The ASN was set up at the end of a two-day meeting in Addis Ababa (21 - 22 January 2002) organized by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) with support from the UN ICT Task Force secretariat. The consultative meeting brought together representatives from governments, development agencies, donors, private sector, civil society and non-governmental organizations.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting last week, Mr K.Y. Amoako, ECA's Executive Secretary, emphasised the importance of bridging the digital divide through "collaboration and partnerships between agencies, governments, civil society, private sector and communities". He also called for collaboration, stressing that "effective and strong networks, such as the one being created, can facilitate knowledge and information sharing in promoting ICTs in Africa's development. We now have a number of initiatives on the continent but the challenge is how do we collaborate and co-operate effectively for the benefit of all Africans?".

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan set up the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Task Force to co-ordinate the UN's agenda for bridging the digital divide. During the official launch and first working session of the Task Force in November 2001, a decision was made to form four regional networks in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East that would feed into the work of the Task Force.

The task forces are constituted around six themes and working groups -- National and Regional Strategies, Governance and Policy, Capacity Building, E-business and Entrepreneurship, Resource Mobilization, Low-cost Connectivity and Access.

The ASN aims to optimize common frameworks for partnership and resource sharing with existing networks on the continent working on ICTs for development by building on current efforts and draw on the experiences of capacity building by regional and international institutions -- including the UN, Association of African Universities (AAU), Partnership for ICT in Africa, and the Information Technology Centre for Africa (ITCA). At the national level, ASN will work towards building capacity on ICT for development issues among governments, policy makers, civil society and NGOs, the private sector and ICT professionals. The Network will provide African-specific support as well as add value through collaborative partnerships by providing a platform for issues on ICT for development. It will also serve to mobilise actors to highlight and address gaps and constraints in policy and strategies in the work of the UN ICT Task Force and the implementation of its Plan of Action. Liaison officers will be appointed to serve on other regional networks to facilitate cross-fertilization of ideas.

A six-member Interim Steering Committee that includes the African Development Bank (ADB) has been established to begin developing the work programme of the network. The ASN will meet annually. ASN is the second regional network of stakeholders to be established. The first, the Arab Region Network, was set up in Amman, Jordan in mid-January.

A declaration released today through the ASN secretariat based at ECA stresses the need for the ASN to encourage and support the participation of African countries in ICT governance, policy and standards issues at the global and regional levels, creating opportunities for debates on intellectual property, taxation, privacy, cybercrime and creating a secure environment for online business.

At the meeting, the Network endorsed an Africa Information Society Initiative-based common position that was agreed last May as the framework for Africa's digital agenda. AISI is a far-reaching policy blueprint for an African information society, designed by ECA and launched in 1996.

The Network plans to work closely with major initiatives such as the New Economic Partnership for Africa's development (NEPAD), the G8 DOT Force, and the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS).

For further details contact the ASN Secretariat through:
Aida Opoku-Mensah Team Leader
ICT for Development, Development Information Services Division ECA
P.O. Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251-1-51 11 67
Fax: +251-1-51 05 12