooperation between SRO-EA and RECs and made recommendations on the way forward.

In that framework, two ad hoc Expert Group Meetings were held on “Tracking Progress towards the development of ICTs in Eastern Africa and Prospects” and on “Assessing Multi-Year Programmes (MYPs)”, as well two training sessions undertaken on ”The Implementation of ICT in the Areas of e-government and/or e-trade, and “Developing Strategies and Communication Infrastructures”.

The meeting was attended by delegations from Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Seychelles, Tanzania and Uganda.

Sub-regional, regional and international organizations represented were the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), the Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries (CEPGL), the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), the Eastern Africa Sub-regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI), the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie / Institut de la Francophonie Numerique (OIF/IFN), and the SRO-EA.

His Excellency Jacquelin Dugasse, Minister for National Development of Seychelles, officially opened the ICE Meeting. In his statement, the Minister underscored the importance of the meeting that is taking place at a time when the world economy is witnessing a period of unprecedented global economy uncertainty, turbulence and outright depression.

He noted that Governments, industry players, private sector and international organizations have a role to play in order to transform the digital divide into digital opportunities for national development and enhancement of regional integration, thus the call for technology transfer.

He concluded his statement by stating that African countries are called upon to build a vibrant information and knowledge society, in particular within the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) and the formulated National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI) plans, and to mainstream those plans into national development strategies and programmes.

In her statement, Mrs Lalla Ben Barka, the Deputy Executive Secretary of ECA, welcomed the participants to the meeting and informed them on the particular importance accorded to the work of subregional offices with Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and member States.

Amde Tadesse from Ethiopia, on behalf of the outgoing Chairman indicated that countries are warned that economic growth in Africa is expected to decline in 2009 as the contagion effects of the crisis spreads through weakened export demand, lower commodity prices and a decline in investment flows to the region.

Concerning the information and communication technologies, he indicated that ICTs offer the developing countries a unique opportunity to reduce poverty at the fastest possible speed. In addition, the potential contribution of ICTs to economic growth, productivity and efficiency of public services is well recognised. Specifically, ICTs help to expand economic and social opportunities; improve efficiency of many economic sectors, markets, institutions and governments; and make it easier for the poor to obtain access to resources and services and have their voices heard in the decisions that shape their lives.

His Excellency Andriamananoro Augustin, Minister of Telecommunications, Post, Communication and New Technologies of Madagascar indicated that Madagascar will put in place information technologies systems in order to support accelerated development, facilitate industry and trade, communication among citizens and visitors, and ensure improvement of general welfare, access to resources and knowledge.

In his presentation, the Executive Secretary of the NC-TTCA highlighted the Organization’s activities geared towards enhancing regional integration in the COMESA and the EAC economic regions. In so doing, he gave the background to the formation of the NCTTCA and its evolving mandate, which has been expanded beyond transit transport to include aspects of social and economic development. He stated that the NCTTCA Strategic Plan is anchored on four priority areas of focus namely: transformation of the corridor into an economic development corridor, infrastructure development and management, trade and transport facilitation, and knowledge management and performance monitoring.