MWC26: West and Central African Ministers meet to drive digital transformation and AI
Date: 2026-03-04
By: Nana Appiah Acquaye
On
the sidelines of Mobile World Congress underway in Barcelona, Spain, Smart
Africa and the World Bank has convened Ministers and senior officials from West
and Central Africa for a high-level meeting focused on operationalizing the
Cotonou Declaration on Digital Transformation and Artificial Intelligence.
Adopted
by 22 Ministers in November 2025, the Declaration outlines ambitious targets
for 2030, including closing the digital divide, deploying interoperable Digital
Public Infrastructure, strengthening data governance, and accelerating regional
AI readiness.
Discussions centered on translating political commitment into coordinated implementation. Smart Africa reaffirmed its support for execution in collaboration with UEMOA and the World Bank, providing facilitation, technical expertise, digital compact frameworks, and alignment of long-term financing.
Officials
emphasized that Africa’s digital transformation must be strategic, coordinated,
and anchored in sovereignty to maximize regional impact and technological
independence.
