Africa’s Information Communications Ministers Resolve to Push ICT Sector at Continental Level

ABUJA DECLARATION: PREAMBLE – WE, African Ministers in charge of Communication and Information Technologies meeting at the Third Ordinary Session of the African Union Conference of Ministers in charge of Communication and Information Technologies in Abuja, Federal Republic of Nigeria, from 6 – 7 August 2010; (Photo: Nigeria’s Minister of State Information Labaran Maku (Left) and Sierra Leone’s I.B Kargbo discussing after one of the session)

Guided by the Constitutive Act and he Vision of the African Union (AU);

Recalling Executive Council Decision (EX.CL/Dec./238. (VII)) on establishment of the Communication and Information Technologies Ministerial Conference (CITMC);

Bearing in mind the 14^th Assembly of Heads of State and Government Declaration on Information and Communication Technologies in Africa: Challenges and Prospects for Development, Doc. Assembly/AU/11(XIV), held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 1 to 2 February 2010;

Re-affirming that Information and Communication Technologies are key to Africa’s development and economic competitiveness in the attainment of the African Union Vision and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)’

Taking into account the African Regional Action Plan on the Knowledge Economy (ARAPKE) adopted by the Executive Council of the African Union Decision EX.CL/Dec./261 (IX) in Khartoum, The Sudan in 2006;

Considering the African Heads of State and Government Declaration Assembly/AU/9/(XII), on supporting the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), adopted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2009;

Considering also the Oliver Tambo Declaration adopted in Johannesburg in November 2009;

Recalling the Decision EX.CL/Dec./434 (XIII) of the 13^th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in July 2008;

Welcoming the various initiatives on the development of the Information and Communication Technologies sector in Africa, including:

• The Reference Framework for Harmonization of Telecom/ICT Policy and Regulations in Africa;
• African Regional Action Plan for the Knowledge Economy;
• Action Plan for the Development of Postal Services in Africa;
• EU-Africa Partnership on Infrastructure (ICT component);
• EU-Africa Partnership on Science, Information Society and Space;
• NEPAD Planning & Coordination Agency (NPCA) ICT programmes.
• Connect Africa, and
• The Pan-African e-Network for Tele-Medicine and Tele-Education.

Taking note of the Report of the Experts Meeting held in Abuja, Federal Republic of Nigeria, from 3 to 5 of August 2010.

HEREBY COMMIT OURSELVES TO:

1.         INTEGRATE Information and Communication Technologies into our respective National Indicative Programmes;

2.         PROMOTE the mainstreaming of ICT policies in other sectors at national, regional and continental levels;

3.         WORK TOGETHER to contribute to the implementation of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), notably its ICT component;

4.         PROMOTE the transition from Analog to Digital terrestrial Broadcasting and to set up National Multi-Disciplinary committee (Telecoms/ICT experts and regulators, broadcasting experts and regulators and policy makers) on the Analog Switch-Off with the mission, among others to oversee the national strategy and to coordinate with similar committees at regional and continental levels;

5.         ENCOURAGE the African private sector to invest in ICT networks projects;

6.         SET UP national structure to promote the use of ICT in education to enable the rollout and scaling up of the NEPAD e-School initiative;

7.         PROMOTE the implementation of the e-Post programme as part of the National e-strategies taking into account coordination at the regional level;

8.         SECURE the orbital/spectrum resources required to accommodate continental satellites including applying as a block to secure allocation of unused ITSO orbital resources Africa as priority;

9.         SUPPORT the implementation of the ‘Connect Africa’ commitment to promote human and institutional capacity building through interconnected network of ICT Centres of Excellency;

10.       SUPPORT the creation of an African Centre of Excellence with continental coverage, in the field of ICT;

11.       SUPPORT the decision to integrate the Ministerial Conference and the Executive Committee of the NEPAD e-Africa Commission into the African Union CIT Ministerial Conference (CITMC);

12.       ENCOURAGE the RECs to strengthen their capacity through the provision of postal Experts for an optimum implementation of the Action Plan for the Development of the Postal Sector in Africa;

13.       INCLUDE postal entities in our strategies and programmes for the development of the ICT universal access in accordance with the Declaration of the 14^th Assembly of the African Union held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in February 2010.

HEREBY REQUEST THE AU COMMISSION TO:

1)         Work with the ITU and with all the development partners to continue activities on harmonization of policy and regulations in Africa based on the platform created by HIPSSA project in order to implement the remaining components of the Reference Framework adopted by the CITMC-2;

2)         Jointly finalize with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, within the framework of the African information Society Imitative (AISI), the Draft Convention on Cyber Legislation and support its implementation in Member States by 2012;

3)         Set up the structure and modalities for the Implementation of the DotAfrica project;

4)         Conduct a feasibility study for the establishment of the African Space Agency taking into account existing initiatives, and develop an African Space Policy in cooperation with the RECs, UNECA and ITU;

5)         Implement the integration of the NEPAD e-Africa Commission governance into the governance of the CITMC;

6)         Provide support to Member States in implementing the e-Post programme in cooperation with the stakeholders;

7)         Enhance organizational and institutional capacity building for better programmes and initiatives coordination, and for an appropriate and consolidated mechanism for reporting to the CITMC.

8)         Develop an action plan and a monitoring mechanism for implementation of CITMC decisions.

14.       APPRECIATE the role of African institutions, UN Agencies, African and international development partners and the private sector in supporting the AU efforts to develop the ICT sector in the continent;

15.       EXPRESS our gratitude to His Excellency president Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the Government and People of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for their warm hospitality and excellent organization of this conference.

Abuja, Nigeria, 7^th August 2010

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