African participants at the Forum on China, Africa Digital Cooperation were hosted Monday (Jul. 29) by the Chinese ministry of Industry and Information Technology in Beijing.
Senegal’s minister of telecommunications looked forward to the changes scheduled over the next three years.
“This digital cooperation between China and Africa is win-win, and will bring benefits to our countries, the African continent and China through the setting up of innovative infrastructures,” Alioune Sall said.
The parties jointly issued an action plan which includes the implementation of 10 digital transformation demonstration projects and the training of at least 1,000 professionals in the digital field.
This initiative aims to strengthen partnerships in digital policy, infrastructure, cutting-edge innovation, digital transformation, security, and talent nurturing over the next three years.
Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat in his address, outlined Egypt’s vision for fostering China-Africa cooperation in the digital economy and explored various aspects of Egyptian-African collaboration related to the Forum’s themes.
Talaat underlined the necessity of strengthening efforts in implementing national digital strategies to drive development, achieve economic growth, and build institutional capacities within communities. He expressed his support for China-Africa collaboration.
The minister said, Egypt is carrying out several national projects in the GovTech field, including launching the Digital Egypt platform, which offers approximately 170 government services, stated the ICT. This is in addition to restructuring procedures and applications in government entities, and launching GovTech Innovation Lab, which supports small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs. He added that these efforts have contributed to moving Egypt’s position on the World Bank’s 2022 GovTech Maturity Index (GTMI) to become among the countries of Group A.
Talaat highlighted the crucial need to address the challenges facing the continent in building a digital economy, particularly in light of the ITU ambitious target of achieving universal connectivity by 2030, which remains a considerable hurdle. He pointed out that Internet penetration in Africa is about 40%, with a notable disparity between urban and rural areas.
In recent years, China has struck digital cooperation deals with numerous African governments.
According to the China Academy of ICTs, Chinese firms are involved in bolstering network infrastructures on the continent, benefiting over 900 million people.
These include the deployment of undersea cables by Chinese companies and the lanch of data centers.
