This year`s Southern African Development Community (SADC) ICT in Government Summit will discuss how ICT can help achieve the United Nation`s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Jane Mosebi, MD of organiser ForgeAhead, says ICT plays an "integral part" in realising the MDGs on sustainable human development and poverty eradication.
"In this information age, the lack of capacity remains the greatest single challenge to the networked economy and society, especially in this digital era. We believe that, while the means to meet this challenge are actually close at hand, the so-called 'digital divide` has shifted extremely in recent years to the detriment of the developing countries, with serious and potentially irreversible consequences for the achievement of the MDGs," she says.
Accordingly, this year`s conference aims to tackle issues that are core to these challenges, says Mosebi.
"These goals can unfortunately not be realised without promoting sustainable development by applying ICT for clean technologies, economising on the use of energy and materials in production, and remote sensing for resource mapping."
She adds: "In order to unleash the full potential of ICT, both old and new, as an enabler of economic and social development throughout the developing world, a global and prioritised policy and practice breakthrough is urgently required."
Ashraf Patel, telecoms analyst at ForgeAhead, adds the MDGs become far more possible to realise with the "strategic, intensive, widespread and innovative" use of ICT in development policies and programmes.
"Without this laser-like focus and vision, scaleable implementation of the MDGs in many instances may well be impossible," he concludes.
The summit, now in its seventh year, will take place in Mauritius from 29 to 31 May. Speakers include ministers from various SADC countries, top government officials as well as ICT sector players in the ICT sector. SA`s communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri will deliver the keynote address.
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