Rwandan President urges African countries to work together to ensure technology access

Rwandan President Paul Kagame opened the Transform Africa 2017 Summit Wednesday in Kigali with a call on countries to collectively ensure universal access to technology.

Opening the summit, Kagame observed that technology is a powerful framework for bringing diverse stakeholders together to define challenges and find solutions.

"If technology is entrenching divides, rather than equalizing opportunities, then we are not harnessing it well. Access to technology information must also not distinguish between rich and poor. So long as women and girls are lagging behind then we are not on the right track. We must deliver on technology's promise to bridge divides, rather than deepen them," he said.

More than a quarter of the African population (334 million) has access to the Internet, the majority of who are young people and potential lifelong learners, according to a latest study by the Internet Society.

Kagame however said low connectivity in Africa should be regarded as an opportunity rather than a challenge.

"This must be regarded as an opportunity for stronger public-private collaboration. In Rwanda, our partnership with Korea Telecom has already served to speed up our progress toward the broadband target. Africa has to be connected, and why not at the highest possible speeds. Our future well-being, depends on how well we respond to these challenges, right now," Kagame said.

The Rwandan leader said African leaders need to work together to put technology in hands of citizens in order to build inclusive and sustainable places to live, noting that the continent looks set to emerge as one of the planet's great centers of growth, innovation and opportunity in the generations ahead.

Themed "Smart Cities", the three-day summit drew Heads of State and government officials in ICT and related sectors such as digital economy, infrastructure, finance, health, education, and energy, and mayors of African cities. Endit