Addis Ababa: Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched the 'STRIDE Ethiopia' Expo 2024 at ICT Park today. During the occasion, the prime minister said that achieving technology and innovation requires collaboration. 'The launch of the 'Stride Ethiopia' Expo marks a significant and hopeful beginning for our ICT sector, a promise that was clearly evident during my recent visit to the ICT Park,' he added. Abiy added that this event underscored our commitment to technological innovation and growth, reflecting the potential and ambition that characterize Ethiopia's journey into the digital age. Moreover, he elaborated they have observed innovative projects at ICT Park to modernize the agricultural sector. It is also a great advantage for the country to have world-class data centers that accelerate the construction of smart cities and startups which will provide proper power distribution to the user and reduce wastage, he added. The prime minister pointed out that both government and private institutions should use the data centers to store information and use it properly for the development of the country. He also stressed it is important to recognize the fact that the world is investing most of the resources on technology and innovation. To this end, exerting concerted effort in coordinated manner to benefit from it is essential, the premier said. The government will launch an initiative that will provide trainings to 5 million Ethiopian technology and computer programme developers and to students who have talents in Mathematics and science, the premier pointed out. Minister of Innovation and Technology, Belete Molla said on his part that STRIDE Ethiopia is a big step towards achieving the country's goals in science, technology and innovation. STRIDE Ethiopia, initiated by the ministry, is a pioneer annual event aimed at fostering collaboration and innovation in Science, Technology, Research, Innovation, Digitalization, and Entrepreneurship. The STRIDE Ethiopia Expo brings together stakeholders from startups, ec osystem builders, corporations, government offices, academia, and development partners. It is organized under the theme 'Science Unlocks, Technology Connects, Innovation Drives'. The expo will be open for the public at the Science Museum, from 19- 26 May, 2024. Source: Ethiopian News Agency