Telecommunication Development Conference
3 March 200
The Minister of Communications, Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, will be leading a
highly powered South African delegation to a nine day (7 to 15 March 2006)
World Telecommunication Development Conference, where she is expected to
deliver a statement on behalf of the country.
The delegation team will comprise of the Department's Director-General, Ms
Lyndall Shope-Mafole, and the newly appointed Deputy Director-General for
Strategic Policy Coordination and Integration, Dr Keith Shongwe, the COO for
Presidential National Commission on Information Society and Development, Mr
Mokwining Nhlapo, and ICASA, Sentech senior representatives.
This conference, which is convened in the period between two International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conferences, every four years,
aims at providing a framework for the examination of issues, plans and
programmes relating to telecommunication development and to establish
priorities for the work of the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT).
Its purpose is to agree on development priorities in view of the high-level
recognition of the Digital Divide between developing and developed nations that
are created by the rapid but uneven expansion of information and communication
technologies (ICTs). The conference is to also promote international
co-operation and partnership that can sustain and strengthen telecommunication
infrastructure and institutions in developing countries.
The Department of Communications believes that there are strong synergies
between the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Plan of Action and
the existing mandate of ITU-D, as adopted at the World Telecommunication
Development Conference in March 2002, particularly when a key focus of the
department's current international work is to ensure the effective
implementation of the decisions of WSIS within the multilateral system,
regionally and nationally.
Enquiries:
Zodumo Mbuli
Cell: 084 777 2077
Issued by: Department of Communications
3 March 2006
