This year, the world celebrates World Telecommunication and Information Society Day on (May 17) under the slogan “Digital Innovation for Sustainable Development,” with the aim of highlighting the effective role of digital innovation in promoting development and sustainable prosperity. According to the International Telecommunication Union, 70% of the sustainable development goals can be achieved through digital technologies and innovations, as they contribute to creating new opportunities and horizons in the fields of business, education, health, industry, in addition to humanitarian and relief activities and operations.
From this standpoint, and as a founding member of the International Telecommunication Union, the ICT sector in the Republic of Yemen participates in commemorating World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, as it is the national provider of telecommunications and information technology services in the Republic of Yemen and the primary responsible for localizing technology and enabling the Yemeni community to benefit from its technologies to achieve Comprehensive development in Yemen.
The telecommunications sector in the Republic of Yemen seeks with all its power and capabilities to keep pace with the global trend in the field of technology by trying to bridge the digital gap, which is considered an obstacle to activating the potential of digital innovation. Despite the challenges that the Republic of Yemen is experiencing, the telecommunications and information technology sector has been able to withstand and continue to provide its basic services, on which all sectors of the state and the financial, industrial, social and educational private business sectors have come to depend, in addition to being among the life necessities of citizens of all categories. Many development projects have also been carried out that have enabled the provision of telecommunications services in Yemen with better quality than previously and at lower prices despite the significant increase in operating costs due to the aggression and siege. The speed levels of fixed and mobile Internet services have improved through the deployment of fourth generation and broadband networks, in addition to providing national networking, information technology, and cloud computing services that enable the localization of technology and expansion of its spread. The telecommunication sector also contributes to supporting the youth group in particular and encouraging them to participate in the process of technological innovations and their applications.
We at the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology in Yemen take the opportunity on this important occasion to recall the suffering and difficulties faced by the Yemeni telecommunications and information technology sector with all its components, which have slowed down the pace of progress significantly and deprived the sector of benefiting from its full capabilities and potential as a result of the continued restrictions and blockade imposed on it by external forces for more than nine years, and continues to suffer heavy losses as a result. In addition, its facilities and infrastructure were directly targeted during the past years, which led to the destruction of large parts of them, and this directly reflected on the performance of the sector, which provides civil and humanitarian services with economic and development dimensions to all segments of Yemeni society, not to mention keeping Yemen connected to the outside world. The telecommunications and information technology sector still has many plans that have been prevented by circumstances from being implemented. The digital gap in the Republic of Yemen is still widening due to the continuing complexities and obstacles, most notably the blockade and repeated attacks that seek to bring components of the telecommunications and information technology sector and its institutions into the agenda of political disputes and conflicts, despite it being a public service sector. Targeting it represents collective punishment for the Yemeni people and exacerbates the human and economic suffering of all sectors of society.
Today, in addition to what it is suffering as a result of the aggression and siege on our country, the sector also faces systematic and suspicious media misinformation campaigns behind which foreign aggression forces aim to control the telecommunications sector in Yemen by dividing and dismantling its national components, and obstructing the path of developing the telecommunications infrastructure with the aim of disabling it, stopping its services, and undermining effortsaiming to continue and develop these services, which represents a dangerous escalation that contradicts what is being circulated recently about the path of political or military calm, and talk of understandings based on giving priority to the humanitarian and development aspect, of which telecommunications and information technology services are essential parts of it.
The Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology, through its participation in the fifty-fifth anniversary of World Telecommunications and Information Technology Day, confirms that the telecommunications sector in the Republic of Yemen, with all its components, has been, is, and will continue to deal with all its partners in the global telecommunications system with all responsibility, and will continue to strive to achieve its goals by providing advanced telecommunications services of high quality andsuitable prices in all territories of the Republic of Yemen, and localization and empowerment of modern digital technologies to improve the lives of citizens and improve the performance of the rest of the government and private sectors for the sake of a connected and prosperous Yemen.
To transform these goals into reality, the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology in Yemen calls on international organizations, led by the International Telecommunication Union, and the international community not to get involved in dealing with the political agenda aimed at dividing and disrupting the Yemeni telecommunications and information technology sector. We also call on them to play their professional role in supporting the preservation of the Yemeni telecommunications and information technology sectors'institutions of this vital sector to ensure their continuity in operating and providing their services through their infrastructure extending throughout the Republic of Yemen, and to prevent attempts to target them or disrupt their activity. In addition to enabling the sector to implement its local projects by ending the blockade imposed on its equipment and supplies, and contributing to removing the obstacles that prevent it from benefiting from its investments in international projects to provide and secure telecommunications and information technology services for Yemeni citizens, as it is a basic human right, and a major enabler of combating poverty and promoting sustainable development.
On this occasion, we also recall the repeated affirmations of our commitments and directions contained in the official statements published by the Ministry during the last period regarding submarine cables, and the need for other parties to adhere to what the Yemeni government in Sana’a has committed to ensuring the safety and security of submarine cables and providing the necessary facilities for the process of repair and maintenance of thesecables, and the necessity of facilitating the work of implementing cables and their branches in which Yemeni Telecommunications participated and continues to participate. The Republic of Yemen has been considered an essential and active partner in this infrastructure for decades, and we warn against the consequences of any escalation in this aspect. The Ministry of Teleommunications and Information Technology has always been keen to keep this infrastructure and its associated services away from political conflicts.
Issued by the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology
Republic of Yemen
Sana'a - Friday- 17 May 2024