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GITEX Africa 2024 – OVHcloud partners with Maroc Datacenter to fulfill its development ambitions in Africa with the opening of its first Local Zone in Morocco

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OVHcloud

The new Local Zone in Rabat offers Moroccan customers new opportunities to access the Group’s Public Cloud services, with reduced latency and local data hosting

ROUBAIX, France, May 30, 2024/APO Group/ — 

OVHcloud (www.OVHCloud.com/fr/), the European leader in cloud computing, will be taking part in GITEX AFRICA Morocco 2024 (www.GITEXAFRICA.com) in Marrakech. On this occasion, the Group is announcing the first opening of a Local Zone on the African continent, with operations scheduled to begin in Rabat in the coming months. This news demonstrates OVHcloud’s commitment in Africa to offer trusted cloud solutions.

Launch in Morocco: a key step in the deployment strategy of Local Zone in Africa

The announcement was made official with the signature of a partnership between Maroc Datacenter, a specialist in the construction and operation of data centers in Morocco, and OVHcloud. This strong partnership will also see Maroc Datacenter support OVHcloud to tailor its offerings on the Moroccan market. In addition, OVHcloud announces further deployments, including the opening of Local Zones in South Africa, Kenya and Tunisia for 2025.

“We are delighted to enter a partnership with OVHcloud Group, a global player and the European leader in the cloud. The launch of a Local Zone in Morocco will contribute to empower the kingdom digital ecosystem by offering innovative cloud platforms and provide public and private organisations with cloud services offering guarantees of data sovereignty and low latency. We are glad OVHcloud has chosen Morocco as the first country on the African continent to launch the Local Zone and has placed its trust in Maroc Datacenter. We would like to thank Orange Morocco for supporting us in this launch by providing its national and international connectivity capabilities.” says Abderrahmane Mounir, Chairman of Maroc Datacenter.

As part of its global growth plan in the Cloud market, OVHcloud aims to open up to 150 Local Zones by 2026. Based on innovative technology, Local Zones enable the Group to deploy infrastructures as close as possible to its customers, using Edge Computing principles, to serve new international locations in just a couple weeks. In addition to the Local Zones previously opened in Brussels, Madrid, Marseille, Prague, Amsterdam, Zurich and Dallas, the new Local Zone in Rabat offers Moroccan customers new opportunities to access the Group’s Public Cloud services, with reduced latency and local data hosting.

Thanks to this, Moroccan customers will benefit from the unique offering of OHVcloud for an open, trusted cloud, with data located as close as possible to the user. The data, hosted within the geographical limits defined by local regulations or security policies, allows customers to be confident: which proves essential for a number of industries, including consulting, financial services and healthcare.

From now on, companies and institutions will be able to take advantage of the Local Zones to rely on more secure, faster and more efficient services

Workloads with latency-sensitive services, such as real-time analytics, e-commerce websites, CDNs for streaming video and catch-up, and cloud gaming, will benefit from the Local Zone proximity for increased response times for a better user experience. For most customers, OVHcloud Local Zones offer single-digit millisecond latency times, enabling use cases such as high-performance gaming from the Cloud with very low latency.

‘Today’s launch of the first Local Zone in Rabat is an important milestone in OVHcloud’s relationship with Morocco and confirms the Group’s ambition to extend its offering to organisations operating in Africa. From now on, companies and institutions will be able to take advantage of the Local Zones to rely on more secure, faster and more efficient services, facilitating the digital transformation of the Moroccan ecosystem before moving on to serve new locations on the continent. Known as one of the main technology hubs in Africa, Morocco is a strategic market for us, with specific features needs and high requirements, particularly in terms of data sovereignty.’, said Caroline Comet-Fraigneau, Vice-President for France, Benelux, Africa and the Middle East at OVHcloud.

From the Local Zones, organisations can take advantage of Public Cloud features such as Compute, Block Storage and the network with a local public IP. Additional services will be offered in the coming months, including access to Object Storage and Managed Rancher Service for Kubernetes management, in multi-cloud environments.

OVHcloud’s new Local Zones are also ISO/IEC 27001 certified, in addition to the requirements of ISO/IEC 27017 standards, specific to the cloud services industry and ISO/IEC 27018 for the protection of personal data. These certifications ensure that businesses can deploy services in an OVHcloud environment to meet the highest security standards.

A dynamic community of customers and start-ups

With more than 6,000 customers already in Morocco, OVHcloud is strengthening its ties with the local ecosystem. The Group is also demonstrating its intention to accelerate its support to Moroccan start-ups (several dozen of which, such as Omniup and Digishare, are already part of the OVHcloud network- Startup.OVHCloud.com/). As a reminder, the OVHcloud Startup Program offers its members a wide range of commitments, including development advice, tailored technical support and no-obligation cloud credits to help them launch new projects and accelerate go-to-market timeline.

Availability

Available this summer, the Rabat Local Zone will enable Public Cloud services to be deployed directly from the OVHcloud customer interface.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of GITEX Africa.

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AFRICLOUD Opens Lagos Region and Local-Currency Payments in African Markets

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September 23, 2026

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The company’s third African region keeps Nigerian workloads in Nigeria, and customers from Abidjan to Nairobi can now pay in the currency they earn, without an international card

MIAMI BEACH, United States of America, September 23, 2026/APO Group/ –AFRICLOUD (https://AFRICLOUD.com), a cloud infrastructure company, has opened its third African region in Lagos and now accepts payment in local currency across West, Central, East and Southern Africa. Businesses across the continent can run servers in Nigeria, South Africa or Portugal from one account, and pay for them the way they already pay for everything else.

 




  

Download document (1): https://apo-opa.co/4Ardfz9

Download document (2): https://apo-opa.co/46FWH8Y

Buying cloud infrastructure in Africa has meant living with three compromises: traffic that leaves the continent and comes back, payment in dollars behind a card many businesses do not hold, and data sitting under somebody else’s law.

Lagos answers the first. Compute and storage for Nigerian customers stay in Nigeria, and the region also serves Accra, Abidjan, Lome, Douala and Ouagadougou. Traffic from landlocked West Africa that once reached comparable infrastructure by way of Europe now stays on terrestrial West African fibre. Johannesburg serves Southern and East Africa. Lisbon serves North Africa and Europe, and reaches Brazil over a direct subsea route. Across the three regions, AFRICLOUD’s own continent-wide measurements place 42 of the 53 African countries measured within a best-case round trip of 70 milliseconds, countries home to about 1.28 billion people.

A company in Accra or Abidjan now reaches West African infrastructure without leaving the region, and pays for it in the currency it earns

Payment answers the second. Customers across West, Central, East and Southern Africa pay in their own currency, including the naira, the cedi, the shilling and the CFA francs, by local card, bank transfer, USSD or mobile money, with no international card needed. Mobile money is live in twelve African countries, and cards, PayPal and more than 300 cryptocurrencies are accepted everywhere. The GSMA reports that 74 per cent of the world’s mobile money activity by transaction count took place in Africa in 2024.

Residency answers the third. Nigerian data runs under the Nigeria Data Protection Act, South African data under POPIA and European workloads under EU law, chosen server by server from the same dashboard.

“African businesses have been asked to choose between infrastructure that is close, infrastructure they can actually pay for, and infrastructure that keeps their data under their own law,” said Oluniyi Ajao, Founder of AFRICLOUD. “Removing that choice is the reason we built this.”

“Lagos is the piece that completes the map,” he said. “A company in Accra or Abidjan now reaches West African infrastructure without leaving the region, and pays for it in the currency it earns.”

All three regions run the same platform: AMD EPYC processors with all-NVMe storage, IPv4 and IPv6 on every server, and a new server online in about two minutes. Dedicated Servers are built to order in all three regions. Support is available around the clock by chat and email.

Cloud Servers are available now at https://AFRICLOUD.com.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of AFRICLOUD LLC.

 

 




 

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Hong Kong outlines strategies for deepening development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and enhancing green transformation

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September 23, 2026

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HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 22 September 2026 – Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee announced the First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) (2026-2030) and his fifth Policy Address on September 16, rolling out measures to further sharpen Hong Kong’s edge amid global competition, consolidate development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and promote green transformation.

Initiatives aim to support high-quality development of the GBA, align rules and mechanisms within the region, and promote cross-boundary collaboration.

 




 
 

“The HKSAR Government will continue its efforts in fostering synergistic development of the GBA,” said Mr Lee. “We will strengthen co‑operation in technological innovation, promote ‘hard connectivity’ in infrastructure, foster ‘soft connectivity’ by deepening the alignment of rules and mechanisms, and achieve ‘connectivity of hearts’ among residents of the three places.”

The HKSAR Government will continue to actively participate in the development of the various major co-operation platforms, including Qianhai of Shenzhen, Nansha of Guangzhou, Hengqin of Zhuhai and the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Co-operation Zone, to promote mutual benefits.

In terms of “hard connectivity” the HKSAR Government will support Nansha in its role as a high‑standard gateway for opening up, including encouraging the trade to participate in Nansha’s infrastructure development.

“To promote the co‑ordinated development of rail transit in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, we are pressing ahead with the Northern Link Project and the Hong Kong‑Shenzhen Western Rail Link (Hung Shui Kiu‑Qianhai), with target commissioning in 2034 and 2035 respectively, to fully connect the rail transit networks of Hong Kong and Shenzhen,” Mr Lee said.

Regarding “soft connectivity”, Mr Lee said the HKSAR Government will set up a Task Force to explore ways to advance the alignment of rules and mechanisms within the GBA.

To achieve “Connectivity of Hearts” among residents across the GBA, Hong Kong will strengthen co-operation between its higher education institutions and those in other GBA cities by establishing cross‑disciplinary partnerships, facilitating scientific research, knowledge transfer, and commercialisation, with a view to promoting high‑level research.

Hong Kong’s Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Janice Tse, noted that the First Five-Year Plan clearly states that Hong Kong will participate in the development of the GBA into an international first‑class bay area and a world‑class city cluster with global influence.

“Hong Kong will forge closer alignment and synergy with the nine GBA cities in Guangdong Province and Macao, making full use of our respective advantages to jointly promote the high-quality development of the GBA,” Miss Tse said.

To foster financial development in the GBA, Hong Kong will continue to capitalise on institutional innovation, financial infrastructure upgrading and enhanced regulatory alignment to encourage the orderly flow of financial elements among GBA cities.

The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited’s Core Climate, in collaboration with the Guangzhou Power Exchange Centre, is working towards the pilot trading of national renewable‑energy, green electricity certificates in Hong Kong in 2026.

“On connecting the Chinese Mainland and the world, the HKSAR Government will continue to support green technology development through the HK$400 million (aboutUS$51 million) Green Tech Fund, leveraging Hong Kong’s function as a springboard for green technology and assisting national green technologies and products in going global,” said Hong Kong’sSecretary for Environment and Ecology, Tse Chin-wan. “On the development of hydrogen energy, we have participated in drafting national hydrogen energy standards with a view to helping these standards align with international practice.”

To meet the country’s “dual carbon” targets and fulfil Hong Kong’s commitment to achieving carbon neutrality before 2050, the HKSAR Government steered the establishment of a production base for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in Dongguan, leveraging the leading position of Hong Kong enterprises in the international SAF industry.

“By combining technology strengths with industrial foundation, Hong Kong and Guangdong will jointly develop a globally influential green industry,” Mr Lee said.

The HKSAR Government will take forward the construction of an SAF blending facility in Hong Kong to build an end‑to‑end SAF value chain and reduce logistics costs to make SAF prices more competitive. The target is to achieve an SAF consumption ratio of 1% to 3% for flights departing from Hong Kong International Airport in 2030.

Hong Kong’s Five-Year Plan promotes the integrated development of culture, sports, and tourism, to develop the GBA into a cultured bay area.

Under the strategic framework of the Agreement on Strengthening of Sports Cooperation and Promotion of Integrated Development, Hong Kong will deepen co-operation, and strive to co‑organise important regional and international single‑sport events. It will also strengthen cultural exchanges, pass on Cantonese opera and the characteristics of Lingnan culture, and promote the sales and cross‑boundary exhibition of Hong Kong publications.
 




 

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Alamein Africa Forum to bring together key political and business leaders

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13 hours ago

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September 23, 2026

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The forum is to become the continent’s premier gathering where political power meets entrepreneurial prowess, bridging the established engines of African growth with the new sectors defining its future

CAIRO, Egypt, September 22, 2026/APO Group/ –The inaugural Alamein Africa Forum (https://AlameinForum.com/) will take place from October 2-4 in the historic city of Alamein on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast in parallel with the 2026 African Union mid-year summit.

Established in response to a mandate from the African Union, which called for a permanent African Business Forum to convene biennially in Egypt, the inaugural edition will bring together Heads of State and official delegations as well as some key actors in business and finance.
 




 

The forum is to become the continent’s premier gathering where political power meets entrepreneurial prowess, bridging the established engines of African growth with the new sectors defining its future.

The Alamein Africa Forum will serve as a pan-African platform bringing together the private sector, investment and financial institutions

The Presidents of Algeria, Angola, Burundi, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Libya, Senegal, Somalia, and South Africa are expected in Alamein as well as President Al Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt who is the host of this year’s AU Mid-Year Summit. Business leaders from across the continent have confirmed their participation including Ralph Mupita, MTN; Idrissa Nassa, Coris Bank; Mohamed El Ketani, Attijariwafa Bank; Hichem Eloumi, Groupe Shakira; Wale Tinubu, Oando; and many more. Aliko Dangote, Africa’s biggest industrialist is also expected to attend, with the organisers hoping to set up a Business Advisory Council to help advance private sector priorities and investment throughout the continent.

Bringing together leaders in politics, business and policy from across the continent, the Alamein Africa Forum will provide a unique opportunity to shape Africa’s growth agenda by aligning policy and investment priorities, mobilising partnerships for implementation and strengthening financing and investment pathways. The private sector must become an integral part of Agenda 2063, the AU’s strategic 50 year masterplan to transform the continent.

Co-organised by the Government of Egypt, Afreximbank, the African Union and AUDA-NEPAD, the Forum brings together Africa’s most influential decision-makers in an unprecedented alliance of public and private sector leadership.

Speaking on the imperative of the summit at a joint press conference by the government of Egypt and Afreximbank on Thursday, September 17 2026, Dr. Badr Abdelatty, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, and Expatriates Abroad said (https://apo-opa.co/4ygiQag): “The Alamein Africa Forum will serve as a pan-African platform bringing together the private sector, investment and financial institutions, and representatives of various productive and service sectors, to strengthen direct links between companies and markets and decision making at the highest level.”

Continuing, he noted that the Alamein Africa Forum is part of a series of high-level African events that Egypt will host in early October, stressing that holding the forum reflects Egypt’s commitment to advancing continental economic cooperation

In his own comments, Dr. George Elombi, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank described (https://apo-opa.co/4ygiQag) the Alamein Africa Forum as a pan-African platform for promoting intra-African trade and investment and connecting the business community and financial institutions with priority projects and investment opportunities in the continent.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Alamein Africa Forum.

 




 

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