The government of Zimbabwe is developing a smart Zimbabwe master plan anchored on Information Communication Technology (ICT) and the digital economy, ICT Minister Jenfan Muswere said.
The minister says there is a need in Zimbabwe to have a favourable balance of trade, which will see the country, eliminating importing ICT ancillaries such as chargers and batteries.
He was speaking at a Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) Hackathon in Kwekwe recently where he added the government was working on improving the digital economy.
Muswere said; “If you are to look at the balance of trade in terms of ICTs, we import chargers, we import batteries and we import almost everything,”
“In order to ensure this becomes a favourable balance of trade we have underlined our commitment to a digital economy through these Hackathon competitions. We will see the potential and we will be able to transform the ideas into action.”
He added the government was working on developing a “smart Zimbabwe master plan”.
“This is an action-oriented government and we developed a smart Zimbabwe master plan. In the context of a smart Zimbabwe master plan, we are looking at smart health, smart education, we are looking at smart agriculture and smart transport. All these pillars will dovetail into the National Development Strategy.”
Muswere added that “in the context of ICTs, broadband is now the most traded commodity in the world. ICT is now the new electricity in the 21st century. We cannot as a country afford not to participate in the 4th Industrial Revolution.
“This is the future and we need to work as a team so that we achieve in the digital economy,” he said