After failing to secure support for a US$2 billion broadband project to connect all African countries, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) is now setting up an Internet service linking parliaments on the continent.
The African Union Pan-African parliament network was officially opened last week by South African President Jacob Zuma, with the aim of speeding up regional integration to enhance scientific development and technological innovation across the continent.
The project comes online in the wake of the collapse of the broadband infrastructure plan, which was to connect all African countries to a communication network.
The broadband infrastructure project failed because many countries feared that signing on would have meant changing their regulatory policies to put them in line with other countries. Many countries in Africa want to continue with monopoly policies in the telecom sector.
The Pan African parliament network is the first project established to, among other things, look at the development of science and ICT (information and communication technology) across the region and via an Internet facility.
"Our telecom infrastructure is fragmented and often not compatible and we do not collaborate of science and technology and technological innovation," Zuma said.
South Africa is Southern Africa's largest telecom market and Africa's second largest telecom market after Nigeria. The pan-African Parliament, a legislative body of the African Union, is expected to play a major role in implementing science and technology development.
The African Union has been pushing for the establishment of a joint council of science, technology and innovations by African presidents as a way of fostering technological development. African heads of states have already agreed to seek greater cooperation in science and technology both from within the region and other technologically advanced countries.
The Pan African Parliament will also help countries in the region to scale up their investments in science and technology in order for the region to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals on science and technology by 2015.
In 2004, the Pan-African Parliament endorsed the Indian government's proposal to connect all African Union countries to satellite and fiber-optic networks with India to provide effective teleeducation, telemedicine, e-governance and e-commerce services. So far, the project is gaining ground with over 40 countries including Zambia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mauritius and South Africa signing for the project.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Michael Malakata
Quelle/Source: InfoWorld, 03.11.2009
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