African countries have committed to ensuring ICT remains at the centre of their national agendas after agreeing to the Smart Africa Manifesto at the Transform Africa Summit, in Kigali, Rwanda.
The New Times reports Rwandan Prime Minister Pierre Damien Habumuremyi called for more commitment toward projects that will change the continent.
“From this summit, we have seen that the future can be delivered today; we must scale up our commitment toward the objectives underlined in the Manifesto,” Habumuremyi said. “Building from the remarkable progress achieved since 2007 while leveraging broadband in our communities will drive us towards sustainable development.”
Apart from being at the centre of socio-economic development, the Smart Africa Manifesto will also enhance capacity to develop ICT, improve accountability and transparency and place the private sector at the engine of economic transformation as well as promote affordable technology.
As well as heads of state, the summit was also attended by executives from Samsung, Microsoft, IBM and Facebook.
Hamadoun Toure, the secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), reiterated the need to use ICT in poverty reduction and creating prosperity while increasing productivity on the continent.
“There is need to collaborate with the private sector and fellow African countries to continuously invest in the necessary infrastructure, including cross border and regional networks,” Toure said.
