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GV PAN Postal Union University building and sign (2 shots)
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CU INTERIOR Teacher at blackboard
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SV Students listening at desks (2 shots)
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SV Teacher talking to students (2 shots)
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CU ZOOM OUT FROM Telecommunications building
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CU INTERIOR Delegates seated around conference table
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CU Mr. Adama Fofana, African Union of Postal and Telecommunications delegate speaking
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CU PAN Delegates from Congo, Upper Volta and Mali listening
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CU Mr. Fofana speaking and delegates listening (2 shots)
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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: In the Ivory Coast, the International Telecommunications School celebrated its tenth anniversary with a conference to review the latest developments in communications and the school's future.

SYNOPSIS: The International Telecommunications School was set up by seven French-speaking African countries -- Upper Volta, Mali, Niger, Mauritania, Senegal, Togo and the Ivory Coast where the school is based. The institution's administrators hope that eventually the school will be turned into a university. It already receives students from many other African countries including Chad, the Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and Sao Tome E Principe, and the school is constantly expanding. Courses usually last from on to two years and since the school was formed it has trained 233 inspectors and twenty administrators.

The conference of all the school's administrators opened last Thursday (30 August) to discuss the future plans and programmes. Members of the African Telecommunications Union, the Universal Postal Union and the United Nations Development Programme also attended the conference to discuss the latest developments in telecommunications. In a continent like Africa where basic communications can be so complex, telecommunications have a vital role to play in unifying the continent.