President, Jakaya Kikwete
KEYNOTE SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY DR. JAKAYA MRISHO KIKWETE, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA ON THE OCCASION OF LAUNCHING THE 6TH COMMONWEALTH TELECOMMUNICATIONS ORGANIZATION – CONNECTING RURAL COMMUNITIES AFRICA FORUM HELD FROM 24 -26 AUGUST, 2011 AT KILIMANJARO HYATT REGENCY HOTEL, DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA
Hon. Professor Makame Mbarawa, Minister of Communication, Science and Technology of the United Republic of Tanzania;
Honorable Ministers present here;
Mr. Bashir Patel, Chief Operating Officer of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization;
Mr. John Mpapalika, Representative of the International Telecommunications Union;
Distinguished Participants;
Invited Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Welcome and Appreciation
It is indeed, a pleasure and an honour for me to be afforded the rare opportunity of officiating at the opening of this important meeting – the 6th Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization’s Africa Forum. I welcome all the foreign delegates to Tanzania and in particular to the city of Dar Es Salaam. Please feet at home away from home and enjoy Tanzanian hospitality.
I thank the organizers of this meeting, the Commonwealth Telecommunication Organizations, for choosing Tanzania to host this important meeting. You have made us proud and we will do our best to live up to your expectations.
Theme of the Meeting
Ladies and Gentlemen;
I find the theme of this meeting, “Improving Livelihood and Citizen Engagement through Rural ICT Connectivity” to be very opportune, indeed. It is both timely and relevant for Africa; the continent where the use and exploitation of ICT for economic and social benefits is lagging far behind the other continents on this planet. Our continent faces numerous challenges, in this regard, ranging from weak ICT policy frameworks, lack of adequate financial resources, poor technical support and skills, defective connectivity and unreliable power supply. It is my sincere hope that, this Forum will have an opportunity to deliberate upon and agree on how to address these challenges. We are anxiously awaiting the outcome of your deliberations.
Importance of ICT
As you are all aware, ICT has been recognized and declared worldwide as a vital enabler for sustainable socio-economic development and many other functions in societies and nations. ICT has demonstrated great potential in exploiting existing and new business opportunities, in facilitating various sectors of the economy to grow and in empowering people to overcome many barriers and challenges in their daily life. Over and above these, ICT has proven to be a vehicle for promoting innovation and creativity, for expediting transformative processes in systems and in positive cultural and mindset changes.
Specific areas that are benefiting from the power of ICT include improvement of governance through e-government initiatives and the provision of education, health and various other services that are improving the economy and general well being of the people. Indeed, you (who are gathered here today) have the prospect of unleashing the potentials of Africa through the use of ICT. We really want to see Africa, just like other continents, enjoy the benefits that come with ICT. We want to see the ongoing CTO initiatives are bearing the fruits that would create better e-citizens through innovative and efficient e-services. The people of Africa are waiting to see concrete deliverables!
Tanzania’s Progress on ICT Development
Distinguished participants;
Tanzania is aware of the benefits of embracing ICT. For that reason, we have reviewed and put in place a robust ICT policy and legal frameworks as well as investment in the sector. We have realized that ICT can be harnessed to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and indeed our Development Vision 2025. It is in this respect that the vision of National ICT Policy aspires to make Tanzania a hub of ICT infrastructure and ICT solutions that would enhance sustainable socio-economic development and accelerate poverty reduction.
In this regard, we are at advanced stages of completing the construction of the National ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB) that will connect all the regions and districts through a 10,000 km Optic Fibre Cable. The National ICT Broadband Backbone already connected to two major submarine cables of SEACOM and EASSy. In line with the Kigali Connect Africa Summit, Tanzania has already created virtual landing stations for submarine cables through the NICTBB at the respective cross-border points of Malawi (Kasumulo stations), Rwanda (at Rusumo station), Burundi (Kabanga station), Uganda (Mtukula station), Zambia (Tunduma station) and Kenya (Namanga station). This connectivity affords landlocked neighboring countries access to international connectivity via the submarine cables that have landed in Tanzania. We are proud to serve our neighbors. It is an obligation we cannot shy away from.
Rural Connectivity
Ladies and Gentlemen;
We are also determined to overcome challenges associated with rural connectivity. There is a lot of challenges, but we are determined to address them starting with the key, and major ones. To start with, we have created an Agency to deal with rural electrification. We have also established the Universal Communication Access Fund to facilitate connectivity to rural and under-served urban areas in the country. In addition, the government in collaboration with other stakeholders is implementing programs to promote Rural Communications Centers (also known as Tele-centers) to bring various communication services closer to rural community. Let me use this opportunity to acknowledge the invaluable support we are receiving from our development partners, in enhancing our efforts.
Progress Made
Ladies and Gentlemen;
We are happy that our efforts have been recognized at international level. As you may all know, last year, Tanzania was among the developing countries picked as best performers with regard to meeting standard assessment criteria used by ITU to determine mid-year progress on implementation of MDGs and the Plan of Action of the World Summit on Information Society.
We have been making steady progress in building ICT infrastructure; enhancing connectivity; fostering access to information services; and assisting in the development of requisite capacities and skills particularly in social sector. We are also making progress in raising public awareness on the use of ICT; creating an enabling environment through the application of ICTs for enhancing good governance, and e-government services as well as best practices in human rights and freedom of expression.
Distinguished Participants;
My government is determined to empower Tanzanians with capability to deploy ICT potentials and opportunities in both service and production sectors. We are beginning to witness encouraging progress being made in several areas and aspects of the life of Tanzanians. For example, with the use of the mobile cellular phones, farmers can now access information related to best farming practices, weather forecasting, sources of agricultural implements as well as commodity markets and prices, through modern communication services such as cellular phones.
Similarly, the same farmers now have a choice of selling and effecting payments and business transactions online or through their mobile cellular phones. These ICTs support services have proven to be cost effective and reliable to most users. We know there is a lot to be done; and we are determined to rise to these challenges until we reach the ultimate goal of bridging the digital divide.
Honourable Ministers;
Distinguished participants;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
I am confident that you are prepared for the task ahead of you. I am sure the initiatives of CTO, in collaboration with other international partners including ITU, will lay a strong foundation for rural ICT connectivity in the continent in order to reach out more than half the population of Africa resides in rural areas. That will be an incredible achievement; and will have positive impacts on efforts to reduce poverty.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
I now have the pleasure to declare the 6th CTO – Connecting Rural Communities Africa Forum officially open. I wish you all the best and fruitful deliberations.
KARIBUNI SANA and thank you for your kind attention.