Botswana’s Minister of Infrastructure, Science and Technology Johnie Swartz said at the 6^th Information Technologies Africa 2011 Africa Conference and Exhibition that the bolstering of the ICT sector is vital to facilitating the continent’s achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The minister said that with the massive development needed to push Africa forward, greater interaction and discussion between countries could be important to bridging the divide that currently exists on the continent. He argued that ICT could very well be the great unifier that brings governments and people together.

He added that “areas of discussion and exhibition are useful, given Botswana’s e-government path and the topics of e-health and health information, e-infrastructure, technology-enhanced learning and ICT sills, digital libraries and intelligent content,”

He said that through these mechanisms, it could “transform relations with citizens, businesses, visitors and the government” and could be used as a model for the rest of Africa.

Swartz praised the conference for “providing synergies on ICT development among researchers and policymakers from leading commercial, government, industry and research institutions of Africa and Europe.”

He added that Botswana stands to benefit through ICT promotion and possibilities of research partnerships.

By Desmond Shephard

botswanaictMobile and Telecoms

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