New York, 23 September 2018
President Kagame today co-chaired the annual meeting of the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development alongside co-chair Carlos Slim, vice co-chair and ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao and UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay.
In his address, President Kagame reminded Broadband Commissioners that the world is preparing to mark a new milestone where half of the world’s people have access to the internet.
“While this growth is not spread evenly across the world’s regions, it is nonetheless an encouraging development. With more people online we need to think through how everyone can access the digital content safely and fairly. To take full advantage of the latest technological innovations, we have to adapt rapidly including more innovative approaches to policy and regulation,” President Kagame said.
The President further noted that the best way to ensure safe and fair access to digital content as well as take advantage of the latest technological innovations is through close collaboration among all key stakeholders from government, the private sector, and the research community.
The Broadband Commission was established in 2010 with the aim of boosting the importance of broadband on the international policy agenda and expanding broadband access in every country. In 2015, the Commission was re-launched as the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development following the adoption of UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
In the evening, President Kagame attended a reception hosted by the National Basketball Association (NBA) alongside President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, and the Chairman of the NBA Board of Governors, Larry Tanenbaum. The reception was an occasion to highlight the potential of sports, particularly basketball, in empowering lives and driving economic development across Africa.