Building the African Information Society
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GIIC AND UNECA TO HOLD HIGH-LEVEL SYMPOSIUM IN ETHIOPIA ON PRIVATE AND
PUBLIC SECTOR PARTNERSHIP IN BUILDING THE AFRICAN INFORMATION SOCIETY
Addis Ababa, 5 May 1997 -- The Global Information Infrastructure
Commission (GIIC) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
(ECA) are hosting a high-level symposium to strengthen private and public
sector partnership in the implementation of the African Information Society
Initiative (AISI).
Attending the meeting -- to take place at the ECA's headquarters
here in Addis Ababa on Wednesday 7 May 1997 -- will be representatives of
all fifty-three African countries including ministers of social and
economic development, planning, communications and finance along with
information and communications leaders from around the world. The
symposium will be broadcast live in Africa in an M-Net production on
Digital Satellite Television (DStv).
The GIIC is an international non-governmental organisation of
leaders from over 40 of the world's foremost information and communications
technology companies.
"The GIIC provides a framework for bridging the gaps between the
public and private sectors, between developing and developed countries, and
between diverse industry sectors from around the world" says Dr. Derrick L.
Cogburn, GIIC Africa Regional Director and symposium coordinator.
On the same day the GIIC will release its "Statement of Addis Ababa"
which strongly supports private and public sector partnerships in building
the African Information Society. The GIIC Statement proposes a set of
principles that might guide the implementation of the AISI as plans for
National Information and Communications Infrastructure (NICI) within each
African country. Thus, the AISI should:
- Be African led, but within a global context;
- Take into consideration the substantial work on NICI in Africa
that has preceded it, and related work worldwide on developing
the Information Society;
- Encourage developing countries to cooperate with each other, as
well as with the developed world;
- Promote African and global private sector leadership in the
introduction of NICI in Africa, together with active
participation from the public sector, civil society and
international organizations;
- Be driven by applications and services and not by technology;
- Foster transparent plans and policy frameworks for NICI involving
all relevant stakeholders, based on the promotion of:
- rights in information access and use;
- global trade and investment;
- diversity of content;
- telecommunications competition;
- interoperability and appropriate standards;
- privacy, data protections, data security and intellectual
property rights.
Furthermore, the GII Commission encourages the ECA to:
- Develop an on-going mechanism for private sector participation in
the coordination of the AISI;
- Facilitate greater coordination of African countries within the
World Trade Organization;
- Develop effective strategies for sub-regional, regional and
global coordination.
The media briefing is scheduled for 13h00, 7 May 1997, in the UNECA
Conference Room 2, where the GIIC will deliver its "Statement of Addis
Ababa." Further information on the GIIC and its activities can be accessed
on the GIIC web site at:
http://www.gii.org/giic/ or the ECA Web site at:
http://www.un.org/depts/eca
The M-Net production on DStv will be on the PAS-4 satellite on
channel 25 (C-band) and channel 32 (Ku-band), from 09h00 to 16h00 central
African time. (All other times in this announcement are Addis Ababa local
time.)
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Dr. Derrick Cogburn, GIIC Secretariat
Tel: +1-202-755-3134 Ext 406
Fax: +1-202-452-1340
E-Mail: dcogburn@csis.org
or
Mr. Peter K.A. da Costa, ECA Secretariat
Tel: +251-1-51-58-26 (direct) or
+251-1-51-72-00 Ext 161 (switchboard)
Fax: +251-1-51-22-33
E-Mail: ipspdc@harare.iafrica.com or Peter_daCosta_at_UNECA@un.org
---
Joost Hoppenbrouwer
Associate Professional Officer
World Health Organisation
Zambia National AIDS/STD/TB/Leprosy Programme (NASTLP)
P.O. Box 32346
Lusaka 10101
ZAMBIA
Tel. +260-1-26.40.42 (home)
Tel. +260-1-22.32.51 (work)
Fax +260-1-22.32.09 (work)
mailto:joost@zamnet.zm
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