The European Development Days (EDD) taking place on 6th and 7th of June at Tour and Taxis, Brussels are considered the most important development conference in the world and is gathering and impressive 5000 participants including a large number of heads of state and governments, ministers, leaders of international organizations, NGO`s and private sector. During last year event, VP Ansip stated that all development projects should have a digital component. At the 2017 edition, the European Commission is presenting its new policy on mainstreaming digital technologies and services into the EU Development polices.
VP Ansip will lead the EDD Auditorium Panel on Digitalisation with the support of Kenyan entrepreneur Ms Nivi Sharma (moderator) and with valuable contributions from African Union Commissioner, H.E Dr Amani Abou-Zeid, Belgian Deputy PM Alexander De Croo, young Nigerian entrepreneur Chinenye Ezeakor and SES CEO Karim Michel Sabbagh.
The panellists, together with the audience, will address issues such as opportunities and barriers of digitising developing countries such as affordable broadband connectivity, imbedding digital skills into the educational systems, supporting digital entrepreneurs in giving local solutions for local problems and using e-Government systems to make governments more transparent, efficient and accountable. The debate will also focus breaking digital divides that exist not only between countries, but as well between poor & rich, men & women, urban & rural and propose ideas for development assistance projects in partnership with the private sector.
Digital4Development is part of VP Ansip DSM outreach approach, while the EDD is a mile stone in the work that culminates with the EU-Africa Summit in Abidjan (29-30 November) where the EC is planning to raise the profile of digitalisation in the EU relation with the African Union and the African countries.
On 4th May 2017, the European Commission published its first policy on mainstreaming digital technologies into the EU development policies and it sets 4 main priorities:
- promote access to affordable and secure broadband connectivity and to digital infrastructure, including the necessary regulatory reforms;
- promote digital literacy and skills;
- foster digital entrepreneurship and job creation; and
- promote the use of digital technologies as an enabler for sustainable development (e-Government, e-Agriculture, e-Health, e-Education, FinTech)