Yaounde, 3 July 2019 (ECA) – Cameroon’s Minister of Posts and Telecommunications – Minette Libom Li Likeng– will on Thursday 4 July 2019 from 9.30 am chair a consultation to kick-start collaboration between Cameroon and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to operationalize Cameroon’s digital transformation blueprint – dubbed “Strategic Plan for a Digital Cameroon by 2020.”
The meeting to bring together key stakeholders of the tech community in Yaounde including the country’s telecommunications regulatory and oversight institutions, mobile telephony corporates, ICT-related start-ups and officials of some ministries, will be held at the ECA compound at Quartier du Lac Yaounde, located on the street behind Cameroon’s former presidency.
The synergy between Cameroon and ECA on the digital economy is the fruit of discussions held between President Paul Biya and ECA’s Executive Secretary – Ms. Vera Songwe during her maiden official visit to Cameroon in April 2019.
Following her discussion with President Biya, Ms. Songwe had indicated that “the country can do more with its digital ecosystem by reducing the cost of broadband, increasing access to it and improving its quality” for better results.
This tallies with the philosophy of the Strategic Plan for a Digital Cameroon by 2020 which states in its introduction that “the challenge for Cameroon in the field of communication and telecommunication infrastructure is to harness achievements and develop broadband infrastructure in order to enable the integration of our country in the global economy of knowledge.”
The plan for a Digital Cameroon by 2020 focuses on defining strategic areas, actions with great impact on the digital development of the territory, enhancing the use of ICT services, alleviating poverty via job-creating ventures in the digital sector and increasing the national economic growth rate.
According to the strategic document, implementation “requires a certain number of cross-sector actions such as improving on governance, enhancing human capital and digital confidence, taking into consideration environmental aspects and providing appropriate financial resources.”
The Minister of Posts and Telecommunications the different stakeholders to be present at Thursday’s meeting and ECA’s officials will therefore build on these strategic directions to define concrete ways of supporting the implementation of Cameroon’s vision in the sector.
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Abel Akara Ticha - Communication Officer
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
637, rue 3.069, Quartier du Lac, Yaounde
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E-mail: akara@un.org