By Shadreck Gurenje

SADC Chairman President Mnangagwa has said technology can bridge the gap between parliamentarians and citizens in their geographically dispersed constituencies.

Officially opening the 57th Plenary assembly of the SADC Parliamentary forum in Victoria Falls today ,President Dr Emmerson Mnangagwa said for SADC Parliaments the benefits of artificial intelligence and innovative technologies are multi-pronged offering solutions for resource optimization which will in turn enable parliament to achieve greater results.

“The Fourth Industrial Revolution characterised by a fusion of emerging technologies is blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological sectors.Cyber physical systems have proliferated in all facets of society and economic activity within Africa and beyond anchored on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and innovation.

“For SADC parliaments, the potential benefits of Artificial intelligence and innovative technologies are a multi prolonged. These offer solutions for resource optimization, which in turn enable our Parliaments to achieve greater results, "said President Mnangagwa.

President Mnangagwa also said the government of Zimbabwe under the Second Republic through the Whole of Government approach”, is scaling up the integration of digital solutions into its governance frameworks.

“The Government of Zimbabwe, through the Whole of Government approach”, is scaling up the integration of digital solutions into our governance frameworks.Todate Zimbabwe has established Innovation hubs and industrial parks across all our universities. These centers of excellence are advancing our technological agenda and remain at the forefront of our innovation efforts.

“Zimbabwe has enacted the Cyber and Data Protection Act to protect data security and ensures fairness in data related to, and services driven by Artificial Intelligence .Additional legislation and governance frameworks to address the ethics ,accountability and cybersecurity bas affected by Artificial Intelligence ,are also under consideration, "said President Mnangagwa.

President Mnangagwa also reiterated that cross border technology sharing and investments must also be encouraged towards strengthening inter-connectivity and the lowering of tariffs for the benefit of the people across the region.

The Theme for this year’s event was ,”Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Effective and Efficient Parliament Processes in the SADC region :Experiences ,Challenges and Opportunities.”