Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed Rahman Swarray, who is attending the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) annual meeting from 7th to 11th October, 2019, has successfully chaired a clearing house session for donors and partners interested in supporting the country’s cyber security agenda.
The GFCE is a global platform for countries, international organizations and private companies to exchange best practices and expertise on cyber capacity building.
Supporting Cyber Capacity Building for Growth is the theme for this year’s meeting.
The theme is crafted to further strengthen an ecosystem for international cooperation on cyber capacity building.
Minister Mohamed Rahman Swarray told the conference that the New Direction agenda vision for Information and Communication is to create a digitally inclusive society by suing digital technologies to unleash the innate potential of Sierra Leoneans.
He took the conference through the digital transformation roadmap currently developed by the Ministry and other key sector players with a view to transition the country into a knowledge based society empowered by a digital economy.
Minister Swarray however underscored the point that developing a digital society without a secured and trusted cyberspace will not be sustainable.
The Information Minister stated that this was what prompted him to seeking the country’s membership into the GFCE in January 2019.
Minister Swarray highlighted the benefits so far Sierra Leone has gained from its membership of the organization.
He also used the occasion to outline the country’s priorities for the next six months.
The World Bank, the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organizations, the UN International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the Council of Europe, NRD cyber security amongst others, all indicated their commitment to either support or implement cyber security capacity building programs in Sierra Leone.