President John Dramani Mahama has invited Belarusian technology companies to partner Ghana in building what he described as a leading digital economy in Africa, with opportunities spanning artificial intelligence, fintech, health technology, data centres and cyber security.
Addressing the Ghana-Belarus Business Forum in Minsk on Monday, President Mahama said Ghana had launched a National Artificial Intelligence Strategy titled ‘AI for Good’ and was implementing a programme to train one million young people in technology and digital skills.
“A major technology and AI hub is set to be built in Ghana, creating opportunities in data centres, cyber technologies, fintech, agritech, health tech and business process outsourcing,” he told the gathering of business leaders from both countries.
The President said Ghana was expanding its STEM training and innovation systems and welcomed Belarusian partnership in software development, digital infrastructure, cyber security, technology transfer and innovation.
President Mahama framed the digital economy drive as part of a wider transformation agenda, alongside a 24-hour economy programme that targets expanded industrial output, sustainable job creation and Ghana’s emergence as a production and export hub across Africa.
Belarus has a recognised software development and IT services sector, with a technology park in Minsk that has produced a number of internationally operating technology companies. President Mahama said the complementarity between Belarus’s technical expertise and Ghana’s market opportunity was the basis for a practical and profitable partnership.
He told the forum that Ghana’s economy had grown to $114 billion, making it the eighth largest in Africa, and that companies operating in Ghana would gain direct access to a regional market of over 400 million people and a continental market of 1.4 billion people through the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Ghana and Belarus signed three memoranda of understanding at the forum, including one establishing a joint economic cooperation commission, which will serve as the institutional framework for following up on the technology and investment commitments made in Minsk.
President Mahama said the standard by which the two countries should measure their relationship was not the frequency of diplomatic contact but the scale of businesses built, technologies transferred and prosperity created for future generations.
Richard Aniagyei, ISD
