ITU, Microsoft Track ICT

KIGALI, Rwanda -- ITU Global View, a virtual earth-based online platform to track and help accelerate the implementation of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) goals in Africa was launched today on the opening day of the Connect Africa Summit.

Governments, along with industry, development banks and international organizations are gathered in Kigali to mobilize the human, financial and technical resources required to expand the development of ICT infrastructure and ensure it is used effectively in pursuit of the WSIS development goals for Africa.

The International Telecommunication Union and Microsoft today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Connect Africa summit outlining how they will work together to build a safe, inclusive and interoperable information society. They agreed to support programmes providing skills development and capacity building along with the delivery of relevant applications and services in Africa. These would include the delivery of a new online solution for all stakeholders to showcase and track the implementation of development projects in Africa.

In addition, ITU and Microsoft will collaborate globally on cybersecurity and provide support for regulators in developing countries.

"We are very pleased that Microsoft, as an early signatory of the ITU Connect the World initiative, is stepping up its commitment to help address the effective use of ICT infrastructure in Africa," said Dr Hamadoun Touré, Secretary-General of the ITU. "Connect Africa is a call to action for the private sector, and we are encouraged by the progress we have made together with Microsoft to broaden the scope of capacity building in Africa."

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT)