ICT Policy Forum

ICT Policy Forum

4 - 5 November 2002, Sheraton Addis

Addis Ababa

1. Introduction

The Conference Ethiopia in the Knowledge Age was held in the UNECA, Addis Ababa, from 18 to 20 June 2001.

It was organised by the British Council in association with a number of Ethiopian and international partners, in particular: the Ethiopian Civil Service College, the Ethiopian IT Professionals Association (EITPA), the Ethiopian Science and Technology Commission (ESTC), the Ethiopian Telecommunication Agency (ETA), Addis Ababa University (AAU), the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and the Office of His Excellency the Prime Minister. The CTO (Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation), the UNECA and the UNDP (Unite Nations Development Programme) all provided international support.

Over 400 delegates attended the Conference to discuss the vision and goals for ICT (Information and Communication Technology) development in Ethiopia in the 21^st century.

The Conference was divided into:

plenary sessions, in which Ethiopian and international speakers addressed key issues in ICTs

focus groups, in which presentations by Ethiopian and international speakers were complemented by focused discussion on the following themes:

policy and regulation

infrastructure and access

applications and service, and

human resource development; and

group tasks, in which delegates discussed challenges and opportunities in the ICT sector in Ethiopia, and drew up recommendations for the future development of ICTs for consideration by the government and other stakeholders.

These recommendations were presented to the final session of the Conference, which was also addressed by His Excellency Ambassador Mohamoud Dirir, former Minister of Transport and Communications.

2. Objectives

The issues and recommendations raised in the conference were focusing on policy and infrastructure development that needs high-level involvement on the part of the government. The participants formulated a set of recommendations on the following four areas:

An ICT vision for Ethiopia in the 21 century

ICT and partnerships in Ethiopia

International partnership
Mechanisms for future co-ordination on ICTs in Ethiopia
Under these four major areas, four thematic issues were addressed:
policy and regulatory issue
application and services
infrastructure and access
human resources development

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