| This
document originated at a workshop of African Ministers of Communication
held in Cape Town in February 1998. It has been refined several
times since then, the last time being at a meeting of African
ministers held during Africa Telecom ‘98’ held in
May in South Africa. It was also at the meeting that the Agreements
listed in the document were accepted in principle, although
they do not place any obligations on any country. It
should serve as a road map for enabling Africa’s launch
into the Information Age.
It addresses programmes for rural telecommunications
development; policy and regulatory framework development;
and human resource development. It also addresses Africa’s
role in the Information Society, by establishing a project
for developing a broad Information Society policy framework.
In addition, a number of projects have been identified as
priority for co-ordination and implementation in Africa. This
has the advantage of ensuring regional funds and the building
and sharing of expertise across the region.
This document is therefore a celebration
of the African Ministers commitment to ensuring Africa’s
journey into the Information Society.
It has formed the basis for discussion on
the development of communications infrastructure in Africa
at various institutional for a cross the continent in the
past year. In August 1998, the 44 members-states of the Pan
African Telecommunications Union (PATU) became signatories
to The African Connection when PATU adopted it as its plan
of action for the next five years.
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