Ladies and Gentlemen,
Like the other Member States of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Benin is celebrating World Telecommunication and Information Society Day on this Monday 17 May 2021. At the outset of my address, I would like to recall that this day has its origins in the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention and the birth of the ITU. It also aims to highlight the importance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and the diversity of issues related to the information society.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The theme of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2021 is: “Accelerating digital transformation in challenging times”. Through this wording, the ITU Council invites us to act on the pace at which digital technologies are integrated into the activities of businesses and administrations, in the context of the COVID-19 health crisis.
Indeed, the COVID-19 health crisis has considerably steepened the curve of digital transformation. Many sectors of activity have integrated ICT, to varying degrees, into their ways of operating in order to keep going, in conditions we could not have imagined two years ago. It is in this context that the ITU is calling on Member States to “accelerate digital transformation”. This theme is in line with the vision of the President of the Republic, His Excellency Patrice Talon, who, well before the health crisis, set out his ambition to “transform Benin into the digital platform of West Africa in order to accelerate growth and social inclusion”.
It is the new digital infrastructure, the reforms and the institutional framework put in place under the Government Action Programme (PAG 2016-2021) that have enabled every part of our society to develop digital alternatives in the face of COVID-19. Likewise, since the first cases of Coronavirus were detected in the country, the Government has stepped up the deployment of digital solutions to make life easier for citizens and to reduce the impact of the health crisis on businesses and institutions.
The celebration of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day and this year's theme give us the opportunity to look back at the significant progress made in digital transformation in our country in the context of the COVID-19 health crisis.
Thanks to the National Public Services Portal, “service-public.bj”, it is now possible to access full information on more than 560 information e-services, including more than 72 transactional e-services, 10 of which are fully digitised, from application to delivery, including online payment.
In the education sector, the “e-learning” platform set up in 2020 ensured the continuity of classes in our public universities at the height of the crisis. The large numbers of internet users visiting new platforms such as “eresultats.bj”, “apresmonbac.bj”, “monentreprise.bj”, etc. bear witness to the relevance of the choice made by the Government, which accelerated digital transformation during the health crisis. All sectors of activity in our country have been able to take advantage of digital technologies and applications to cope during the health crisis. When aircraft, vehicles and other means of transport were at a standstill, transmissions over fibre optics and radio links increased. Digital technology has contributed to the resilience of States in the face of the COVID-19 crisis.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
My ministry's celebration of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day will take place mainly online and in the media. It will feature a webinar and media activities highlighting the progress made by Benin during the COVID-19 health crisis.
Finally, I would like to recall that digital transformation aims to provide effective, responsible, transparent and verifiable solutions for the benefit of all. It requires not only applying and/or updating the technologies we use, but also establishing a culture based on the adoption of new digital technologies, both in our daily lives and in our professional activities. Every component of society, businesses, civil society organisations, the public administration and individuals, must therefore feel concerned and become stakeholders.
In expressing the wish that all the planned activities will be crowned with success, I wish everyone a successful celebration of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2021.
Long live digital Benin,
Thank you.