In Geneva, the Republic of Djibouti made its voice heard among the world’s major digital players. Led by the Minister of Communication in charge of Posts and Telecommunications, H.E. Mr Radwan Abdillahi Bahdon, the Djibouti delegation defended a clear ambition at the World Forum on the Information Society (WSIS) 2025: to build an inclusive, secure and innovative information society. In a context marked by technological upheaval and the challenges of the digital divide, Djibouti highlighted its progress, its structuring projects and its desire to strengthen regional and international cooperation for a digital future accessible to all.

 

The Minister of Communication in charge of Posts and Telecommunications, H.E. Mr Radwan Abdillahi Bahdon, is in Geneva, Switzerland, where he is taking part in the World Summit on the Information Society 2025 (WSIS 25), to be held from 7 to 11 July 2025.

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is the world’s largest annual gathering of the ICT for development community. It is a global multi-stakeholder platform facilitating the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines to advance sustainable development. The Forum is co-organised by ITU, UNESCO, UNDP, UNCTAD and other United Nations organisations…

As it does every year, the WSIS Forum 2025 offers an opportunity to exchange information, create knowledge and share best practices, while identifying emerging trends and fostering partnerships, taking into account the evolution of information and knowledge societies.

This year’s WSIS+20 event was held at the Palexpo Exhibition and Convention Centre in Geneva, alongside the ITU’s 2025 World Summit on ‘Artificial Intelligence for Social Good’, and brought together more than 2,500 on-site and online participants from 150 countries around the world, including around 100 ministers and heads of international organisations, representatives from business, civil society and academia, to reflect on the impact and future of digital technologies.

It was an opportunity for representatives from across the global digital for development community to assess progress and define a shared vision for the use of technology for the benefit of all.

Building on two decades of efforts to shape the digital world, this year’s event looked at global technology challenges such as artificial intelligence (AI), reviewed progress in implementing the UN’s priorities on technology for development, and examined new trends in technology.

It was also an opportunity for decision-makers, and more specifically for the delegation from the Republic of Djibouti, to assess the progress made, examine ICT trends and developments, and build a new vision of a sustainable information and knowledge society.

During his speech, Minister Radwan Abdillahi Bahdon reaffirmed Djibouti’s commitment to a secure, inclusive and innovative digital environment. He drew in particular on the National ICT Development Policy to explain the progress already made by the Republic of Djibouti in reducing the digital divide, in particular the deployment of broadband access infrastructures covering most of Djibouti, Not forgetting the two large-scale sectoral projects (Djibouti Digital Foundation and the Regional Digital Integration Project for East Africa) aimed at laying the foundations for a digital economy, which will also contribute to sustainable economic growth and efficiency and productivity gains, fuelled by greater adoption of digital technology by our country’s citizens, businesses and government.

Attending the ITU’s WSIS 2025 was an opportunity for Minister Radwan to meet with various ITU figures, and the discussions were geared towards supporting the various digital projects already undertaken by the Republic of Djibouti.

Here, the Minister presented a number of current projects requiring ITU support, including the digitisation of public services, efforts to reduce the digital divide between rural and urban areas, and the need for capacity-building.

. Radwan Abdillahi Bahdon also held talks with a number of his counterparts at the event, including Somalia’s Minister for ICTs and Qatar’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology. With his Somali counterpart, he reviewed the efforts made by the Republic of Djibouti through the DARE1 cable to improve the quality of communication and broadband Internet services between the two countries, and discussed the possibility of a partnership between the two ministries to combine efforts in the fight against the digital divide. To this end, the two ministers envisaged signing a Memorandum of Understanding to share experience in the telecommunications/ICT sector. Djibouti’s participation in this high-level summit testifies to its active role on the international stage and its determination to contribute to the development of global policies aimed at fully exploiting the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for the well-being of all.

The Djibouti delegation also seized the opportunity to establish strategic partnerships and exchange best practices with other nations and organizations.

All these meetings would not have taken place without the coordination and professionalism shown by Mr Hassan Said Goumaneh, diplomat at the Permanent Mission of Djibouti in Geneva.

(Source- La Nation)