Page 8 - SAMENA Trends - May-June 2024

LEADERS' SUMMIT 2024 SAMENA TRENDS

Leaders’ Summit 2024 also highlighted
the importance of fair market

competition, broadband infrastructure
and device affordability to support
digital innovation and end-user choice,

especially with respect to digital
services and ecommerce platforms.

Koné, CEO of Smart Africa; Mr. Bocar BA, CEO of SAMENA Council;
as well as representatives from GSMA, MTN and Digicel, under-
scored the Summit’s importance in shaping the future of digital
connectivity and inclusion.

Keynote messages voiced by the Guest of Honor, HE Sheikh
Nahyan Mubarak Al Nahyan, the UAE’s Minister of Tolerance and
Coexistence, placed special emphasis on the need to cooperate,
for infrastructure and technology development, including Artificial
Intelligence, requires international co-operation to ensure human
work is rightly and sustainably complemented. The Guest of
Honor appreciated the complexity of the Leaders’ Summit,
its encapsulating theme and focus areas, to facilitate multi-
stakeholder dialogue.

Leaders’ Summit 2024 also highlighted the importance of fair market
competition, broadband infrastructure and device affordability to
support digital innovation and end-user choice, especially with
respect to digital services and ecommerce platforms, in order to
ensure acceleration towards digital economies across the regions stakeholder to action broadband infrastructure development and
remains uniform and so that the challenge of digital divides is digital inclusion, which includes access to financial services.
mitigated. Fireside chats with industry leaders provided personal
insights into the challenges and advancements in digital technology As a key collaborator of the SAMENA Council Leaders’ Summit,
integration, and the crucial need for industry and cross-industry Huawei reiterated its commitment to fostering a connected

8 MAY-JUNE 2024