The Secretary of State for Communication, Information and Technology, Honorable Neneh Macdouall-Gaye, was recently invited by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the government of Canada to lead a sixty-man delegation from Africa to attend the Government Technology and Professional Development Forum in Ottawa, Canada.

The forum focused on global trends in ICT, technology solutions, information security and service delivery at all levels of government, a press release from the state department for Communications, Information and Technology.

Hon. Macdouall-Gaye presented a paper on electronic government (e-government) in Africa, exposing advantages and disadvantages, a presentation that was highly applauded by the African delegates.

She went on to highlight Africa’s agenda for alleviating poverty, and the use of ICT as a crosscutting tool for accelerated development.

The Secretary of State further talked about the imbalances in ICT access and cost between developed and developing countries. She pointed out that out of the one billion people connected to the internet worldwide, Africa suffers the lowest and most expensive connectivity, citing the high cost of access to international bandwidth.

Secy Macdouall-Gaye also noted that 90% of international internet traffic passes through the developed countries, and it is the developing countries that bear the burden of cost. This, of course, restraints the growth of internet in Africa, she said.

Hon. Macdouall-Gaye further lamented on the loss of about $400 million a year spent on international bandwidth, which she said could have been utilized for developing the African continent.

As part of her presentation, Secy Macdouall-Gaye exposed the high achievements of His Excellency President Yahya Jammeh in the last twelve years as a genuine demonstration of Africans’ leadership ability to transform and develop our economies and social sectors to success and sustainability.

Apart from the forum, the Secretary of State and the African delegation visited various ICT services in Canada. Hon. Macdouall-Gaye also held discussion with officials of the Canadian E-Policy Resource Centre and the Canadian Fund for Africa regarding The Gambia’s E-Government strategy and other ICT projects.
In another official engagement, the Secretary of State in her capacity as first vice chairperson of the conference of African ICT ministers, participated in the internet government forum 2006, organised by the United Nations at Athens, Greece.

The forum was a follow-up to the outcome of the World Summit on Information Society on internet governance (WSIS), and was opened by the Greek Prime Minister, His Excellency Constantinos Karamalis, and attended by over 1200 participants including ICT ministers and various public, private and civil organizations and development partners.

In Greece, Secy MacDouall-Gaye also held meetings with heads of ICT bodies and other development partners.

The Secretary of State was accompanied by Mr Ebrima D. Jobe, Director of ICT of the Department of State for Communication, Information and Technology.