Ministerial meeting begins in Banjul on Wednesday on Amilcar Cabral submarine cable project

Cotonou, Benin (PANA) - Banjul, capital of The Gambia, will Wednesday host the third meeting of the Ministerial Steering Committee of the ECOWAS Amilcar Cabral submarine cable development project, according to a statement from the sub-regional institution.

As a prelude to the ministerial meeting, experts from the countries involved in the Amilcar Cabral submarine cable development project have been meeting since Monday to assess the progress made in implementing this initiative.

The experts are tasked with taking stock of activities and proposing recommendations for adoption by the ministers.

Following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in April 2023 by the ministers of the six ECOWAS member states involved in this initiative, reaffirming their political commitment to work together to mobilize resources, a number of activities have been carried out as part of the implementation of the project.

The Amilcar Cabral submarine cable development project mainly concerns six ECOWAS countries, namely Cabo Verde, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The project aims to establish a fibre optic submarine cable link that will provide redundant international connectivity for these countries, which have only one landing station, and to increase the international bandwidth available to Internet users in the countries concerned.

The project aims to improve the quality, reliability and accessibility of international telecommunications services to bring much-needed socio-economic benefits to the target countries.

-0- PANA IT/IS/SOC/BBA/RA 19Sept2023