The assistant to the secretary-general of the United Nations, Bernardino Mariano Joaquim Júnior, argued that Mozambique must invest in technology to achieve development and even combat terrorism.
In an interview with the newspaper O País, the IT technician also challenges investing in electronic commerce and thinking about innovative solutions to respond to current challenges.
“At a time when we have all these technologies, for example, artificial intelligence, robotics, these are objects that we are not yet exploring much in Mozambique and young people do not have access to. What I want to say is that young people and all of us, to develop our country, have to think about opportunities that are beyond what already exists. In this period of digitalization, which is taking a toll on development, it is important that young people start to think about Data Science, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, and not as consumers, but as creators, as innovators and of course the government and private society and banking must create an ecosystem that promotes this development, therefore innovation among young people”, said the Mozambican, born in the province of Nampula.
In his approach, Bernardino Júnior highlights that “the Mozambican Government must create a system where the public sector can bring innovation and use the ecosystem”, thus helping digital acceleration have a positive impact on civil society.
"I think the government should work to allow a potato producer, who is in the province of Niassa, to have the ability to access the buyer through an application. My dream is for Mozambique to start investing in applications and data platforms that make the connection between a producer and seller in a much faster and more transparent way. What I mean is that technology can be used so that a producer who is in Niassa, in a remote district, has access to the buyer using a digital platform“, he considered.
Regarding the process of digitizing Mozambican data, the expert informs that “This process in Mozambique is still a pilot, but we have to transform them to be sustainable and cover the national level and have much longer sustainability than that of a project financed by an institution, be it the United Nations, or others".
"We have started, yes, and we have pilots in several areas, but I think it is necessary to go to the next level of maturity, where data is constantly used and updated, with a sustainability that allows the Government, the private sector and civil society make decisions and focus on certain areas that are important. Therefore, I said that Mozambique is at a crucial point in its development. If we all take this as something that Mozambicans are part of, to develop the country, we can get there and enjoy the benefits of technology“He concluded.
