Rwanda will this year host the Commonwealth Telecommunication Organization (CTO) e-Government forum. According to information from the CTO office in London, the Ministry of Science and Technology, Rwanda will be hosting the 3rd Annual African e-government forum in the country’s capital Kigali, attracting key Information Communication Technology stakeholders in the region.

The forum which is scheduled to take place from the 24th to the 26th March is viewed as an opportunity for ICT stakeholders to voice views, insights, knowledge and share experiences at Africa’s leading e-government conference.

Conference producer, Mani Rai, said in a statement that the forum, with it’s 2nd edition was hosted in Kampala, Uganda last year, will attract Ministers of Technology, heads of e-government projects, civil society leaders and representatives from IT organizations including  mobile operators, infrastructure providers, foundations, development and donor agencies to discuss current issues and witness success stories on e-government in Africa.

E-Government is the use by government agencies of information technologies, such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government.

Some of the topics to be discussed include government policy, private sector initiatives, public private partnerships, funding, Infrastructure, technology, capacity building, content, e-readiness, e-schools, e-health, e-learning and e-citizens.

The conference will also focus on using utilities ICTs to reduce cost of public service delivery, streamline bureaucracy, promote democracy, deliver universal access, enhance transparency and eradicate poverty as well as the role of e-government and revenue generation, empowering marginalised groups like women, youth and rural communities.

The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) is an international development partnership between Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth governments, business and civil society organisations.

The organisation provides the international community with effective means to help bridge the digital divide and achieve social and economic development, by delivering to developing countries unique knowledge-sharing programmes in the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the specific areas of Telecommunications, IT, Broadcasting and the Internet.

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