بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

والصلاة والسلام على نبيه الصادق الأمين

 

 

• معالي الوزير الأول، السيد سيف غريب،

 

• معالي وزير البريد والاتصالات، السيد سيد علي زروقي،

 

• معالي وزير الإعلام والاتصالات والاقتصاد الرقمي في كينيا،
  السيد William Kabogo Githau، ضيف شرف هذه الدورة،

 

• معالي السادة الوزراء أعضاء الحكومة،

 

• معالي السادة الوزراء الأفارقة المكلفين بالإتصالات،

 

• معالي السيد أمانديب سينغ جيل (Amandeep Singh Gill)، وكيل الأمين العام للأمم المتحدة والمبعوث الخاص للتكنولوجيات الرقمية والناشئة،

 

• السيدات والسادة رؤساء وممثلو الهيئات والمؤسسات الوطنية الجزائرية،

 

• أصحاب السعادة، رؤساء البعثات الدبلوماسية وممثلو المنظمات الدولية والإقليمية المعتمدة لدى الجزائر،

 

• السيدات والسادة الحضور،
• أعضاء الأسرة الإعلامية،
• كل بإسمه و مقامه،

 

 

اسمحوا لي بداية ان أعبر، باسمي الشخصي وبإسم مفوضية الاتحاد الافريقي، عن جزيل شكرنا على دعوتكم الكريمة للمشاركة في أعمال هذه الطبعة الأولى لقمة أفريقيا العالمية للتكنولوجيا في الجزائر المرحابة، و المنعقدة تحت الرعاية السامية للسيد عبد المجيبد تبون،  رئيس الجمهورية الجزائرية الديمقراطية الشعبية. 

 

كما لا يفوتني في هذه السانحة، أن أعبر عن سعادتي و إهتمامي وانا اشارككم أشغال هذه الطبعة.

 

 فالوقوف أمام هذه النخبة الرفيعة هنا في الجزائر، ومشاهدة هذا الحشد القاري المتلاحم حول بلورة رؤية مشتركة  لتعزيز الشراكة وتطوير التكنولوجيات الحديثة وترسيخ سيادة الإتصالات لقارتنا الإفريقية، كما يُعبرعنها شعار هذا الملتقى،الذي يُترجم الإهتمام البالغ للإتحاد الإفريقي بهذا الموضوع ذا العلاقة المباشرة بتحقيق الأهداف القارية في ميادين الإندماج والتنمية. 

 

كما يسعدني، أيما سعادة، أن أتوجه إلى السيدّ الرئيس عبد المجيد تبون والحكومة الجزائرية، بداية، بجزيل الشكر وعميق الامتنان على مبادرتها الحكيمة باستضافة هذا الملتقى القاري البارز، وعلى التزامها الثابت بدعم مسار تطوي التكنولوجيا في إفريقيا. 

 

وأن أُشيد، ثانيا، بالمستوى الرفيع من التحضير والتنظيم، الذي يعكس قدرا كبيرا من الاحترافية وحرصا صادقا على ضمان نجاح هذا الحدث المهم. 

 

ولا يفوتني، ثالثا، أن أثمن كرم الضيافة وحفاوة الاستقبال التي حظيت بها كافة الوفود المشاركة، في تجسيد صادق لأصالة القيم الجزائرية، من روح الضيافة والتضامن الإفريقي، التي نعتز بها جميعا.

 

أستسمحكم ،أيها الحضور الكريم، كل بمقامه، الآن أن أواصل كلمتي باللغة الإنجليزية. 

 

 

*********الإنجليزية***********

 

 

Excellencies,

Allow me to take this opportunity to invite you to join me in expression appreciation to Algeria for helping to shape the conversation at the right moment, when questions of connectivity, security, sovereignty and interoperability are no longer technical issues alone, but strategic questions for Africa’s future.

Algeria’s contribution is already visible in action:

• in its role in advancing the Trans-Saharan Optical Fibre Backbone,
• in the expansion of fibre connectivity to millions of households, and most recently in the successful launch of the Alsat 3A Earth observation satellite, which the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, HE Mahmoud Ali Youssouf  rightly recognised as a “ significant advance for Africa’s space and geospatial capabilities.”

 

Excellencies,

The theme of this summit invites us to reflect with both clarity and ambition. Africa has made meaningful progress in expanding connectivity, and this progress provides a strong foundation on which we must now build further.

Statistics from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) indicate that as of the end of 2024, mobile broadband covered 86% of Africa’s population. Yet 14% still had no possibility of connecting at all, and in rural areas that figure rose to 25%. While 4G reached 70% of the population, 5G had reached only 11%.

Even more telling is the usage gap: millions live within network coverage, yet remain excluded by the cost of devices, the cost of data, limited digital skills, and low trust in digital systems. This is not a marginal issue for the Africa we are building.

The vision, articulated in Agenda 2063 cannot be realised on fragile, externally concentrated, or socially exclusionary digital foundations.

A continent that cannot reliably connect its people, govern its data, and secure its networks will struggle to industrialise, capitalize on the opportunities of e-commerce, compete, deliver services at scale, and protect its strategic autonomy in a world where digital infrastructure increasingly shapes power.

We have also seen, very clearly, that resilience is no longer an abstract concern.

The experience of the African Union itself, following cybersecurity vulnerabilities identified within its headquarters systems in 2023 underscored the extent to which our institutions can be exposed in the absence of secure and sovereign digital infrastructure.

It served as a clear reminder that in a digital age, our ability to govern, communicate, and operate effectively depends not only on connectivity, but on the security, integrity, and control of the systems that underpin it.

 

The challenge before us, therefore, is not simply to connect Africa. It is to connect Africa in a way that is resilient by design, sovereign in capability, inclusive in access, and continental in logic.

And yet in the midst of this, important work is already underway across our continent.

At the African Union level, the Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa 2020 to 2030 has established the continental direction of travel toward an integrated and inclusive digital society and economy, and toward a Digital Single Market for Africa.

The AU Data Policy Framework is also shaping a common African approach to data governance and shared standards.

The Malabo Convention provides a legal instrument on cybersecurity and personal data protection.

The AfCFTA Protocol on Digital Trade advances harmonised rules and common principles for digital trade across Africa.

Across Member States, we are also seeing practical examples of this shift. Allow me to highlight a few regional non-exhaustive examples:

In East Africa, Kenya’s National Optic Fibre Backbone Initiative reflects the determination to extend terrestrial fibre as a backbone for national transformation.

In West Africa, Nigeria is advancing digital transformation through expanding connectivity infrastructure and strengthening digital economy ecosystems.

 

In Central Africa, Gabon is advancing national fibre backbone infrastructure and strengthening its position within the region’s digital ecosystem.

In Southern Africa, countries such as Botswana continue to advance digital transformation through investments in connectivity and innovation, strengthening their role within the regional digital economy.

In North Africa, Algeria continues to demonstrate leadership through both infrastructure expansion and space capabilities, including the successful deployment of satellite technologies that strengthen environmental monitoring and evidence-based policymaking.

These examples, alongside the many efforts of Member States represented here today, demonstrate that Africa’s digital future is already being built, piece by piece, across the continent

For maximum impact of these efforts, there is a need to ensure that corridors  are developed to connect all types of infrastructure: industrial, digital and transport. 

Such an enabling environment is also being strengthened in the global arena. Under South Africa’s G20 Presidency, digital inclusion, digital public infrastructure (DPI), secure connectivity and Africa-centred AI capability entered global political discussion with greater clarity.

This signals a growing international recognition that Africa’s place in the digital age must extend beyond consumption.

 

This is proof that Africa is already building capacity across networks, compute, datasets, standards and talent. Telecom sovereignty and digital public infrastructure are therefore part of the same continental imperative, which is to ensure that the systems shaping our future reflect African priorities and Africa’s Independence.

Our related frameworks, policies, initiatives and efforts should contribute to international standards setting, not merely conform to them.

The Global Digital Compact and other international initiatives must therefore accommodate Africa's positions, demands and expectations so that we can collaborate as equals who bring essential expertise to global digital governance, not as recipients of externally designed solutions.

Excellencies,

There is an even deeper truth. No matter how interoperable our systems become, no matter how advanced our networks grow, no matter how many platforms, protocols and networks we develop, they will remain incomplete if they are not underpinned by a shared continental and political will.

We cannot build systems that connect Africans if we remain disconnected in vision.

We cannot build a trusted continental infrastructure without also building trust in one another.

We cannot speak of interoperability while tolerating fragmentation of purpose.

Pan-Africanism reminds us that Africa rises most strongly when it acts in coherence.

This is why platforms such as the Global Africa Tech Summit highly matter.

They are not merely conference spaces but convening instruments for alignment.

They bring together governments, industry, civil society, and continental institutions around a shared task: to define a common vision for African telecom sovereignty, to promote infrastructure sharing, to strengthen network security, and to advance continental interoperability.

However sophisticated the systems we build may be, they will be made redundant if we do not walk this journey together as one continent, with a shared purpose and collective resolve.

In that spirit, allow me to underline five priorities that should guide our work going forward.

First, resilience by design. Africa must build a resilient and diversified connectivity architecture across land, sea, and emerging space-based systems, ensuring continuity even in the face of disruption.

Second, closing the usage gap. Connectivity that people cannot afford, cannot trust, or cannot meaningfully use is not yet inclusion. Affordability, digital literacy, devices and relevance of services must remain central.

Third, compute and data localisation capacity. If Africa is to compete meaningfully in the digital economy and in the age of AI, we must strengthen domestic and regional capacity in data centres, cloud storage and compute.

Fourth, interoperability and the reduction of regulatory fragmentation. The promise of a continental market cannot be fulfilled through disconnected rules, uneven standards, and siloed systems.

Fifth, cross-border spectrum and technical coordination. As our digital environment becomes more integrated, coordination in spectrum management and technical planning will be essential to ensuring seamless connectivity.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The ground is already fertile. Across our continent, the foundations for a more integrated and sovereign future are taking shape. This is evident even in this very moment, as we gather here in Algiers for the very first Global Africa Tech Summit, an initiative that reflects both vision and leadership in advancing Africa’s digital agenda.

The African Union will continue to play its role in fostering coordination, coherence and strategic direction, and in supporting Member States as they translate national progress into continental strength.

The moving pieces are already in place. What is now required is disciplined alignment, deliberate investment, and collective resolve.

A single cable does not build a network. It is the strength of interconnected systems that creates reliability. Such is the task before us as a continent. It will take all the nations of Africa, acting in solidarity, to build a telecommunications architecture that is resilient, trusted, efficient and sovereign.

And that is why this summit matters.

 

******العربية********

 

 

اصحاب المعالي، السيدات و السادة،

 

تلك المسؤولية هي مسؤوليتنا جميعا و كذلك الفرصة, فهذه الفرص الجبارة في قارتنا الإفريقية في مجال الرقمنة، و الجميع معني بهذا التغيير، و الجميع مطالب بالسعي لتغيير الأمور نحو الأفضل، و الجزائر لن تكون إلا طرفا فاعلا في مثل هذا المسعى إلى جانب جميع  الدول الإفريقية الخمس و الخمسين 55 , و لهذا يعتبر هذا الملتقى ملتقى محوري  لبلوغ هذا الهدف.

 

شكرا على كرم الإصغاء، و السلام عليكم و رحمة الله تعالى و بركاته.