The Cape Verdean Prime Minister, Ulisses Correia e Silva, outlined the objective of his country for the Digital Economy to contribute with 25% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), in terms of “ambition” of transforming the archipelago into a digital platform in Africa.
The official who was speaking at the Government Palace, in Praia, at yesterday's session (12) for the signing of the new Concession Contract for the Public Service of Electronic Communications for 20 years, with the state-owned group Cabo Verde Telecom, said that "In the Digital Economy our ambition is strong".
"An ambitious step and it happens 25 years later, in a sector undergoing profound, intense and rapid transformations and changes, different from the world we had in 1996. One of the principles established in the contract is flexibility”, said Ulisses Correia e Silva, highlighting the contract with Cape Verde Telecom, which foresees investments of 360 million euros in the telecommunications sector over the next 20 years.
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According to what has been ascertained, Cape Verde wants to be a leader in the implementation of the 5G mobile network in Africa, since at the end of last year it successfully concluded the transition of television broadcasts from analogue to digital signal (DTT), and where the first -minister pointed out, without mentioning deadlines, the goal of Digital Economy generate as much wealth as tourism currently does (25% of the country's GDP), taking into account the various public investments in the installation of a digital platform and an exclusive economic zone for the sector, on the islands of Santiago and São Vicente.
"We go from 6% of the participation of the Digital Economy in the GDP to 25%. We have the possibility to do so, as long as we have focus, assertiveness and there is also an understanding of society about the importance of the Digital Economy in people's lives, in the growth and development of the economy”, stressed Correia e Silva.
"Cape Verde has comparative advantages, we do have ambition to make this country a digital platform in Africa. We have the ambition to make Cape Verde a unified country, despite being islands, through information and communication technologies. Ambition of being a country that reduces distances with our diaspora, through digital, and being able to enter the foreign market, develop, export, create conditions for qualified employment for our young people”, He stressed.
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"We don't need to have physical universities, buildings on every island. But we can have higher education on all the islands, using digital to take what we teach and produce here in Praia, so that it can have the same quality in Brava, in São Nicolau or in Maio. Digital allows this.”He added.
For Ulisses Correia e Silva, the ongoing digital transition, with investments also in the submarine telecommunications cable network or in the expansion of the fiber optic network, will also make it possible to unite the archipelago.
