LUSAKA, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema on Thursday called for accelerated investment in digitization across Africa to enhance development and people's wellbeing.
Hichilema said digitization and technology were critical to accelerating Africa's socioeconomic development, with digital platforms having the capacity to reduce the cost of doing business and make life easy in Africa.
"I believe that we are gathered here because we acknowledge that digitization is critical to answering our individual countries and continent's quest for accelerating economic and social transformation," he said while addressing the 2024 Digital Government Africa Summit.
The Zambian president said digitization and technology could go a long way in helping Africa tackle some of the growing problems such as migration, noting that it could also be used to make the continent's borders more efficient so that countries could trade more with each other.
Hichilema, however, expressed his concern that African governments were holding back the digitization agenda, saying that it was high time to embrace digitization.
According to him, digital tools offer immense opportunities for African countries to serve citizens and grow economies.
Felix Mutati, Zambia's minister of Technology and Science, said the country has made progress in setting up an artificial intelligence center of excellence and in the formulation of the artificial intelligence strategy.
Mutati said the government was working with international partners in promoting digitization in the country and emphasized the country's commitment to leveraging technology to streamline public service delivery.
The summit, which started Wednesday and runs through to Friday, has attracted over 500 delegates from 33 African countries. ■
