The high-level Connect Africa Summit currently underway at the Serena Hotel in Kigali, which has attracted over six foreign Heads of State from the African continent is yet another manifestation of the African leaders’ commitment to ensuring that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are achieved by 2012, three years ahead of the projected 2015.

 Co-sponsored by the government of Rwanda, International Telecommunications Unions (ITU), the African Union, the African Development Bank, the World Bank and the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development, the summit will not draw fresh recommendations, but will rather discuss implementation of the resolutions reached in earlier meetings. There is no longer time for resolutions and recommendations, but time for action. That’s why the summit brought together leaders and private companies to boost the continental investment in ICT.

The fact that $300 million will have been invested in ICT in Africa by 2012 will greatly contribute to decreasing the unemployment rate in the continent among others. Similarly,  the ministerial meeting which brought together over 30 African ministers in charge of ICT will help create a broadband infrastructure to facilitate direct intra-connectivity and competitiveness between Africa and the rest of the world.

As African governments seek to liberalise their economies and integrate them more closely into the global economy, their industrial performance increasingly depends on the competitiveness of the firms serving their markets (both local and foreign-owned). Firm-level competitiveness will define the ability of African economies to grow, create new jobs and increase exports. Competitiveness is vital across all sectors of the economy. African firms face intensifying competition, both in their domestic markets, as well as abroad.
In this context, becoming competitive does not mean cutting wages or environmental standards, avoiding taxation or seeking subsidies. All these strategies have been adopted by different countries in the past, but the advantages they confer are at best transient. Rather, becoming competitive means adopting long-term strategies to raise efficiency, boost skill and technological levels and move into higher-value products.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are critical for Africa’s growth. They enable fast and efficient communication across different countries and different continents that are vital for success in today’s global economy.

In addition to that, ICT products are themselves part of the higher value, high-tech products that are growing fastest in international trade and which can sustain faster growth of incomes. ICTs are essential for creating new skills and generating growth and technological change across the whole economy – from agriculture to finance, construction and modern services. It is this dual role of ICTs – as enablers of competitiveness and as a key sector in their own right – that makes them vital for the overall competitiveness of nations.

Although African governments have already done much to liberalise telecommunication markets, encourage investment and promote the technological readiness vital to firms’ survival, more remains to be done. Incentives are needed to build local capabilities and help make local firms become more competitive.

African firms and telecom operators are not waiting for governments, as they understand the importance of technology and, in many cases, are forging ahead and introducing new communication technologies. Therefore, the deployment of next-generation technologies in the continent, including 3G telephony, broadband Internet and Voice over Internet Protocol is also a vital and positive move for the continent.

Indeed, far from being isolated in the global economy, some African firms are already participating in the forefront of technological developments and investment opportunities. One of the striking features of the recent boom in mobile communications, is that it is largely African firms that are capitalising on the new investment opportunities. The boom is as much home-grown as it is based on foreign investment, and it is likely to prove more sustainable than previous rounds of investment in the continent.

The challenge for Africa now is not whether or not to integrate into the global economy, but how to become competitive within an integration process that is already taking place. Competitiveness can therefore be best achieved through public/private partnership between firms and government to promote the take-up of new technologies and development of new skills.