Experts meet in South Sudan to promote collaboration on cyber security, digital harmonization
By Denis Ejulu
Experts across East Africa gathered in the South Sudan capital on Monday to discuss ways to promote collaboration on digital harmonization, consumer protection and cyber security.
The first Advisory Council and 30th Annual Assembly of the East African Communication Organization (EACO) which commenced on June 9th to 13th 2025 in Juba, brought together more than 100 participants, including senior government officials, information and communications technology (ICT) regulators, and industry players, to discuss and build multi-stakeholder consensus on the key policy and other emerging issues arising out of today’s fast changing ICT environment.
The forum being held under the theme “Shaping the future of the East African region through digital transformation” will receive and adopt reports from the various EACO assemblies.
Gieth Kon Mathiang Kun, director general for the National Communication Authority (NCA) in South Sudan, said that the experts from the eight EAC countries, will discuss cross-border spectrum planning and frequency coordination, strategy for digital inclusion, cyber security maintenance and broadcasting and regulation pertaining to e-waste and green ICT, quality of service benchmarking, internet protocol (IP) address and tariff borders
“The contributions to be made this week will bolster the impact of the legitimacy of our collective efforts,” Mathiang said.
He noted that policy recommendations and technical standards adopted by experts will impact the lives of the nearly 200 million EAC population citizens, particularly emphasizing that farmers in remote areas and young entrepreneurs will benefit hugely.
Ally Yahaya Simba, executive secretary of the EACO, noted that they will hold committees and working group sessions to dive deep into thematic areas that are vital to the communication sector in the region.
“This week, we are going to launch the framework for cooperation between our countries in relation to cyber security,” Simba said.
Samuel Muhizi, chairman of the EACO board, said that EACO has remained steadfast in it’s core mandate to strengthen and promote cooperation among EAC partner states in the development and provision of postal, telecommunication and broadcasting services.
“EACO is not merely a sentiment; it’s a reflection of collective aspiration of our region to harness the power of information and communication technology for sustainable social -economic development,” Muhizi said.
He disclosed that participants will identify approaches, best practices and the current strength to share best practices, innovative solutions and develop actionable recommendations that will propel the regional digital agenda.
