Remarks by Mrs Wynne Musabayana, Head of Communication African Union Commission at the Closing of the Experts’ Session of the Third Specialised Techncal Committee On Communication And ICT (STC-CICT3)
Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt 24 October 2019

• Your Excellences, Ambassadors of Member States of the African Union here present
• Dr. Engnr Abiot Sinamo, Chairperson of our experts session and Director General, ICT Sector of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
• Mr. Amr Farouk Safwat, Manager of African Organizations, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, representing our hosts, the Arab Republic of Egypt
• Mr. Moctar Yedaly, Head of Information Society Division, Department of Infrastructure and Energy of the African Union Commission (AUC)
• Dear participants, ladies and gentlemen

Ladies and gentlemen
We have come to the end of our three day experts’ session of the Third Ordinary Session of the Specialised Technical Committee on Communication and ICT, held from the 22nd to the 24th of October, 2019.

Allow me at the onset, to reiterate that we could not have wished for a better environment in which to conduct our business. And in this regard, I would want us to give a round of applause to the government of the Arab Republic of Egypt once again for their excellent hospitality./// Mr Amr will kindly please extend our gratitude to the relevant authorities.

Ladies and gentlemen, our STC comprises two departments of the African Union. On the one hand we have the Department of Infrastructure and Energy; and on the other, the Directorate of Information and Energy.

The aims of the STCCICT, according to its rules of procedure, are to, among others, prepare projects and programmes of the African Union on issues related to Communication and ICT and submit them to the Executive Council and Assembly for their consideration; and to ensure the supervision, follow up and evaluation of the implementation of policies, programmes and decisions taken by the organs of the Union related to communication and ICT.

In all respects, I believe that our meeting has accomplished these two very important elements.

We had a full programme that completely occupied us for the duration of our meeting. This included consideration of reports from the outgoing bureau; the African Union Commission; and the Regional Economic Communities.

We also heard from specialised institutions of the African Union and partners. All in all, we had lively debates, all of which led to very rich and comprehensive outcome documents, which will make the job of our ministers easier.

The major points of discussion were on the African Union Digital Transformation Strategy, which aims to harness digital technologies and innovation to transform African societies and economies to promote Africa’s integration, generate inclusive economic growth, stimulate job creation, erase the digital divide and eradicate poverty, to secure the benefits of digital revolution for socio-economic development.

The progress update from the Information and Communication Directorate highlighted work being done to bring the AU closer to the African people and to create a people centered Africa. These included building the AU brand identity and promoting Agenda 2063; improving corporate visibility, advocacy and public relations; and human resources capacity and competency in communication.

In both cases, the two departments highlighted the successes as well as the challenges they are facing, and made recommendations, which you carefully considered before approving them for the consideration of our ministers on Friday and Saturday.

Our aim in doing all this was to make sure we have fully prepared for the ministerial meeting, and we have done that. I wish to congratulate all of us for a job very well done. I also want to pay tribute to the chair for ably steering us through the meeting. Congratulations too to the bureau members and the team from the AU Commission that has been working almost round the clock to make sure all issues are attended to. We do not forget our interpreters and translators who stayed with us throughout and sometimes also worked late into the night; and perhaps into the early morning hours.

At the end of our meeting, we adopted two outcome documents i.e. the Report of the Experts Session and the Draft “2019 Sharm El Sheikh Declaration”. Our ministers on will consider these over the next two days.

We also discussed and agreed on the draft agenda and work programme for the ministerial session.

Even though it was all in a day’s job, we ought to congratulate ourselves for a job well done.

In conclusion ladies and gentlemen, let quote the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw who said, “the single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place”. So let’s continue to communicate. It really does help make the world go round.

I thank you