Czech Republic Commits to Boosting Zambia’s Digital Transformation and Cybersecurity

The Czech Republic has pledged  support for technology transfer and capacity building between the two nations. This was revealed during a high-level engagement between the Czech Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Marian Jurečka, and the Minister of Technology and Science, Hon. Felix Mutati. Hon. Felix Mutati thanked the Czech Republic for supporting digital inclusion in Zambia through various initiatives, including scholarships for Zambian professionals in Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Cyber Security.

As we continue to cooperate with the Czech Republic, we have prioritized a number of areas that we want to do in the field of Digital Zambia. We have first of all established an enabling environment where we have done a number of legislations to support a digital Zambia including policies and strategies. Last year we published our Artificial Intelligence(AI) strategy going forward and for two years now we are amongst a few African countries that have 5G. We are also using Satellite technology led by Starlink in terms of connectivity. In order to support connectivity in the country we are very focused on ensuring that we create trust and confidence in the Cyber Space. To create trust and confidence, we passed the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Law. The next phase is to develop the tools that will tackle the challenges that we face in the Cyber space, so we welcome the cooperation between the two countries to try and involve solutions that will protect our people in the Cyber Space and that remains a key priority as Zambia. In order to have a digital Zambia we need to Digitize Government records and that is another area we think we can cooperate in that the President of the Republic of Zambia Mr. Hakainde Hichilema has refocused on.

– Excerpt from Ministry of Technology and Science’s Announcement

Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Mr. Marian Jureka, said before he came to Zambia, they talked about the many changes taking place in the country, such as Digital technology in Agriculture, Health Care, Education, and Digitalization that can be of benefit in many of the Ministries here. They also talked about how Artificial Intelligence(AI) can contribute to Public Administration and the public at large, and that AI has a lot of potential but there are many risks involved as well. He said he was grateful to digitalization and AI as his Ministry in the Czech Republic has managed to downsize their workforce by 10% in the past years while offering services that are faster and more efficient. Prime Minister Jureka assured Hon Minister Mutati that he will cooperate with Zambia in the two priorities he raised earlier in which they can exchange best practice, in Data Management and Data processing for purposes of the Central Administration and Management of public places in the provinces so that it is safe, the second area being in Cyber Security.