Assist Ghana to showcase its innovations - Ursula lures investors

Minister for Communication, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has called on the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and investors to assist Ghana and other nations to showcase innovations taking place in their countries.

ITU, she said can assist by creating more congenial environment and platform so that Ghana and other nations can exhibit their innovations.

The Ablekuma West MP noted such support will give an opportunity to interested companies compete with the rest of the world on current innovations trend and attract investors accordingly.

She indicated that Ghana has a lot of available investment opportunities and therefore, called on companies to come and invest in them.

Ursula Owusu-Ekuful said this on Monday, at the ongoing ITU telecom world for the year 2018 hosted by the Department of Telecommunications and Post of the Republic of South Africa.

Ghana has joined over 126 countries across the world, to showcase its digital solutions at the ITU Telecom World Conference and Exhibition at Durban, South Africa.

A Ghanaian delegation of investors, innovators, and project and decision makers from the ICT ecosystem are participating in the ongoing conference and exhibition on a theme: “Innovation for a smarter world”.

The conference seeks to accelerate ICT innovation for socio-economic development through solutions, sharing knowledge and networking with measures to develop and protect local intellectual property, and a massive skills development programme to underpin the growth of ICTs throughout society.

Speaking at the Global ministerial roundtable discussions on the initiatives put in place to ensure development of ICT and telephony to accelerate the socio-economic development of Ghana, Mrs. Ursula Owusu Ekuful noted that, government is working to ensure universal access to telephone calls and internet connectivity across the country.

She said it has been the vision of president Akufo Addo to ensure that about 20% of the unserved and underserved communities in Ghana are connected to the internet and have access to uninterrupted phone calls to be able to enjoy electronic-education and electronic-health care delivery.

She emphasized that the connectivity of the rural communities to the electronic grid will also pave the way for those communities to take the advantage to pay for goods and services using digital financial services.

According to her, although it is capital intensive, government will do its best to ensure that the vision is achieved.