Minister Sangin Addresses to 1st ICT International Conference & Exhibition

Speaking at 1^st ICT conference and Exhibition held in Kabul, H. E. Amirzai Sangin stated: that Afghanistan has experienced remarkable development over the past decade in the field of Telecommunications and IT. Further he said: holding the conference by facilities government of Afghanistan is worthwhile after the large evolution in our country.

Minister Amirzai Sangin mentioned: that last year we made a decision to conduct such a conference in Afghanistan, for approval we presented this plan to the Cabinet of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and through supreme ruling of president we were required to hold the conference. Minister Sangin mentioned that the aim of the conference is to display achievements of Afghanistan and pursue the articulated objective and reinforcing broad

integration of ICT in various aspects of Afghan people. He enumerated the main objectives of conference as follows:

1. To reinforce regional cooperation among countries for accelerating ICT integration for economic growth; and enhancing the role of Afghanistan in spanning regional connectivity.
2. To share knowledge and best practices for ICT and service delivery among countries from the region.
3. To provide enabling environments by innovative policies and frameworks for realization the potential of ICT for socio – economic development and achieving Millennium Goals in the region.
4. To display the potential and achievement of Afghanistan in ICT sector development.

Speaking about the role and impact of ICT H. E. Sangin stated: that with the advancement of Information Technology the world has become information society, and it caused great and critical effect on growth of social relations, political and economic growth of the world.

About the development of ICT in Afghanistan, Amirzai Sangin said: that based on proper policy and transparent mechanism Ministry of Communications & Information Technology of Afghanistan (MCIT) achieved tremendous successes. He explained:  we have could to deliver communication services to 90% areas of the country; more than 20 million Afghans use mobile phones; prices of internet decreased to 97 US$ per 1 MB; private telecommunication service providers are given 3G licenses; extending of Fiber Optic Ring will soon be completed and with this 80% of population will have access to the internet services.

He continued that: making technical system of National Identity Card and its design; step to change the analog TV system to digital system are another step towards ICT growth. He stressed we will not stop and it is not enough with no means, we will Travers the pat of progress ahead; we intend to annihilate corruption and wastage of time by utilizing and operation of modern and advanced technology. He emphasized that even next elections must be conducted using information technology, which will wipe out causes of cheating and fraud; and it will create environment the people easily benefit from their right to vote.