Report South-South Cooperation for Harnessing Digitalization | IGF 2023 Launch / Award Event #147

Event report

Speakers and Moderators

Speakers:

• Mactar Seck, Chief of Section, UNECA
• Hon. Emma Inamutila Theofelus, Deputy minister of Information, Communication and Technology
• Hon. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), Minister of Communications and Digital Economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
• Hany Besada, UNOSSC
• Tefsi Golla, Arden Strategies
• Bineswaree Bolaky, UNECA
• Tunde Fafunwa, Kitskoo, Inc

Moderators:

• Nadia Hasham, UNECA
• Hilda Mwakatumbula, UNECA

Event desciption

The report is inspired by the fact that industrialization is a recognized development priority for the continent, in light of persistently weak economic diversification in Africa, lack of structural transformation processes, the necessity to create decent jobs for Africa’s bulging young workforce and, at the same time, the opportunities available to harness emerging technologies, including digital technologies to improve on the continent’s industrial competitiveness, address its industrial development challenges and enhance the value-added of industrialization to the continent’s economies. The imperative to industrialize in Africa has been highlighted in many African policy documents, including Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want and the UN Economic Commission for Africa Economic Reports on Africa as well as in the strategic policy frameworks of several Regional Economic Communities (RECs) such as the SADC Industrialization Strategy and Road Map (2015-2063), COMESA Industrialization Strategy (2017-2026) and various National Industrial Policies of many African countries.