DECISION ON THE SPECIALISED TECHNICAL COMMITTEES
The Executive Council,
1. TAKES NOTE of the Reports of the Specialized Technical Committees (STCs) and APPROVES the recommendations contained therein;
A. On Specialized Technical Committee on Communication and Information Communication Technologies (STC-CICT-1) - Doc. EX.CL/932(XXVIII)
2- WELCOMES the successful holding of the First Ordinary Session of the Ministers of Communication and Information Communication Technologies for achieving important outcome for the development of the Communication and ICT sectors in Africa;
3- ENDORSES the following:
i) The 2015 Addis Ababa Declaration and updated African Union (AU) Plans and projects of the Communication sub-sector adopted by the sector Ministers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia;
ii) The AU Communication and advocacy Strategy 2014-2017 and AU Branding Campaign;
iii) The Communication strategy for Agenda 2063;
iv) The African media development initiatives (Pan African Media Observatory, Pan African Media Network and Pan African Media Portal);
v) The Safety and Protection of African Journalists and Pan African Platform on Access to Information (APAI).
REQUESTS the Commission to:
i) Set up the structures of governance in charge of the management of the PAeN as per the Sustainable Action Plan's OPTION 1 after its hand over to the African Party in collaboration with the STC-CICT Bureau;
ii) Accelerate the signing and ratification by Member States of the African Union Convention on Cyber-Security and Personal Data Protection;
iii) Submit Ad-hoc reports on: (a) the addressing and postcode systems to other pertinent STCs namely to the Committee on Finance, Economic Planning and Integration and/or to the Committee on Public Services, Local Government, Urban Development and Decentralization for further support and, (b) the electrification and connectivity of Post offices to the Committee on Finance, Economic Planning and Integration, and to the Committee on Transport, Transcontinental and Interregional Infrastructures, Energy and Tourism;
iv) Participate in the Regional Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in collaboration with UNECA and the RECs.
5. APPEALS to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the European Union (EU), the World Bank and other development partners to support the implementation of the African Union Plans and projects of the communication and ICT sub-sectors;
B. On The Specialized Technical Committee on Education Science and Technology (STC-EST)- Doc. EX.CL/934(XXVIII)
6. RECOMMENDS for adoption by the Assembly:
i) The Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 16-25);
ii) The Africa Space Policy and the Africa Space Strategy;
iii) The Institution of 1 March as African School Feeding day.