Africa Change Development Studies Institute (ACDSI), a specialized unit of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), is leading the industrial digital technologies-driven 2023 ASC AfCFTA Digital Technologies International Conference from October 25 to 27.
The conference’s line-up, expected to attract global interest and participation, will seek to and address expectations of Africans, global Africans in the Diaspora and the progressive international community in efforts to build a dynamic African common market by 2063.
The event, spearheaded by the ACDSI, seeks to reinforce and galvanise the 1979 Monrovia Declaration of Commitments adopted by the continent’s heads of state and government as a roadmap on how to drive Africa’s economic, political and social development agenda.
“Launched in 2021, the AfCFTA is destined to realize the pan-Africa dream through enhancing the growth-development momentum generated by the former initiatives to usher the continent into a single diversified digitally-competing global village,” says ACDSI chief executive officer Dr Godfrey Chikowore.
More countries have seen advances in the manufacturing sector as a catalyst for GDP growth and competitiveness in the global market and are looking at automation and digitalization, according to Dr Chikowore.
“Now occupying a central place and performing a decisive role along the third, fourth and fifth industrial revolutions respectively, automation and digitalisation should anchor and boost not only production and distribution but marketing and consumption levels of goods and services generated across industrial enterprises and sectors within and beyond Africa,” he explained ahead of the conference.
Spanning across varying digital technologies from Artificial Intelligence to Virtual Reality, the main focus of the event is the AfCFTA-led industrialisation and transformation of rural, urban and resettled communities in Zimbabwe, the region and the continent at large.
The all-embracing multi-disciplinary platform will host players from academia, government, civil society, private sector, and international development partners.
“This event will definitely propel the continent into an age of unparalleled connectivity after challenges of the last decades and open up a wealth of opportunities that neither business nor government can afford to miss,” explains Chikowore.
“Greatly varying digital technologies categories – from robotics, artificial intelligence, internet of things, to innovation and crypto-currency – will be on the menu,” he says.
“Purpose and inclusivity will be the bedrock . . . leading to industrialization and transformation of rural and urban communities.”
