Ghana has joined four other African countries to sign as the foundation members of the Smart Africa Trust Alliance (SATA) declaration on data and digital identity interoperability.

They are; Gabon, Guinea, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.

The five countries signed and adopted the declaration at Ministerial Breakfast organised by Estonia ICT Cluster and SATA on Thursday, April 27, 2023 in Zimbabwe.

Communications and Digitalisation Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, who signed the declaration on behalf of the government of Ghana, said during her keynote address that the development will improve the uptake and reach of public digital services, private sector integration and national digital platforms patronage.

“The SATA [declaration] also will enhance additional revenues from higher service and platform usage and ensure compliance with requirements from people and companies moving/doing business across borders. More so, it will reduce government bureaucracy when working or travelling in another country, save time and money, create job and entrepreneurial opportunities, as well as provide safer and better service experience in digital services and commerce,” she added.

The SATA declaration was developed to establish the SATA governance arrangements and to launch SATA operations and enable interoperability with Europe and other regions of the world.

SATA is a collaborative initiative aimed at fostering trust and promoting secure and responsible digital transformation in Africa by bringing together various stakeholders, including governments, private sector organizations, civil society, and academia, to collectively address the challenges and opportunities associated with digitalization and innovation on the African continent.

Fully aligned with Digital Public Goods (DPG) principles, SATA further aims to contribute to reaching the five-year objectives (2021-26) of the DPG Alliance through the development and implementation of standards, platforms, and solutions to accelerate the realization of Africa’s single digital market with “trust” through cross-border use of digital identities and data.