Distr.
LIMITED
CS/IT/TC/
March 2010
Original: ENGLISH
COMMON MARKET FOR EASTERN
AND SOUTHERN AFRICA
Sixth Meeting of the Committee on Information Technology
Nairobi, Kenya
23 - 25 March 2010
REPORT OF THE SIXTH MEETING OF THE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE ON
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
LIST OF ACRONYMS
ASYCUDA
CIRT
COMESA
COMTEL
EAC
EASSY
EDF
FOSS
GIS
GIXP
ICT
ITU
KeLC
MoU
REC
RIXP
RMCE
SAN
TIA
UN
UNCITRAL
UNCTAD
UNECA
UNPAN
Automated System for Customs Data
Computer Incidents Response Team
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
COMESA Telecommunications Company
East African Community
East African Submarine Cable System
European Development Fund
Free and Open Source Software
Geographical Information Systems
Government Internet Exchange Point
Information and Communications Technology
International Telecommunications Union
Kenya e-Learning Centre
Memorandum of Understanding
Regional Economic Communities
Regional Internet Exchange Point
Regional Multi-disciplinary Centre of Excellence
Storage Area Network
Telecommunications Industry Association
United Nations
United Nations Commission on International Trade Law
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
United Nations Public Administration Network
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A.
INTRODUCTION
1.
The Sixth Technical Committee Meeting on Information Technology was held
from 23rd to 25th March 2010 at the Hilton Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya.
B.
ATTENDANCE, OPENING OF THE MEETING, ADOPTION OF THE
AGENDA AND ORGANIZATION OF WORK
Attendance
2. The meeting was attended by delegates from Egypt, Kenya, Madagascar,
Malawi, Seychelles, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The East African
Community (EAC) was also represented. The list of participants is attached as
Annex I.
Opening Session (Agenda item 1)
Opening Remarks
3.
An opening statement was made by the Director of Information and
Networking of the COMESA Secretariat, Mr. Sherin Shoukry, on behalf of Mr.
Sindiso Ngwenya, the Secretary General of COMESA.
4.
He thanked the people and the Government of the Republic of Kenya for their
warm welcome and facilities provided, and urged the committee to remain focused in
its programme of ensuring that the region becomes a knowledge society, in line with
the developments in the rest of the world and reminded them that Information and
Communications Technologies (ICTs) were a critical factor in ensuring the social and
economic development of the region.
5.
Mr. Shoukry highlighted the agenda items that were going to be discussed in
the meeting and emphasized on the outcomes of the study on Free and Open
Source Software and on the regional Data Center. A comprehensive progress report
was also going to be given to show progress made on the previous council
decisions.
6.
He concluded by wishing the meeting fruitful deliberations and encouraging
them to come up with sound recommendations which would have impact on the
region.
7.
A welcome statement was delivered by Dr. Bitange Ndemo, Permanent
Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communications of the Republic of
Kenya on behalf of Honourable Samuel Poghisio, the Minister of Information and
Communications.
8.
The Permanent Secretary started by giving the meeting an update on the
EASSY fibre cable which had landed the previous day in Mombasa and was
launched by the Minister of Information and Communications.
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9.
He mentioned that this had improved communication beyond imagination but
that there were still a number of challenges especially as regards local content, and
there was an even greater need for the region to work out modalities on how best
countries may link together to share connectivity, especially for the land-locked
countries.
10.
Data centers for storage and backing up of the organisation’s data from the
various information systems was a critical factor for the development of ICT and he
then gave examples of how the Kenyan government was proposing to assist ICT
businesses to develop and he highlighted a KSH10bn investment for a multi-media
science park to be developed in phases over a period of ten years. He pointed out
that Kenya has seen how ICT’s can contribute effectively to good governance and
increase in revenue through their effective application in areas such as digitisation of
the national land and company registries.
11.
He emphasised the need for the region to embrace ICT’s as an important tool
for national and regional development and went on to highlight the achievements of
Kenya in the area of ICT. He added that based on the Common Market for Eastern
and Southern Africa (COMESA) Model adopted by the COMESA Council of
Ministers in March 2003, Kenya’s national ICT policy aims to encourage sustained
economic growth and poverty reduction, promote social justice and equity,
mainstream gender in national development, empower youth and disadvantaged
groups, stimulate investment and innovation in ICT, and achieve universal access.
12.
He was therefore proud to inform the meeting that with the policy as a guiding
factor, Kenya has seen significant positive changes in the ICT sector over the last
ten years.
13.
The delegate from Malawi delivered a vote of thanks. In his statement, the
delegate thanked the Government of Kenya for hosting the meeting and encouraged
his fellow delegates to effectively deliberate and meet the expectations of the
Minister and the region in effectively implementing the ICT programmes. He urged
his colleagues to join hands and work as a team in order to achieve the purpose of
the committee.
Election of the Bureau (Agenda item 2)
14.
A bureau was elected to preside over the deliberations of the meeting as
follows:
Chairperson
Vice Chairperson
Rapporteur
:
:
:
Kenya
Uganda
Seychelles
Adoption of the Agenda and Organization of Work (Agenda item 3)
15.
The meeting adopted the agenda and the organisation of work as follows:
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
16.
Opening of the Meeting
Election of the Bureau
Adoption of the Agenda and Organisation of Work
Progress Report from the Secretariat
a. Update on the IT Master Plan
b. E-Legislation
c. GIS
d. Regional Centre of Excellence
e. Charging Policy
f. E-Government
g. E-Learning
h. ICT Trade Facilitation – Customs Modernisation
Cyber Security
FOSS Study and the Proposed Way Forward on FOSS
Microsoft Presentation
Outcomes of the study on the Regional Data Centre
WorkPlan 2010
Any Other Business
Adoption of the Report and Closure of the Meeting
The meeting adopted the following working hours:
Tuesday 23rd March, 2010
:
th
Wednesday 24 March, 2010 :
Thursday 25th March, 2010 :
C.
09:00hrs - 17:00hrs
09:00hrs - 16:00hrs
09:00hrs – 14:00hrs
ACCOUNT OF PROCEEDINGS
Progress Report from the Secretariat (Agenda item 4)
17.
A detailed and comprehensive progress report from the Secretariat was
presented to the meeting. The meeting highlighted the achievements made since
the fifth technical committee meeting which was held in Mahe, Seychelles as well as
the challenges faced in the implementation of some of the programmes.
18.
The decisions of the Council meetings of June, 2009 were highlighted as:
E-Legislation
(a) Member States are urged to accede to the UN Convention on the
Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts (2005),
and to incorporate the provisions of the Convention in their respective
national laws, particularly, in view of the launch of the Customs
Union. Member States are therefore encouraged to set a deadline
for the enactment of these laws;
(b) The Secretariat should develop regulations to enable member States
facilitate secure electronic transactions;
(c) The COMESA Court of Justice should be empowered to facilitate
online mediation to resolve disputes that may arise from electronic
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transactions; and
(d) COMESA’s e-Legislation programme should have a component on eWaste, specifically to outline how such waste should be disposed of
in the Member states.
IT Master Plan
(a) The Secretariat should update the IT Master Plan to include the
proposed programmes and projects and list them in the order of the
suggested priorities;
(b) Member States are encouraged to develop standard information
systems which may be shared with other Member States; and
(c) Member States should share their respective I.T. Master Plans and
ICT policies with the Secretariat.
Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
(a) The Secretariat should create an enabling environment for
Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to facilitate informed
decision-making for the region’s programmes; and
(b) Member States should collaborate with the Secretariat to provide
the necessary data from various programmes to facilitate the
development of useful regional GIS applications.
ASYCUDA
a) Member States should provide the necessary resources to support,
maintain and modernise Customs systems, based on options provided in
the study on sustainability, with high-level government support;
b) The Secretariat should set up a Regional Customs Modernisation Centre
to assist in customs modernisation and capacity building which will ensure
ownership by COMESA of the implementation process;
c) The Secretariat, with UNCTAD support should develop an ASYCUDA
online training for delivery on the COMESA e-Learning platform;
d) The Secretariat should provide a link on its web portal to the ASYCUDA
website to facilitate discussions and sharing of information;
e) Member States should consider a staff retention strategy to ensure
continued support of ASYCUDA systems;
f) UNCTAD and COMESA Secretariat should work out a strategy for the
upgrading of ASYCUDA implementation in the region.
Regional Center of Excellence
a) Council decided that the Secretariat should work closely with Mauritius to
fast-track the completion of the paper on the Regional Centre.
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Charging Policy
a) Council decided that the Secretariat should identify the appropriate
mechanisms for implementation as a means of sustainability of information
systems.
Free and Open Source Software
a) Council decided that Member States should update their ICT policies to
include FOSS.
E-Government Programme
(a) Member States should ensure that the e-Government programme is
given prominence and led at the highest political level;
(b) The Secretariat should collaborate and harmonise with other
Regional Economic Communities in the implementation of the eGovernment programme;
(c) The Secretariat is urged to establish modalities for capacity
development within the e-Government programme;
(d) Member States are encouraged to have a link to the e-Government
portal from their national e-Government portals; and
(e) Member States should provide the COMESA Secretariat with their
focal points on e-Government programmes to ensure the provision
and relevance of information on the portal.
E-Learning Programme
(a) The Secretariat should enter into a Memorandum of Understanding
with the Kenya e-Learning Center to ensure maximum operation of
the installed e-Learning platform;
(b) The Secretariat should organise a workshop on e-Learning
Strategies to work out the implementation modalities for the MoU;
And
(c) Member States should provide the Secretariat with their e-Learning
focal points for the successful implementation of the e-Learning
programme.
Regional Data Centre
(a) Council decided that the Secretariat should conduct a study to draw
up the Terms of Reference for setting up of a data centre for
effective storage of the information that it hosts in the various
systems and to serve as a regional infrastructure to promote secure
electronic transactions
(b) Council decided that the Secretariat should pursue the
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implementation of the work plan for IT and prioritize for
implementation as approved in the IT Master Plan.
19.
The meeting was then informed that these Council decisions had been
presented to the third meeting of Ministers responsible for transport, communications
and energy for noting in Djibouti in October, 2009.
20.
The Secretariat then proceeded to inform the meeting of the progress which
had so far been made as regards these Council decisions.
21.
The meeting considered and commented further on terms of reference and
concept papers which had been prepared, and studies which had been completed.
The terms of reference, concept papers and studies reviewed by the meeting were
on:

The IT Priority Master Plan


A paper on regional systems which may be developed
Development of regulations to facilitate secure electronic transactions

A COMESA e-Waste programme

Means of Sustainability for COMESA Information Systems

Regional customs modernisation training strategy

Terms of Reference for Capacity Development for the e-Government
programme

The Memorandum of Understanding between the Estonia eGovernance Academy and COMESA on technical assistance in the
establishment of a regional e-governance Academy

The Memorandum of Understanding between the United Nations
Public Administration Network (UNPAN) and COMESA on
collaboration on the e-Government programme


The Memorandum of Understanding on e-Learning between the
COMESA Secretariat and the Government of Kenya
The FOSS Study

A plan for implementing the FOSS programme

The Study on the Regional Data Centre
a. IT Master Plan
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22.
The meeting was requested to review the IT Master Plan which had been
earlier circulated to them for their comments. They were requested to consider it as
an IT Priority Master Plan which would have the priority IT activities and programmes
for implementation. A further call was made to the Member States requesting them
to share their IT Master plans and policies with the Secretariat.
23.
The meeting then considered a paper which outlined regional information
systems which could be developed and which would be beneficial to the Member
States. The two proposed systems were a cross-border traders information system
and an online business directory.
24.
Regarding the setting up of a Regional Internet Exchange Point (RIXP), the
meeting noted that this issue was being discussed under the COMTEL project. The
meeting also learnt that the Government of Kenya was in the process of setting up a
Government Internet Exchange Point (GIXP) to keep government traffic within the
government network and enhance security and confidentiality of government data.
25.
A presentation was made on the utilisation of IT in the COMESA region.
Efforts were being stepped up in line with the cooperation of the regional economic
communities (REC’s) under the tripartite arrangement for information sharing and
harmonization among the REC’s and the Member States.
Recommendations
26.
The meeting made the following recommendations:
(i)
COMESA Secretariat should carry out a thorough requirements
analysis to ascertain the needs of the two systems
(ii)
Member States should provide the required data for the regional
information systems once they become operational
(iii)
COMESA Secretariat should expedite the implementation of the
Regional IXP as part of COMTEL.
b. E-Legislation Programme
27.
The programme on e-Legislation aims to ensure that the current legal and
regulatory framework within the member states meets the needs of citizens,
businesses and governments in the adoption and exploitation of e-Commerce
applications and in the use of the Internet in general.
28.
The meeting was informed that COMESA had engaged both the UNCITRAL
and UNECA for collaboration in the implementation of the e-legislation programme
and programmes had been agreed which would assist countries in the accession to
the UN Convention and also in building the capacity in the member States in eLegislation.
29.
Terms of reference had also been prepared and a Consultant was being
recruited to undertake a study to develop regulations to facilitate secure electronic
transactions. The meeting was informed that the draft regulations, once completed,
would be submitted to the legal drafting sub-committee of COMESA, and then
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thereafter to the committee of Legal Experts. Once approved by the committee of
Legal Experts, the draft would be submitted to the Ministers of Justice.
30.
As regards empowering the Court of Justice to facilitate online mediation to
resolve disputes that may arise from electronic transactions, the meeting noted that
this would be part of the study being undertaken by the Consultant and that a joint
workshop was being discussed with UNCITRAL where these matters would be
elaborated on.
31.
The meeting considered a concept paper on e-Waste which had been
prepared by Malawi.
After reviewing the paper, the meeting gave updates on
developments regarding e-waste at national level and made inputs to improve on the
paper and have a way forward for the e-waste component under the e-Legislation
programme.
Recommendations:
32.
The meeting made the following recommendations:
(i) COMESA Secretariat should ensure the completion of the draft regulations to
facilitate secure electronic transactions as soon as possible;
(ii) COMESA Secretariat should conduct a study to draw up a model policy on eWaste for the region
c. Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
33.
The meeting considered the proposed way forward on the GIS activity that
had been prepared in order to ensure the effective utilisation of GIS for informed
decision-making for the region’s programmes.
34.
The meeting was also informed that the Secretariat was waiting for release of
funds for the development of a regional GIS system covering initially the Peace and
Security programme of COMESA and the Transport Infrastructure in the COMESA
region.
35.
Liaisons were also ongoing with the Rwanda Development Board in the
development of the GIS system and all member States were urged to collaborate
with the Secretariat in the collection of the required data for the GIS systems, as
agreed in the draft MoU between COMESA Secretariat and the Rwanda
Development Board.
Recommendation
36.
The meeting recommended that COMESA Secretariat should mobilise
resources to implement the proposed two sectors on the GIS roadmap to facilitate
decision making and programme implementation
d. ASYCUDA
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37.
The meeting was informed that a proposal for a COMESA regional center for
custom modernization had been submitted for EDF funding and was expected to
start implementation during 2011. Under the current programme, the meeting noted
that risk management training had been conducted in Eritrea and a mission had
been undertaken to Swaziland to review the status of implementation of
ASYCUDA++ in the country and also to find out more on other areas where the
country needed support to ensure an effective implementation of ASYCUDA.
38.
The meeting further noted that a new member of staff had been recruited to
steer and manage the ASYCUDA programme for COMESA. as part of the staff
retention strategy to ensure continued support of ASYCUDA systems.
Recommendations
39.
The meeting made the following recommendations:
(i)
Member States are urged to provide to the COMESA Secretariat, by
end of June 2010, details of their IT and Functional experts in Customs
management systems and the trainings already acquired
(ii)
COMESA Secretariat should conduct a training needs assessment in
Customs management systems
(iii)
COMESA Secretariat should facilitate skills transfer among the
member states
e. Regional Centre of Excellence
40.
The meeting was informed that the proposal for a regional centre of
excellence in IT would be taken as part of the broader Regional Multi-disciplinary
Centre of Excellence (RMCE) which was being developed in collaboration with the
World Bank. Liaisons would continue with Mauritius which was leading the activity
for the RMCE.
f. Charging Policy
41.
The meeting considered the paper presented on the sustainability of
information systems. The paper highlighted that a charging policy would not be the
only way to ensure the sustainability of information systems but that other means
could also be used. The paper therefore discussed the following:

Charging Policy;

Advertising;

Empowerment of member states to provide the content for the systems;

Increasing the utilisation of the systems by intended users;

Have regularly scheduled reviews for the different applications;
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
Ensuring that the systems always have up to date and relevant content; and

Using the latest technologies on the systems.
Recommendations:
42.
The meeting recommended that COMESA Secretariat should:
(i) mobilize resources to ensure the sustainability of the regional information systems
(ii) develop guidelines for Member States to ensure sustainable update of content on
the web-based systems
(iii) recruit a marketing consultant to work on the visibility of the information systems for
the organization.
g. E-Government Programme
43.
The objective of the e-Government programme in COMESA is to contribute to
the regional integration agenda through an effective and efficient Information and
Communications Technologies (ICT) environment geared towards the reduction of
costs of trade and investment to stimulate economic growth and reduce poverty.
44. Specifically, the programme on e-Government will foster the development of
information systems to enable easy access to regional information for the promotion
of good governance through the application and provision of best practices in
Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
45.
The meeting was informed that significant progress had been made as
regards the implementation of the e-Government programme, especially as regards
the activity on capacity development. A mission had been mounted to the Estonia eGovernance Academy where a Memorandum of Understanding is being considered
for collaboration in developing an e-government capacity development programme
and in the setup of a COMESA regional e-Governance Academy that would be used
as a training centre for the Member States in matters of e-Government.
46.
A presentation was given via video-conference by a representative of the
Estonia e-Governance Academy. He gave a background on the objectives of the
academy and on its organisational structure. He then informed the meeting of
collaboration currently going on between the Estonian Academy and West African
states in setting up an e-governance academy covering West Africa. He then
highlighted the need for the proposed COMESA academy to identify, in early stages,
the source of financing, stakeholders, customers and the critical success factors for
the establishment of the Academy.
47.
The meeting was also informed that Uganda had already expressed interest
in hosting the proposed COMESA Regional e-Governance Academy and
discussions would continue with the Secretariat in realising the regional academy.
The criteria for hosting an institution was given to the meeting covering physical
infrastructure requirements and the legal and institutional framework as outlined in
Article 186 in the COMESA Treaty.
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48.
The meeting also noted that another MoU was being discussed with the
United Nations Public Administration Network (UNPAN) for collaboration on eGovernment, and that further collaboration was being sought with SADC and the
EAC.
49.
The paper developed on the modalities for capacity development within the eGovernment programme proposed that a comprehensive needs assessment should
be carried out to determine the capacity development requirements for the region.
50.
The meeting also noted that an e-Government portal had been developed and
was available on http://egov.comesa.int. Regular statistics on the usage of the
system were being produced as well as on the usage of the other information
systems that the organisation hosts. The current statistics for the e-Government
portal were about 2000 hits per month.
51.
The meeting was encouraged to ensure that they submitted the details of their
national e-Government portals for linking to the regional e-government portal as well
as to submit details of their e-Government national focal points to ensure the
provision and relevance of information on the portal.
Recommendations:
52.
The meeting made the following recommendations:
(i)COMESA Secretariat should seek to collaborate in capacity
development in e-government through agreements with
organisations implementing best practises, to raise capacity in
the Member States
(ii)Member States that have not provided details of their egovernment focal points to the Secretariat are urged to do so by
end June 2010
(iii)COMESA Secretariat, with the focal points from the Member
States, should ensure update of content on the e-government
portal
(iv)COMESA Secretariat together with the Government of Uganda
should consider entering into an MoU for collaboration in
establishing an e-Governance Academy
E-Learning Programme
53. The programme on e-Learning aims to promote the use and appreciation of the
e-learning platform at the COMESA Secretariat and in all the member states, and
to ensure full utilization of the installed COMESA e-Learning platform. The
COMESA e-Learning platform is on http://elearning.comesa.int
54.
The meeting learnt that a Memorandum of Understanding was in the process
of being signed with the Government of Kenya to ensure maximum operation of the
installed e-Learning platform. The lead organisation in Kenya for the operation of the
MoU is the Kenya e-Learning Centre, KeLC. Kenya was keen to drive the e-
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Learning programme and a workshop on e-Learning strategies had been proposed
to work out the implementation modalities for the MoU. The workshop would be held
once funding was confirmed for the activity.
55.
The meeting further noted that a workshop had been held in Nairobi, Kenya
by the KeLC in which COMESA participated. The workshop focused on training of eLearning tutors, managers and administrators.
56.
As was requested for the e-Government programme, a similar request was
made to the member States to provide details of their e-Learning focal points that
would ensure the successful implementation of the e-Learning programme at
national level.
Recommendations
57.
The meeting made the following recommendations:
(i) COMESA should sign the Memorandum of Understanding with the
Government of Kenya as soon as possible to ensure maximum operation of
the installed e-Learning platform
(ii) COMESA Secretariat should ensure that the workshop on e-Learning is held
for effective implementation of the MoU and build capacity within the region
in e-Learning
(iii) Member States that have not yet provided details of their e-learning focal
points to the Secretariat are urged to do so by end June 2010
Cyber Security (Agenda item 5)
58.
The meeting was given a brief on previous activities carried out by COMESA
in cyber security. Cyber security is one of the priorities under the COMESA ICT
Programme. The main activity was a workshop done jointly with the International
Telecommunications Union in August, 2008 in Lusaka, Zambia.
The main
recommendations of the workshop were to establish a working group, develop a
regional policy and legislation framework, and design the Computer Incidents
Response Team (CIRT).
59.
A presentation on cyber security was given focusing on data protection,
privacy and copyright acts and laws. The meeting was informed that gaining the
trust of customers is vital for the success of any company that requires sensitive data
for its operation. Consumers are concerned about identity theft and are reluctant to
provide un-trusted sources with personal information.
To boost consumer
confidence, it is paramount that organisations implement data protection and privacy
laws and procedures.
60.
Data protection is therefore a fundamental right to privacy and organisations
that keep data have to comply with the necessary data protection principles which
were highlighted during the presentation.
Recommendation:
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61.
The meeting recommended that the COMESA Secretariat should work closely
with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), UNECA, EAC and other
regional and international organisations to develop a cyber security policy and
legislation framework for the region
Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Programme (Agenda Item 6)
62.
The outcomes of the FOSS study were presented to the meeting. The study
emphasized on the need to have an improvement on the FOSS policy environment,
as well as a sustained and functional awareness programme to ensure capacity
building within the region. The study requested further the establishment of the
FOSS communities where they do not exist and strengthening the existing ones.
63.
The specific objectives of the FOSS programme are to:
a. Improve the FOSS Policy Environment in the Member States
b. Ensure a sustained and functional awareness creation
c. Ensure FOSS Capacity Building within the region
d. Promote the growth and reinforcement of the capacities of
FOSS communities
64. The meeting noted that Sudan has been denied access to the American Open
Source websites, although the definition of Open Source prohibits discrimination
“against any person or group of persons.”
Recommendations:
65.
The meeting made the following recommendations:
(i) COMESA Secretariat should develop an implementation plan, and
mobilize resources based on the recommendation of the study
(ii) Member States are requested to develop policy guidelines on FOSS
Microsoft Presentation (Agenda item 7)
66.
A representative from Microsoft West, East, Central Africa & Indian Ocean
Islands made a presentation on three main areas:
 Licensing; including the agreement between COMESA and
Microsoft for negotiated licensing for the Member States
 How Microsoft Operates in the COMESA Member States
 Single Window concept to facilitate trade
67.
The presentation was well received by the meeting and several questions
were raised from the floor regarding information on Microsoft’s legitimate partners in
the Member States, licensing models, training and certification, the details of the
single window concept and professional services available from Microsoft.
Data Centre (Agenda item 8)
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68.
The meeting noted that the study of 2009 for a data centre had been
completed and some of the recommendations had already been taken into
consideration to improve the status of the current setup at the Secretariat.
69.
The meeting agreed that the Data Center should provide the secure physical
environment, server hardware, network connectivity and technical management skills
necessary to keep the regional IT services up and running with minimum downtime.
70.
The meeting noted that with the expansion in the regional programmes and
activities, and the increase in staff members to support the servicing of the member
states, the current setup needs to be improved by a more scalable, reliable and
manageable data center.
Recommendations
The meeting recommended that COMESA Secretariat needs to mobilize resources
for setting up a concurrent maintainable Tier 3 data center as classified by the
Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA).
Work Plan 2010 (Agenda item 9)
71. The Secretariat delivered a presentation which highlighted the main areas in the
work plan for 2010. The participants were briefed that the area of IT for
COMESA has two main objectives:


Support the achievement of COMESA’s objectives through the application
of Information Systems and Technology Integration, and
Promote the use and awareness of IT to lead to the Information Society
72.
To attain these objectives, the following were reported as the main activites in
the 2010 workplan:












Implementation of a GIS system
Development of regulations to ensure secure electronic
transactions
Hold a drafting workshop for M/States on e-Legislation law reform
Consolidate the roadmap for the establishment of a Regional eGovernance Academy
Hold an e-Learning workshop
Development of the Web-Based Transit Data Transfer Module
Provision of technical support to Member States on ASYCUDA
Hold a workshop on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)
Implementation of a SAN storage and Disaster Recovery Soultion
Ensure full implementation of the redeveloped COMSTAT statistics
database
Research and Development on Green IT
Training for technical and non-technical staff
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The meeting noted the activities earmarked for 2010 and encouraged the COMESA
Secretariat to mobilize the necessary resources to ensure effective implementation
of the activities. The Member States also pledged their continued support and active
participation in the implementation of the various programmes.
Recommendations
73.
The meeting recommended that COMESA Secretariat should:
(i) mobilise resources and fast-track the implementation of activities in the 2010 work
plan
(ii) ensure that the benefits of the VSAT Closed User Group network are realised as
early as possible
(iii) ensure that the content on the regional web portal and information systems is
relevant and regularly updated, in collaboration with the Member States
(iv) consider including the harmonisation of various policies to cover e-payments in the
study being done on developing draft regulations under E-Legislation
Date and Venue of Next Meeting
74.
The 7th IT Committee meeting will be hosted by Uganda. The date and
venue would be communicated by the Secretariat in due course.
Any Other Business (Agenda item 10)
75.
During this session the meeting suggested that the COMESA Secretariat
should send formal communications to remind countries to budget for participation
and attendance at IT committee meetings, with copies to the ministries and agencies
responsible for information technology
76.
Member States were reminded to present on the status of implementation of
the various programmes being discussed under the IT committee.
77.
The members of the technical committee were also urged to introduce
themselves to the COMESA desk officers in their countries which may help in the
nomination process for IT committee meetings in the interest of business continuity.
78.
COMESA Secretariat was further requested to consider modalities for cofinancing meetings.
Adoption of the Workshop Report (Agenda item 11)
79.
The report was adopted with amendments.
Closure of the Workshop
Closing Remarks by Mr. Sherin Shoukry, Director of Information and
Networking
CS/IT/TC/V/7
Page 17
80.
The Director closed the meeting by thanking all the delegates for honouring
the invitation to the meeting and being actively involved in the deliberations. He
acknowledged the fact that the programmes of the IT Technical Committee were
now maturing and increasing and there was therefore need to focus on those
activities identified in the IT Priority Master Plan for effective implementation. .
81.
He encouraged the meeting participants to ensure follow up on the
programmes and be the advocates for the programmes that are being implemented
through the IT Technical committee.
82.
He wished all the participants a safe journey back to their respective
countries, and looked forward to meeting with them at some of the planned
workshops which would take place during the course of the year.
Vote of Thanks
83.
A Vote of Thanks was delivered by the delegate from Zimbabwe. The
delegate thanked the Government of the Republic of Kenya for hosting the meeting
and ensuring that all the facilities and logistics for a successful meeting were in
place. On behalf of all the other participants, he acknowledged the effort put in by the
organizing team and also by the Secretariat and requested the participants to give a
round of applause.
84.
He reminded the meeting of music done by the late South African musician,
Lucky Dube which urged for people to stand together as one, and urged the
committee to do so. He then went on to emphasise the importance of IT in building
economies and committed the participants to following up on all the areas discussed
so that the implementation could be effective and have the required impact on the
development of the region’s economies.
85.
He concluded by wishing all the participants at the meeting safe journeys
back to their respective countries and looked forward to meeting them at the next
meeting of the technical committee.
CS/IT/TC/V/7
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
LISTE DES PARTICIPANTS
EGYPT/EGYPTE
Mr. Amr M Ibrahim, Solutions Architecture Unit Manager, Ministry of State for
Administrative Development, 13 Salah Salam Street, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt, Tel: +202
24000175, Fax: +202 24000141, Cel: 00 201 01558559 E-mail: aibrahim@ad.gov.eg,
KENYA
Ms. Esther Wanjau, Senior Assistant director of Information, Ministry of Information and
Communications, P.O. Box 30025 00100, Nairobi, Kenya, , Tel: 254 20 225 115 2,
Fax: 254 20 315 147, E-mail: esther.wanjau@information.go.ke,
Mr. Andrew Gakiria Nderitu, National Coordinator, Kenya e-Learning Centre, P.O. Box
62345-00200, Tel: 254 712777459, E-mail: gakiria@kelc.org, Nairobi
Mr. Mark Mwirigi, Information Communication Officer, Ministry of Trade, P O Box
30430-00100 GPO Nairobi, Kenya, Tel: +254 20 315 001, Cel: +254 723 108 216,
Email: arithi2002@yahoo.com
Mr. Albert Omondi, ICT Officer, Ministry of Trade, P O Box 30430-00100, Nairobi,
Kenya, Tel: +254 722 684 750, albertomondi@gmail.com
Mr. Nicholas Awiti, ICT Officer, Ministry of Information and Communications, P.O. Box
30025 00100, Nairobi, Tel: 254 20 2251152, Fax:+ 254 20 315 147, E-mail:
nawiti@information.go.ke,
Ms Rose Weru Wanja, ICT Officer, Ministry of Information and Communication, Tel:
+254 720 352 163, Email: rweru@information.go.ke
Mr. Oscar Odhiambo, ICT Officer, Information and Communications, Tel: +254 721 684
177, Email: oodhiambo@gmail.com; oodhiambo@information.go.ke
Mr. Bernard K. Too, Systems Engineer, KENIC, p o Box 1461 – 00606, Nairobi, Tel:
+254 737 124 617, Email: bernard@kenic.or.ke
Mr. Ken Otieno Ogera, Network Engineering and Forensics, E-government Director, P
O Bo 30091-00100, Nairobi, Kenya, Tel: +254 20 206 376 0, Email:
Kenogera@kenya.go.ke
MADAGASCAR
Ms Alisoa Razafitsara, ICT and Public Services Manager, Ministry of
Telecommunications, Posts and Communication, Independence Place, Antaninarenina,
Antananarivo 101, Madagascar, Tel: +261 33 122 860 9, E-mail: alisoa-r@yahoo.com,
MALAWI
Mr. Isaac George Kotokwa, Acting Principal, National College of Information
Technology, Department of Information Systems and Technology Management
Services, Ministry of Information and Civic Education, P O Box 30319, Chichiri Blantyre
3, Tel: + 265 842 411/842 816, 0888 308 684,Email: kotokwaig@yahoo.co.uk
CS/IT/TC/V/7
Annex I
Page 2
Mr. Anderson Welford Chikazingwa, Acting Deputy Principal, National College of IT
Department of Information Systems and Technology Management Services, Ministry
of Information and Civic Education, P O Box 31164, Lilongwe 3, Malawi, Tel:+265 1
758 588/758 584, Cel:+265 099 932 432 6, Email: andersonchikazingwa@yahoo.co.uk
SEYCHELLES
Mrs. Lanka Priyanthi Dorby, Director General, Information Technology, Ministry of
National Development, Department of Information Communication Technology, P.O.
Box 737, Caravel House, Tel: 248 723252, E-mail: dgit@ict.gov.sc, Victoria Mahe
SUDAN
Eng. Mubarak M.A. Hamad, Director General of National Information Centre, Ministry
of the Cabinet, Khartoum, Tel:
249183798078, Mobile: 249912309475, Fax:
249183798081, E-mail: mubark@nicsudan.gov.sd,
Eng. Ismail Babiker Mohamed Ahmed, Support and Assistant Director, Tel: +249 912
339 758, Email: ismailbabiker@gmail.com
UGANDA/OUGANDA
Mr. John Barisigara, Senior Information Scientist, Ministry of Tourism, Trade and
Industry, P.O. Box 7103, Tel: 256 414 314268, E-mail: jbarisigara@mtti.go.ug
Kampala
Mr. Ambrose Ruyooka, Acting Commissioner for Information Technology, Ministry of
Information Communications and Technology, P.O. Box 7817, Kampala, Uganda, Tel:
256 414 258 202/ Cel: +256 772120060, Fax:
256 414231314, E-mail:
ambrose.ruyooka@ict.go.ug,
ZAMBIA/ZAMBIE
Ms Clara Esther Phiri, Senior Systems Analyst, Ministry of Communications and
Transport, P.O. Box 50065, Tel: 260 211 256363, Fax: 260 211 252898/251795, Email: claraph@mct.gov.zm, Lusaka
Mr. David Frank Banda, Information Systems Officer, Ministry of Commerce, Trade and
Industry, P O Box 31698, Lusaka, +0260 211 226 984, +260 977 631 914,
frankdzm@yahoo.com; dfbanda@mcti.gov.zm
ZIMBABWE
Mr. Paul M Marwizi, Senior Press Secretary, (IT) Media, Information and Publicity P O
Box 1276, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, Tel: 263 9 139 433 77, +263 4 790 402,
pmmarwizi@yahoo.com
Mr. Thomas Singizi, Deputy Director, (ICT Development) Ministry of Information,
Communication Technology, P O Box CY 704, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, Tel:
+263 4 251 374, Cel: +263 912 878 740, Email: singizit@yahoo.com
EAST AFRCIAN COMMUNITY
Mr. Jacob Ikilenya, Senior Systems Analyst, EAC Secretariat, P O Box 1096, Arusha,
Tanzania, Tel : +255 27 250 4253, Fax : +255 27 250 4481, ikilenya@eachq.org
CS/IT/TC/V/7
Page 3
INTERPRETERS/INTREPRETES
Mr. Benoit Mugenzi, Interpreter, P O Box 2581-00200, Nairobi, Kenya,, Tel : 254 734
930
953,
+254
728
596
407
E-mail :
benmugenzi@yahoo.com;
MUGENZI.BEN@gmail.com
Mr. Clement K Sokpor-Dufe, Interpreter, P O Box 2581-00200, Nairobi, Kenya,
Tel:+254 20 720 249/351 902, Cel: +254 727 071 165, Fax: +254 20 272 245 502,
Email: komdufe@hotmail.com; klemdufe@yahoo.com
COMESA SECRETARIAT/SECRETARIAT DU COMESA
Mr.
Sherin
Shoukry,
Director,
Information
and
Networking,
sshoukry@comesa.int
Dr. Abu Dafalla, Telecommunication Officer, Email: adafalla@comesa.int
Ms Isabel Nshimbi, Systems Analyst, E-mail: inshimbi@comesa.int
Mr. George Thomas, Network Administrator, Email: gthomas@comesa.int
Mr. Grey Njowola, Systems Developer, Email: gnjowola@comesa.int
Ms Denise Ndabemeye, Translator, E-mail: dndabemeye@comesa.int
Ms. Lucy Pandwe, Accountant, E-mail: lpandwe@comesa.int
Ms. Lydia Mulenga, Administrative Assistant, E-mail: lmulenga@comesa.int
E-mail: