The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) is to join forces with Africa’s foremost ICT Magazine, IT & Telecom Digest, to organise the 2nd Annual West African ICT Congress 2010 (WAFICT 2010). The event, scheduled to take place from 1-3 June 2010 at the ultra-modern Eko Hotel Expo Centre in Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria, will bring together telecom experts, policy makers, regulatory agencies, investors, operators, technology and equipment manufacturers and other key stakeholders from the West African sub-region to deliberate on strategies to promote the development of ICTs in West Africa.

The conference, initiated in 2009 by IT & Telecom Digest, will run alongside the West African International Telecommunications and Information Technology exhibition (W.Afri.Tel), now in its 10th year. Following the collaborative agreement between CTO and IT & Telecom Digest, West Africa, a region whose telecom industry has been the centre of attention across the world in the past decade, will benefit from the rich knowledge, expert resources and an array of international speaker line up, rarely seen in the sub-region.

Speaking on the partnership, the Chief Executive of the CTO, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, described the collaboration as timely. He stated that “West Africa, and indeed, many other developing countries in Africa and within the Commonwealth, need the expertise and knowledge that the CTO can bring to the table. Collaborating with IT & Telecom Digest, a magazine that has for the past decade been an effective player in helping promote the growth of the sub-region’s telecom sector, will provide additional benefits to the governments, operators, and people alike.”

According to Editor-in-Chief of IT & Telecom Digest, Mr. Mkpe Abang, “Collaborating with the CTO is more than just a dream come true, because the organisation brings with it extensive experience within the telecom/ICT sector, a global footprint and widespread reach in the entire Commonwealth, and a unique database of ICT professionals and expertise that we can tap into for the growth of West Africa as a whole.”

The collaboration will allow CTO to live up to its mandate, that of providing socio-economic capacity building services to developing Commonwealth countries and being a key player in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the United Nations.