Somalia’s minister for post, telecom and technology after meeting with his counterpart in Djibouti said his Ministry is organizing in Mogadishu a conference for the telecom operators of Somalia, Djibouti Telecom/Government in late March to discuss collaboration in the Djibouti African Regional Express (DARE) project. The DARE undersea fiber optic cable is planned to run from Djibouti and Mombasa with planned branching units for Berbera, Bosasso, and Mogadishu.
Speaking after concluding a two-day visit to Djibouti, the minister said this meeting is in line with the discussions he had with his counterpart in Djibouti to bring together the Djibouti Telecom and Somali operators to move forward with the DARE project.
The minister added that the passage of the telecom law and the limited number of fiber optic cables in Somalia opened a window of opportunity for Somalia’s telecom industry to seek partnerships in the region.
H.E. Abdi ashir Hassan also noted that Somalia’s postal gateway through Djibouti is now operational for incoming mail for Somalia, while plans are under way to start outgoing mail in the next couple months.
The visit comes nearly six months after holding initial discussions with his Djiboutian counterpart, H.E. Abdi Youssouf Sougueh, in which the two ministries agreed to collaborate in the areas of telecommunications and postal services.
“I would like to thank the minister of communications of Republic of Djibouti for the warm welcome. We hope the Mogadishu conference will decide the future cooperation between the two ministries and telecom operators, including consortium partners for DARE,” concluded the Minister.
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