United Nations
Mr. Sha Zukang, Under-Secretary-General on Economic and Social Affairs and Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations
15:00 - 16:00 - Session 1: Towards a Vision to Connect Africa by 2015
Description: Recognizing the significant role of ICTs as a catalyst for realizing the UN Millennium Development Goals, leaders at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) agreed to a set of targets, including ten connectivity goals, to be achieved by 2015. With fewer than eight years left, Africa is at serious risk of not achieving these targets unless we take urgent action. Within this framework, this opening session will introduce Connect Africa Goals, which reflect the unique challenges and opportunities of the region. Panelists will be asked to give their views on how these goals can be achieved.
Moderator: Mr. Stephen Cole, Al Jazeera International
Overview: Mr. Sami Al-Basheer Al Morshid, Director, ITU Development Bureau
Panelists:
H.E. Tarek Kamel, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Egypt and Chairman of the African Union Ministerial Conference on ICT
Mr. Carl-Henric Svanberg, CEO, Ericsson
Mr. J.M Briosa e Gala, Special African Envoy of the President of the European Commission
H.E. Mr. Qinjian Lou, Vice Minister, Ministry of Information Industry, China
Mr. Rob Conway, CEO & Member of the Board, GSM Association
Description: High-speed "broadband" networks have become core infrastructure of the modern economy and an enabler of innovation across many sectors. While Africa is the fastest growing mobile market in the world, major gaps in broadband infrastructure continue to limit potential investment, economic growth, employment and development in the region. This session will begin with a review of the current "state of play" of African broadband infrastructure - with a focus on connectivity between capitals and major cities, as well as the gaps and potential solutions. Panelists will be asked to give their views on ways to boost investment in Africa's ICT broadband infrastructure, including priorities for policy and regulatory reform and innovative financing and public-private partnership models.
Moderator: H.E. Mr. Ham-Muskasa Mulira, Minister, Minister of Information and Communications Technology, Uganda
Overview: Dr. Yury Grin, Deputy-Director, ITU Development Bureau and Mr. Mark Williams, Senior Economist,World Bank
Panelists:
H.E. Mr. Albert Butare, Minister of Energy and Communications, Rwanda
Mr Sanjiv Ahuja, Chairman of Orange UK
Mr. Renee Ververgaert Vice President, Huawei Technologies
Dr. Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank
Ms. Funke Opeke, CEO, Main Street Technologies
Mr. Mark de Simone, CEO EMEA, Cisco systems Inc
Mr. Issa Coulibaly, President, West African Development Bank
Dr. Mohsen Khalil, Director of Global Information and Communication Technologies, World Bank Group
Description: Africa's boom in mobile communications in recent years has demonstrated the existence of genuine continent-wide demand for access to ICTs. Still, many communities, especially those in rural and remote areas, remain unconnected. This session considers multiple approaches to extend rural ICT access, including more effective use of Universal Service Funds, policy, regulatory and tax incentives for operators to share infrastructures and extend their networks into underserved areas as well as emerging wireless solutions. In addition, for communities where connectivity exists but where affordability remains a challenge, the session considers innovative approaches to connect the unconnected, including shared local access models such as the Village Phone model and community tele-centres.
Moderator: H.E. Dr. Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, Minister of Communications , South Africa
Overview: Mr. Emamgholi Behdad, Chief, Projects and Initiatives Department, ITU Development Bureau/Mr. Akossi Akossi, Secretary-General, African Telecommunication Union
Panelists:
H.E. Mr. Joachim Tankoano, Minister of Posts and ICT, Burkina Faso
Mr. Michael Joseph, CEO, Safaricom
Mr. Peter Bladin, Director, Grameen Foundation Technology Centre
Mr. Pertti Johansson, President of Middle East, Europe and Africa, Qualcomm
Mr. Jones Killimbe, CEO, RASCOM
Mr. Yousef Al Sayed, CEO, Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Corporation
Mr. Lauri Kivinen, Head of Corporate Affairs, Member of the Executive Board, Nokia Siemens Networks
10:45 - 13:00 - Session 4: Capacity Building and Deploying Applications for E-Services
Description: Across the continent, there is increased awareness that making current economic growth sustainable will need greater investment in human resource development and building management capacity and good business practices. A key determinant of future economic success in Africa is the extent to which today's young people are trained to work with computers and IT networks as well as create new ICT products and services. One method to expand ICT literacy and usage is for governments and the private sector and other stakeholders to set a proactive agenda for capacity-building as well as deploying applications and e-services for citizens — including e government, e-health and e-learning. This session ask panelists to highlight African success stories in capacity-building and e-services deployment.
Moderator: Mr. Walter Fust, Director-General, Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation
Overview: Ms. Lala Ben Barka, Deputy Executive Secretary, UN Economic Commission for Africa
Panelists:
H.E. Mr. Glay El Haj, Minister, Ministry of Communication Technologies, Tunisia
H.E. Ms Mariam Diallo Diarra, Minister of Communication and Information Technologies, Mali
Dr. Craig Barrett, Chairman of Intel and GAID
Mr. Michael Rawding, Vice President, Unlimited Potential Group, Products & Solutions, Microsoft
Mr. Maximilian Metzger, Secretary General, CERN
Prof. Sreenivasan, Director General, ICTP Trieste, Italy
Prof. Clement Dzidonu, Chairperson, GAID Africa Network
Dr. Pradeep K. Khosla, Dean, College of Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University
14:30 - 15:45 - Session 5: Creating an Enabling Environment for Investment
Description: A key challenge for Africa today is how to integrate more closely into the global economy and to attract additional direct investment. This requires a business-friendly attractive policy and regulatory environment that fosters innovation, competition and investment. What are the policy principles that donors and governments can follow to encourage a competitive and innovative ICT market place? This session highlights success stories in countries from the region where forward-looking government policies have triggered strong business investment and economic growth.
Moderator: H.E Dr. Benjamin Aggrey Ntim, Minister of Communications, Ghana
Overview: Mr. Brahima Sanou, Head, ITU Africa Regional Office
Panelists:
H.E. Mme Sophie Gladima Siby, Minister of Telecommunications, Posts and ICT, Senegal
H.E Mr D.S. Mathur, Secretary DOT, Ministry of Communications
Mr. Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid, Director Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU
Mr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, CEO Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization
Mr. Reza Jafari, Chairman and Managing Director, NeuStar International
Mr.Jay Naidoo, Chairman, Development Bank of Southern Africa
16:00 - 17:30 - Session 6: A Commitment to Connect Africa
Description: Fulfilling an African-led vision of rich connectivity both within the continent and to the rest of the world requires commitments and a coordinated approach involving leaders from the public, private and financial sectors. This final session, A Commitment to Connect Africa, will review the discussions and agreed goals of the Summit and review the commitments made by government, business leaders, donors and partners as well as highlight next steps to achieve the goals of the Connect Africa Summit.
Moderator: Mr. Stephen Cole
Panelists:
H.E. Mr. Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda
Dr. Hamadoun I. Touré, ITU Secretary-General
Dr. Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank
