In an address read out on his behalf, by Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Kamel Morjane, on the occasion of the 14th ordinary session of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali stressed the importance of the 2005 Tunis World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which he said "was a prominent international event laying the ground for a new global information and communication order that is fair, balanced and mutually supportive".
Addressing the conference which was held on the theme: "Information and Communication Technologies in Africa: Challenges and Prospects for Development", President Ben Ali added that "The knowledge and digital divide is essentially a development disparity before being a technological one. We have no other path but to join this knowledge and digital revolution, relying, in particular, on our human resources through vital sectors such as ICT" he said.
Evoking Tunisia's efforts to engage in the ICT revolution President Ben Ali stressed that "Since the early 1990s, Tunisia has undertaken to reform and promote the sectors of education, training, scientific research, telecommunications, internet, computer science and engineering".
President Ben Ali also expressed his conviction that African States will strive to ensure the success of the International Year of Youth in 2010, a Tunisian initiative which was unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 19,2009 , adding that it "can offer African youth opportunities to express their views and visions concerning the situation of their country, continent and world, and to strengthen the channels of communication, dialogue and mutual understanding with youth from all continents, so as to build a more secure and stable world based on solidarity and mutual understanding".
Here is the full text of the address:
"In the Name of God, Merciful and Compassionate,
Your Excellency, President Bingu-wa Mutharika, President of the Republic of Malawi, chairperson of the African Union,
Your Excellency Mr. Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of the Republic of Ethiopia,
Your Excellencies Heads of State and Government,
Your Excellency Mr. Jean Ping, Chairperson of the African Union Commission,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am pleased, at the beginning of my address, to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to the sister republic of Ethiopia for hosting this summit in excellent conditions and for the warm welcome and generous hospitality extended to the participating delegations.
I take this occasion to express to our brother Leader Muammar Gadaffi my deep consideration for the valuable efforts he has been exerting, as chairperson of the African Union, to enhance integration and complementarity among our states, to tackle the issues of our continent and to consolidate its position on the international scene.
I also wish to express to his Excellency President Bingu-Wa Mutharika, President of the sister republic of Malawi, my sincere congratulations on his chairmanship of the current session of our Summit, wishing him all success in leading our Union during the coming stage.
My thanks are also due to his Excellency Mr. Jean Ping, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, and to his assistants for the sustained efforts they all exert to serve our Union and promote joint African action.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The choice of "Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Africa: Challenges and Prospects for Development" as a theme for the current session of our Summit reflects the great attention we accord to this vital sector so as to ensure the success of our development programmes and bridge the digital divide separating us from developed nations. The present meeting takes place four years after Tunisia hosted, in 2005, the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society. Over 30 000 participants representing governments, international institutions, the private sector and civil society took part in the official proceedings and parallel activities of this summit.
It was a prominent international event laying the ground for a new global information and communication order that is fair, balanced and mutually supportive, in accordance with the Tunis Commitment which expressed the will of the international community to act for bridging the digital divide, and the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society which reflected a collective determination to find practical formulae that open up new prospects for all societies to benefit from ICT networks without barriers and constraints, and to enhance this process at the level of the international community and as part of a schedule extending till 2015.
The knowledge and digital divide is essentially a development disparity before being a technological one. We have no other path but to join this knowledge and digital revolution, relying, in particular, on our human resources through vital sectors such as ICT and other fields that have a deep impact as regards benefiting from technological innovation, increasing productivity, consolidating competitiveness and enhancing the pace of development in our countries.
Digital exchanges through communication networks currently represent about 50% of the volume of the global service trade within this new digital market which includes over 4.5 billion mobile phone users and 1.7 billion internet users. This figure is expected to increase by 50% by the end of 2013. This increase concerns in particular broadband networks, with over 420 million subscribers worldwide.
It is to be pointed out, in this context, that the African market now attracts an increasing volume of programmes and investments and is achieving encouraging results as regards the promotion of access networks. The mobile phone network density in the African continent is now 40 subscribers per 100 inhabitants, compared to only 9% in 2004.
Conversely, the number of broadband network users is still low in African countries, not exceeding 0.3 subscribers per 100 inhabitants, compared to over 20% in industrialised nations.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Since the early 1990s, Tunisia has undertaken to reform and promote the sectors of education, training, scientific research, telecommunications, internet, computer science and engineering. All primary and secondary schools, vocational training centres, public libraries, culture and youth centres, universities and scientific research institutions are connected to the internet. The aim is to promote our country's economic, social and cultural fabric, create jobs that meet national needs and provide high-level competences and skills for the national economy.
The efforts made in this field have led to encouraging results, the telephone density having reached 90 subscribers per 100 inhabitants. ICT is now one of the most important economic sectors in our country and a fundamental engine for comprehensive development. Having witnessed a sustained pace of evolution, the ICT sector now accounts, economically speaking, for 11% of the GDP.
Many large-scale projects have been launched during the past period with the aim of further enhancing the sector of telecommunications and services with high added value. This in addition to the implementation of a series of large programmes and projects, including in particular the operation of a new, high-capacity marine cable linking Tunisia to European countries, so as to promote the telecommunications system in terms of telephone, internet and other services.
Besides, intensive efforts have been exerted over the past years to continuously offer rate reductions. Our country's capacity of connection to the international internet network increased from 1 gigabyte in 2006 to 27 gigabytes at the end of 2009 and is expected to reach 100 gigabytes per second at the end of 2014. This in addition to reaching one million new subscribers to broadband internet.
We are also endeavouring to develop technological spaces that can host enterprises operating in promising fields, as part of an ambitious national programme for technopoles and technological cities covering all regions and targeting such vital and strategic sectors as communication technologies, energy, water, food industries, large-scale farming, environment, pharmaceutical industries, textile and clothing, electronics, biotechnology and nanotechnology.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Knowledge is now a fundamental factor for enhancing technological innovation, promoting economic activity, creating jobs, and consolidating competitiveness at the national and international levels. We have, therefore, provided our country with propitious conditions to master ICT and to establish the information society and the knowledge-based economy, especially in promising sectors and new occupations, and in all specialties that can help us accelerate the pace of growth, strengthen our competitive capacity and provide further jobs for our youth. This has helped us achieve encouraging results as testified to by various indicators and international assessments. The Davos Forum on Information and Communication Technologies (2008-2009) ranked Tunisia 38th out of 134 states in the world and 1st in Africa in terms of preparedness to use ICT, and 3rd out of 134 states in the world in terms of success in ICT promotion.
We take this occasion to reaffirm Tunisia's keen endeavour to strengthen the relations of partnership with all sister and friendly countries for consolidating the information society in terms of investment and for building the knowledge-based economy, so as to actively contribute to supporting the UN efforts to implement the decisions and recommendations of the World Summit on the Information Society and to bridge the digital divide among countries and peoples.
In this context, Tunisia endeavours, in co-operation with the UNCTAD and the ITU, to take best advantage of the opportunities available in this field, so as to actively contribute to promoting investments and partnership, accelerating the pace of development and enhancing the knowledge-based economy, jointly with all regional blocs to which it belongs, particularly the African continent.
During the summit organised by the ITU in October 2007 in Kigali, Rwanda, on the theme " Connect Africa," Tunisia launched an initiative calling for establishing an African centre of excellence in ICT in Tunisia to be in charge of building the capacity of the senior staff, enhancing technological vigilance at the continental and international levels, conducting the necessary studies to develop computer programmes and electronic services related to remote administrative services, e-commerce and mobile technologies, promoting projects of partnerships and co-operation, and establishing links between decision-makers from the public and private sectors in the ICT field in co-operation with the African Development Bank.
In this context, action is currently underway to prepare for the establishment of this technological centre of excellence, in terms of organisation and funding. We hope this centre will help enhance the capacities of the African continent and ensure its integration within international communication and information networks.
Tunisia has also created the first computer emergency response team-Tunisian Coordination Centre (CERT-Tcc). This centre has been internationally acknowledged and admitted into the forum of incident response and security teams (FIRST). It currently provides various services to African countries.
Moreover, the remote training system falling under the Universal Postal Union, which is hosted, validated and updated in Tunisia, is providing training in various legislative, financial and technological fields to 148 countries from all continents, including 49 from Africa.
Today and more than ever before, our African countries are required to attach a crucial importance to the mastery and optimum use of modern technologies to serve their development objectives. We are called upon to enhance our peoples' capacity to join the information society, assimilate the digital culture, and generalise its technologies for all social categories and at all levels. We are also called on to boost scientific research and technological innovation in our countries, it being a necessary tool for enhancing the performance of our economies.
We also call for establishing an active partnership between the public sector, the private sector, and the associative fabric in our African countries, in order to offer our peoples maximum opportunities for access to the digital culture. This prompts us all to join our efforts and coordinate our positions so as to establish a common approach to face the digital divide, keep pace with and master the evolution in modern sciences and technologies and continuously promote our human resources in all areas of knowledge, as they are our most precious and most durable wealth.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The success of our continent in meeting the challenge of development, progress and prosperity depends on the establishment of security and stability in all its regions. We hope the proclamation of 2010 a Year of Peace and Security in Africa, under the motto "Let Us All Act for Peace," will effectively contribute to raising awareness of the need to eradicate all tensions and conflicts in our continent, so that our States' efforts will be wholly devoted to promoting sustainable development for all our peoples. For progress and development can only be achieved within a climate of security and stability.
As youths represent the largest part of our continent's population and the social category that is most affected by the deep disparities between developed and developing nations, it is our duty to rely on our African youths and heighten their interest in the public life of their country, their continent and their world so that they can contribute to addressing the current disparities and meet the challenges posed at all levels.
It is within this context that lies our initiative calling for proclaiming 2010 an International Year of Youth, which was unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 18, 2009. I take this occasion to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to all African states for supporting this initiative, both during our latest summit in Syrte in July 2009 and when the initiative was submitted to the UN General Assembly.
We are convinced that all African States will strive to ensure the success of this International Year of Youth, through comprehensive and purposeful programmes that offer African youth opportunities to express their views and visions concerning the situation of their country, continent and world, and to strengthen the channels of communication, dialogue and mutual understanding with youth from all continents, so as to build a more secure and stable world based on solidarity and mutual understanding.
To conclude, I wish all success to our Summit for the good of our peoples and the invulnerability of our countries."
© Tunisia Online News 2010
