KIGALI - A two- week continental meeting that will bring together the African Network Operators’ Group (AFNOG) and the African Network Information Centre (AfriNIC) will, between May 23 and June 4th, open in Kigali.

This was disclosed yesterday by Geoffrey Kayonga, the CEO of RICTA (Rwanda Information Communication Technology Association), while addressing members of the press at Telecom house.

"We are set to have a successful forum and we are very pleased with the government of Rwanda through the Ministry of ICT, RDB and Rwanda Utility Regulatory Agency (RURA) for supporting us in organising the forum,” he said.

He added that, among other activities, AfriNIC which is a body in charge of management of internet protocol resources will hold trainings and discussions on IPV6, the next generation of the internet protocol.

"The 6th version of this protocol will mitigate the effect of the shortcomings of the currently used 4th version,” he noted.

He explained that over 100 IT experts are expected to attend the training sessions while Rwanda will be represented by 20.

Dr Ignace Gatare, the Minister in the President’s Office in charge of ICT, while speaking to journalists, said that Rwanda, through the visionary leadership of President Paul Kagame, strongly believes in the transformation of the ICT sector.

"We are very grateful for this opportunity to host such a high level event. There are numerous benefits from the meeting as a country that is very keen on providing skills to her people to create an ICT-based-society and economy,” he said.

Gatare stressed that the forthcoming meetings are timely and ‘extremely important’ and he strongly believes that they will help in addressing future ICT challenges.

He commended RICTA and all other sponsors for joining their efforts to host the event which will gather IT professionals from around the globe.

"This is indeed perfectly in line with our ambition and goals of promoting the dissemination of knowledge in ICT in Rwanda.”

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