ECA Press Release No. 10/2005                                                 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ECA CALLS FOR RAPID TRANSITION TO 'INFORMATION ECONOMY'

Addis Ababa, 26 April 2005 (ECA) -  African governments should commit more strongly to policies that support a sustainable transition to an information and knowledge economy. That was the message from the Economic Commission for Africa, Monday, at the opening of "CODI IV",  the fourth  Committee on Development Information.

Speaking at the opening session, ECA's Deputy Executive Secretary Josephine Ouedraogo said that information as a driver in economic development has expanded dramatically during the past decade in line with the shift in parts of the world from an “industrial society” to an “information society”.

She told participants that the liberalized ICT environment is spinning off new industries in Africa, creating technology parks, globally-operating call centres, cyber-cities and a growing software development sector seeking a share of the global $260 billion software industry. Some estimate that African software companies could become the single largest contributor to their countries' Gross Domestic Product.

Despite these developments, she said, “ICT resources in Africa do not take women’s needs into account, and current policies of deregulation and liberalization of communications do not address issues of communication for empowering women.” “We need to address this imbalance by adopting gender-sensitive policies,” she said.

She praised the Enterprise Development Facility (EDF) launched in 1997 by ECA and UNDP to empower African women entrepreneurs and facilitate their participation in the information economy. She urged the adoption of similar initiatives to build an inclusive information economy for young people and civil society.

Citing examples of the changes brought by ICT applications, she noted: “With the aid of ICT and geoinformation applications, prospective travelers can make bookings online without leaving their homes. The economic rationale for e-ticketing has the potential to save the transport industry over $2.7 billion a year.” But she cautioned that policy-makers should to pay attention to the potential impact on employment of e-paper systems and technological solutions.

For her part, ECA’s Aida Opoku-Mensah, Officer-in-Charge in the Development Information Services Division (DISD) urged participants to investigate, deliberate and document the advantages and returns of the emerging information and knowledge economy as an economic resource during the coming days.

“We expect CODI-IV to be a landmark in shaping ECA’s future work, and in addition, in strengthening understanding of the key role of data and information in planning and implementing Government programmes and projects," she said.

MEDIA ADVISORY
The fourth meeting of the Committee on Development Information (CODI) takes place 23-28 April 2005 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The theme for this year's meeting is  "Information as an economic resource."  CODI meets every two years and is one of seven subsidiary bodies of the ECA, established in 1997 . The Committee provides policy and technical guidance for ECA's work in "harnessing information for development".  For more information, visit the “CODI” website at   http://www.uneca.org/codi

Mercy Wambui, Communication Officer, UNECA
Tel: +251 1 44-54-23
Email: [email protected]

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