Dear Ministers, Dear Colleagues;

Dear General Directors;

Distinguished guests in your respective ranks and grades,

Dear participants,
On 1 February 2019 in Cotonou, Benin joined the West and Central Africa Education and Research Network “WACREN” by signing a memorandum of understanding.

Afterwards, the Government of the Republic of Benin, through the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the Ministry of Digitalization, built the Beninese Education and Research Network (RBER), which brings together, in its first phase, 10 university sites throughout the national territory.

To date, a capillary network of 45 km of optical fibre and 24 km of copper cable has been deployed on our university sites. 752 wifi access points have also been installed to democratise connectivity in our places of learning.

Connecting today, the Beninese Education and Research Network (RBER) to the WACREN backbone allows us to give content to the infrastructures put in place by the government to facilitate access to knowledge and knowledge sharing in the university community of Benin.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted that the effectiveness of this interconnection will have an impact on more than 119,000 students and 2,500 members of the teaching staff by enabling them to access connectivity services as well as the educational resources of other universities throughout the world.

The RBER will also promote the development of e-learning, which has proven its importance in the tough global health environment that we have been experiencing for over a year now.

By being linked to WACREN, the RBER will help to create and manage systems and platforms for global scientific collaboration and universal access to digital educational resources.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is therefore on a positive note that I end my remarks while thanking all the stakeholders who have worked on the implementation of this project.

Long live digital technology for higher education and research.
I thank you all.