Recognizing WSIS Impacts

PP RESOLUTION 195 (Busan, 2014)

Implementation of the Smart Africa Manifesto

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union ( Busan, 2014),

• considering
  • a) that, at its 22nd Ordinary Session, the African Union General Assembly decided that it: ENDORSES the key outcomes of the Transform Africa Summit hosted by H.E. Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda in October 2013 which adopted the SMART Africa Manifesto highlighting the need to place ICT at the centre of national socio-economic development agenda and SMART Africa Alliance as implementation framework”;
  • b) Resolution 30 (Rev. Busan, 2014) of this conference, on special measures for the least developed countries (LDCs), small island developing states (SIDS), landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) and countries with economies in transition;
  • c) the Millennium Declaration and the 2005 World Summit Outcome;
  • d) the outcome of the Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005) phases of the World Summit on the Information Society,
• recalling
  • a) the Connect Africa Summit goals adopted by African Heads of State present on 29-30 October 2007, which reflect the challenges and opportunities in the Africa region;
  • b) the creation of the multistakeholder SMART Africa Alliance and a Governance Board, consisting of the Presidents of Rwanda (Chair), Senegal, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Gabon, South Sudan and Mali, the African Union and ITU, to oversee the implementation of the manifesto;
  • c) the implementation of such quickwins as the SMART Africa Scholarship fund to address the gap in ICT expertise through African centres of excellence,
• resolves to instruct the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau
  • to provide technical expertise to carry out feasibility studies, project management and support for the implementation of the Smart Africa Manifesto,
• instructs the Secretary-General
  • 1 to engage the different UN agencies to support various components of the Smart Africa programmes, in areas within their scope and mandate;
  • 2 to implement measures aimed at mobilizing financial and in-kind support from governments, the private sector and other partners,
• invites Member States
  • to cooperate with African countries in promoting regional, subregional, multilateral and bilateral projects and programmes for the implementation of the Smart Africa Manifesto.