President Mubarak attends ribbon cutting ceremony at Africa Telecom 2004


By Thrishni Subramoney


ITU Secretary-General Yoshio Utsumi says he hopes this year's ITU Telecom
Africa will play a role in helping reach the goals set at the World Summit
for the Information Society in Geneva last year.

Utsumi was speaking at the ribbon-cutting ceremony to open ITU Telecom
Africa, at the Cairo International Convention Centre today.

"I know there are NGO's and humanitarian agencies that are doing a lot of
good work, and I hope everything's on track. We have a plan of action and a
declaration that came out of WSIS, so at least we have a start," Utsumi
said, chatting to Highway Africa after the formalities.

A new hall – added to the centre specifically to accommodate the ITU Telecom
Africa conference – was inaugurated by Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, as
part of today's opening ceremony.

Under a veil of tight security, Mubarak did his part, and left almost
immediately. Egyptian Prime Minister, Dr. Atef Ebeid, and Egyptian
Communcations and Information Technology Minister, Dr. Ahmed Nazif, however,
stayed on for a special tour of the new exhibition hall.

A small group of exhibitors excitedly displayed their technological wares to
the dignitaries, extolling their virtues in fast paced Arabic. Tagging
behind at a leisurely pace, Utsumi chatted briefly about the WSIS and how
the current conference would assist in furthering those goals.

"Obviously, this conference is not specifically about WSIS," he said, "But
there will be discussions here that may help bring about those goals. In
fact, there is a part of this conference in which we will discuss WSIS and
how it affects Africa."

The World Summit on the Information Society - the first global gathering
organized by the United Nations to discuss Information Technology - was held
in Geneva last year. A Plan of Action - outlining goals to increase the
access of Information Technology to the developing world - and a Declaration
of Principles - which looked at how the new technology should be regulated -
were adopted at that meeting. The second phase of WSIS is to be held in
Tunisia next year.

Speaking at a press conference after the opening, Utsumi the ITU Telecom
Africa conference - the last one was held in South Africa in 2001 - had a an
important role to play in ensuring that the developing world gained access
to information technology.

"These conferences foster the exchange of ideas, knowledge and technological
know-how," he said.