{"id":49552,"date":"2026-10-30T15:13:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T13:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=49552"},"modified":"2026-10-30T15:13:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T13:13:46","slug":"au-ict-ministers-call-for-accelerated-digital-investment-in-gabon","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/au-ict-ministers-call-for-accelerated-digital-investment-in-gabon\/","title":{"rendered":"AU ICT Ministers call for accelerated digital investment in Gabon \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>African Union (AU) Ministers and technology experts meeting in Libreville, Gabon, have issued a strong call for accelerated investment in digital strategies, urging member states to prioritise indigenous technological capacity, artificial intelligence, and robust cybersecurity frameworks.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Gathering for the Specialised Technical Committee on Communication and Information and Communication Technology (ICT), delegates emphasised that the continent must move beyond being a mere consumer of global digital advancements. AU Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, Lerato Mataboge, stressed that Africa stands at a critical juncture where data governance, digital identity interoperability, and local innovation will dictate future economic sovereignty.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The gathering focused heavily on closing critical infrastructure gaps, expanding affordable broadband connectivity, and shaping shared regulatory standards to support the continent&#8217;s single market objectives under the Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica\/AU&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":11831,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-49552","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"African Union ICT Ministers gather in Gabon to drive digital transformation strategy","published_date":"2026-10-30 15:12:29","news_description":"African Union ICT Ministers gather in Gabon to drive digital transformation strategy","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49554,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49552\/revisions\/49554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=49552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}