Smart Africa and 11 Member States Draft Africa’s First Cross-Border Data Exchange Guidelines
The high-level gathering brought together representatives from 11 CAITA Member States: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Comoros, Gabon, Ghana, Mauritania, Nigeria, Tunisia, Zambia, and the Kingdom of Morocco for a collaborative workshop and a study trip.
In a bold move to advance Africa’s digital integration, Smart Africa, through its Council of African IT Agencies (CAITA ), currently chaired by Morocco’s Digital Development Agency (ADD ) brought together 11 Member States in Rabat to jointly draft the continent’s first Cross-Border Data Exchange Guidelines. The effort signals a critical step toward building trusted and interoperable digital services across the continent.
These guidelines aim to define a harmonized framework for the development, interconnection, and operation of data exchange platforms within the Smart Africa space. Hosted in collaboration with Morocco’s Digital Development Agency (ADD ), the initiative is a key implementation milestone of the CAITA Strategy, which aims to strengthen technical capacities, harmonize digital standards, and drive regional ICT projects across Smart Africa Member States.
It falls under the broader mandate of Smart Africa Trust Alliance (SATA) , the Alliance’s operational vehicle to enable trusted cross-border digital services.
“This is a game-changer for Africa’s digital future. By developing these pioneering Data Exchange Guidelines, we are laying the foundation for a secure, interoperable, and citizen-centric digital ecosystem that will drive economic growth and empower communities across the continent. This collaborative effort underscores the power of unity in achieving our vision of a single digital market by 2030.”
-Lacina Koné, CEO, Smart Africa.
This study visit was organised in parallel with Morocco’s first National AI Summit, symbolising the alignment between the Kingdom’s digital leadership and Smart Africa’s continental vision. In addition to shaping the content of the guidelines which cover key aspects such as security, privacy and trust requirements, operational guidelines and participation conditions, participants explored Morocco’s digital transformation ecosystem, engaging with institutions like the Ministry of Digital Transition and Administration Reform as well as the Digital Development Agency (ADD). A key highlight was the in-depth exploration of the GovStack Information Mediator (Data Exchange) Building Block, which serves as one of the global best practices for enabling secure data exchange between government systems.
“Hosting this high-level initiative in Morocco reflects the Digital Development Agency’s unwavering commitment to advancing a trusted, interoperable, and sovereign digital space for Africa. It also echoes the enlightened vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God Assist Him, who has consistently advocated for a united, ambitious, and solidarity-based Africa. Through CAITA, we are proud to contribute to the emergence of a harmonized digital environment, driven by African expertise, for the benefit of our citizens and future generations. Alongside the Smart Africa Alliance, we remain firmly committed to sustaining this momentum, strengthening and transforming it into concrete and measurable results that will shape the continent’s digital future.”
–Mr.Amine El MEZOUAGHI, Director General, ADD.
The initiative echoes commitments made under the Smart Africa Manifesto, where Heads of State pledged to leveraging ICT to enhance government-to-citizen, government-to-business, and government-to-government services.
The high-level gathering brought together representatives from 11 CAITA Member States: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Comoros, Gabon, Ghana, Mauritania, Nigeria, Tunisia, Zambia, and the Kingdom of Morocco for a collaborative workshop and a study trip. Participants included General Managers and senior executives of national ICT and digital transformation agencies.
Smart Africa acknowledges the support of partners such as NORAD, GovStack and GIZ and welcomes new partners to strengthen our efforts in creating trust frameworks and interoperable systems to drive DPI leadership in Africa. We welcome co-investors for this future and will collaborate with Member States to refine these Guidelines for formal validation at the upcoming CAITA meeting.
