Italy pledges support for Ghana’s ICT sector

Ms Carpini said Italy had achieved a lot, capitalising on ICT and would want to share those ideas with Ghana to enable it to improve its systems to enhance efficiency at all levels.

She mentioned health delivery, transport and commerce as some of the key areas where her country had been successful and reiterated her country’s commitment to support Ghana to do same.

Dr Omane-Boamah, for his part, said the government intended to set up an ICT park which would be modelled around what pertained in the Silicon Valley in the United States of America (USA).

Silicon Valley is the southern region of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California, and a home to many of the world's largest technology corporations, as well as thousands of small startups.

When that was done, he said the park would serve as a point where Business Process Outsourcing (BOPS) would be done on a large scale.

BOPS is outsourcing that involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of specific business functions (or processes) to a third-party service provider, irrespective of the provider’s geographic location.

“Ghana is positioned well in terms of time zone to be able to work for the Asian and western countries while they are asleep and that will also provide more job avenues for the many youth in the country”, he said.

Dr Omane-Boamah also said the country intended to have the youth in ICT develop applications that will help solve problems peculiar to Ghana.

He indicated the government sought to use ICT to address some of the major health challenges in the country by getting medical practitioners, particularly doctors, to guide nurses in the hinterland to help pregnant women deliver of their babies safely to reduce child-birth mortality.

Dr Omane-Boamah welcomed the pledge by Italy and promised to furnish the Italian Embassy with information on Ghana’s ICT needs.