Mr. Claude Isaac Dé, the Minister of Digital Economy and Post, Cote d’Ivoire, recognizes the need for leadership in ICTs
The Government of Cote d'Ivoire has announced its intent to contest the election of ITU Council membership from Region D, elections for which will be held during the Plenipotentiary Conference 2018, which is the highest policy-making body of the ITU. Held every four years, the Plenipot is the key event at which ITU Member States decide on the future role of the organization, thereby determining the organization’s ability to influence and affect the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) worldwide. The Conference sets the Union’s general policies; adopts four-year strategic and financial plans; and elects the senior management team of the organization, the Member States of the Council, and the members of the Radio Regulations Board. Later this month, the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference will meet in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It will be preceded by the last meeting of the 2018 session of the Council on Saturday, 27 October 2018.
To maximize the impact of mobile technology on being able to fulfill the Sustainable Development Goals, Mr. Claude Isaac Dé, the Minister of Digital Economy and Post, Cote d’Ivoire, recognizes the need to proliferate basic telephony as well as mobile internet among the still unconnected populations of the country, which effectively means overcoming affordability issues, revamping taxation policies, reducing the cost of mobile ownership, creating relevance of the Internet among low-incoming groups and women, and to enable telecom operators to develop new business models and tariff structures targeting the unconnected.
In a country where the ICT sector contributes nearly 8% to the gross domestic product, providing a livelihood to more than 150,000 citizens, efforts are being made by the “ANSUT” to increase the GDP contribution to 15% by 2020; an ambition that demonstrates the importance of the ICT sector to the country’s economy, and the leadership that Cote d’Ivoire aims to provide both within its borders as well as regionally.
Cote d’Ivoire sees ITU's evolving role in the new smarter world of digital communications as an entity that should continue to lead and guide the world's digital communications sector, enabling international collaboration and cooperation, promote access to affordable communications services to under privileged and female populations, and create an inclusive knowledge-driven society, which should be equipped with stronger financial and human resources.
Cote d'Ivoire's aspirations to be elected as a member of the ITU Council demonstrates the west African nation's continued focus on ICT-driven leadership and economic growth, with the economy having grown by over 7% in 2017. The west African country's National Development Plan (NDP) 2016–2020, which has underpinned government efforts on enabling socio-economic progress in Côte d’Ivoire by reducing poverty, improving inequality, increasing agricultural output and promoting the manufacturing sector, has had a positive impact on the communications sector as well.
The government of Cote d’Ivoire has expressed its commitment to ITU-led initiatives and to ensuring its participatory role in digitally connecting the world, fulfilling the Sustainable Development Agenda, addressing private-sector incentivization and internet development issues and needs, building the capacity of the young populations across developing Member States, extending reach of the ITU's stakeholder-inclusion efforts and fortifying the ITU's regional presence, assist in building ITU's improved institutional capacity as a global body, and to participate in all feasible means to create new financial and administrative resources for the Union.
Source: Cote d'Ivoire Press Release