This took place on 13 May and there was very good attendance by Ministers from member states and private sector members including Orange, MTN Group, Liquid/Econet, Ericsson, Huawei, Inmarsat, Tata, GVG among others. The meeting was co-chaired by Her Excellency Amani Abou-Zeid, Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy at the African Union Commission and Andrew Rugege representing the ITU Sec. General.
The key agenda items relevant to our industry aspirations as digital service operators were the presentation of the Draft Statute establishing the Smart Africa Initiative, the Smart Africa Triennial Strategic Plan 2020 -2022, the new Smart Africa Secretariat organisational Structure, presentation of Flagship projects.
Key strategic priorities include the establishment and implementation of a Pan African interoperable eID platform, interconnectivity across African states and the establishment of the One Africa Network. The GSMA has sought and received the go ahead from MNOs to engage and collaborate with Smart Africa on initiatives such as the Digital Identity Project for Africa.