MINISTERIAL ROUNDTABLE SESSION ON ``BUILDING A BETTER DIGITAL FUTURE FOR ALL`` IN BUCHAREST AHEAD OF THE ITU PLENIPOTENTIARY CONFERENCE-2022 ON 25TH SEPTEMBER 2022
Source: ministry_of_communications_ghana

1 STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITALISATION OF GHANA HON URSULA OWUSU-EKUFUL (MP) AT THE MINISTERIAL ROUNDTABLE SESSION ON "BUILDING A BETTER DIGITAL FUTURE FOR ALL" IN BUCHAREST AHEAD OF THE ITU PLENIPOTENTIARY CONFERENCE-2022 ON 25TH SEPTEMBER 2022 Honorable Chair and Romania’s Minister for Research, Innovation and Digitalization; The Secretary General of the ITU; Your Excellencies; Distinguished Colleague Ministers; I join you all to commend the Government of Romania and its Minister for Research, Innovation and Digitalization for their warm hospitality and this timely Ministerial Roundtable. We reaffirm our commitment to leave no one digitally behind and we can achieve this as we collectively focus our attention, within the next 8 years, towards the attainment of the ICT- enabled sustainable development goals and targets by 2030. The Government of Ghana, under the able leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo, Co-Chair of the Group of Eminent Advocates for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, is committed to the global strategy of working together to improve lives everywhere through technology deployment. This is even more critical as the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on economies of all nations, makes it imperative for our governments to accelerate digital transformation as the key for our economic recovery. We must not waste the pandemic Ghana is facilitating the expansion of digital infrastructure to open up broadband access to accelerate the provision of meaningful content and smart services to benefit all citizens. Through the adoption of a whole-of-government approach to digitalise and transform public services, including government content in the health, education, local governance, agriculture legislative, judiciary sectors, to mention just a few, services are provided online to the benefit of the citizenry. 2 The bridging of the digital divide is a major concern of Government and we continue to create digital opportunities for the marginalised, the elderly, and people in rural, remote, and underserved areas under our Universal Telecommunications/ICT Fund Management. To ensure inclusiveness, inculcating basic digital literacy in our educational curricula and community-based digital laboratories is ongoing, as we are mindful that digital skills development is the cornerstone of digital transformation. Ghana has prioritised digital gender equality and women and girls are encouraged to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. We are committed to a cross-sectoral approach to development and enhanced collaboration with the private sector to aid rapid digital transformation. The Government of Ghana continues to work towards the creation of a fair regulatory environment and stability through the development of new spectrum farming policies to encourage the private sector to roll out new generation infrastructure and provide affordable and meaningful connectivity. Hon Chair, Distinguished Colleagues; Building confidence, trust, and security of our cyberspace to promote a safe digital /ICT ecosystem has been our major priority. We have ensured that guided by the guidelines provided by the ITU and other global cooperation networks, we work with our neighbours to build a Regional cyber space that is resilient to attacks. Hon Chair; I end by stating that Ghana is committed to the global growth strategy that we have given ourselves under the guidance of the ITU to ensure that all nations pursue a path of digital transformation that will enhance meaningful universal connectivity and access. Thank you all for your kind attention.