By: Kanto
Kai Okanta
African Union Commissioner
for Infrastructure and Energy, H.E. Lerato D. Mataboge, has called for joint
planning of energy and digital infrastructure, faster progress towards a single
African digital market and increased investment in African artificial intelligence
(AI) capabilities.
Addressing ministers during
the opening of the African Union Specialised Technical Committee on
Communication and ICT (STC-CICT6), Mataboge said Africa must build the capacity
to develop, own and commercialise technology.
At the Ministerial Session,
she placed African technological capabilities, connected markets and
infrastructure investment at the heart of the continent’s digital ambitions.
“Africa cannot afford to
approach the digital revolution as a spectator. Our ambition must be to build
an Africa that not only participates in the digital economy, but contributes to
shaping it and benefits from the wealth it creates,” she said.
Mataboge emphasised that the
success of Africa’s digital transformation must be measured by affordable
connectivity, stronger African enterprises and better public services.
