Former Prime Minister of India - Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee

PM' s remarks at the inauguration of the India-Ghana Kofi Annan Centre of excellence for Communications and I.T.

~It is a great pleasure to participate at this inaugural function. I would have loved to be with all of you in Accra today. When I met President Kufour on Friday, I explained to him why I had to return home from Abuja, without going through with my scheduled visit to Ghana.

From another perspective, it is perhaps fitting that this Centre should be inaugurated through this inter-continental connection, illustrating the power and versatility we have today achieved in information and communications technologies.

It is also apt that this Centre is named after UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who is a great son of Ghana and a distinguished citizen of Africa. It was his original idea to set up such an institution of empowerment in Ghana, to serve the entire West African region.

It was only over a year ago, during President Kufuor’s landmark visit to India, that we signed an Agreement on cooperation in Information Technology. The remarkable speed with which this centre has been completed is a tribute to President Kufuor’s personal interest in the project and the dedication of the project team.

This institution is a symbol of the strong and enduring partnership between India and Ghana. It is a partnership forged during our struggle for independence, cemented during our joint campaign against colonialism and apartheid, and sustained by our shared aspirations for democracy and development. On this auspicious occasion, I reiterate India’s desire to further enrich this relationship by strengthening and diversifying our bilateral cooperation in mutually beneficial directions.

Capacity building is an important catalyst of the development process. This institute will develop capacity in an area of technology, which is central to today’s knowledge economy.

The world market for IT products this year is estimated at 3 Trillion dollars, marking a growth of 20 per cent over last year. This market will grow exponentially in the years to come. India’s IT exports crossed 10 billion dollars this year, and we hope to raise this figure to 50 billion dollars by 2008.

Many factors contributing to our success also exist in Ghana. You have a high quality education system, a young English-speaking work force and a strengthening telecommunications infrastructure. This Centre can help Ghana increase its presence in the global IT market.

India is equally committed to human resource development in other fields in Ghana. Thousands of students from Ghana have, over the years, studied in Indian training centres or institutions of higher education. We would welcome more.

Under our international technical and economic cooperation programme, 30 seats are allotted annually in Indian institutions to Ghanaian students and professionals for training in a variety of scientific, technical, economic, commercial, management and other disciplines. In response to increased demand, we have now decided to double this figure to 60.

India also offers five scholarships annually to students from Ghana, who may wish to study in Indian universities.

We are progressing in other areas of development cooperation. Small and medium enterprises, agriculture, irrigation, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications are promising areas. We have already extended a line of credit of 15 million dollars for mutually identified projects. We can extend its scope to include purchases of equipment. We are finalizing arrangements for further enhancing the quantum of this credit.

There are many more vistas of India-Ghana cooperation yet to be opened. Our bilateral efforts are directed towards exploring them.

I take this opportunity send my greetings to the community of Indian origin in Ghana. Like other members of the 20 million strong Indian Diaspora abroad, they have become productive citizens of their country of domicile, politically and economically integrated in their adopted homeland, while retaining their cultural affinities with the country of their origin.

In conclusion, I wish this India-Ghana Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence for Information and Communications Technology every success. I look forward to seeing it, when I fulfil my commitment to visit Ghana.

Long live India-Ghana friendship.~