Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has stressed the need for the country to enhance the potential of the youth in the field of ICT development.

He said the collaboration between Ghana and Huawei in the promotion of ICT is critical for knowledge transfer and hands-on practice.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur was speaking when he witnessed the signing of an MOU for the Seeds for the future between the government and Huawei Corporation of China at the Flagstaff House.

The Seeds for the future is an initiative by Huawei Corporation in collaboration with government and higher educational institutions to select students, develop their ICT talent, enhance knowledge transfer and improve their understanding and interest in the telecommunications industry.

The initiative would also give the students the opportunity to study and gain working experience at Huawei headquarters in China.

Under the programme for the next five years, 15 students would be selected each year to study cutting edge technologies as well as offer them opportunities to have hands-on practice in Huawei’s advance laboratory.

Besides, the programme is also intended to enable the students to gain exposure to Chinese culture and cross-cultural work experience in a global business environment.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur said the MOU is a signal for the nation to develop further the future of ICT.

He expressed confidence that the training would enable the beneficiary students to prove their technical competence and enhance their efficiency in ICT.

He said the programme would help bridge the gap between ICT learnt in the classroom and that required in industry.

He said the first batch of 15 students would be catalysts for the future and to prepare more young people to be competitive in the field of ICT.

Mrs Sun Baohong, Chinese Ambassador said Huawei is one of the many Chinese companies that have made significant contribution to the economic development of Ghana as well as the social progress and improvement to people’s livelihood.

She said the Seeds for the future programme is not the first generosity by Huawei in Ghana and that last year the company rehabilitated Ghana Library Board in Accra.

She said despite the temporary economic challenges in the country Chinese companies continue to maintain their investments and staff in the country without layoffs.

Mrs Sun said the integration of interest between China and Africa as well as between China and Ghana has reached new heights.

She called for the development of strong economic relations between the two nations for the mutual benefits of their people.

Mr Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Deputy Minister of Communication, said the ministry has built partnership with some of the leading ICT firms in the world to encourage active local participation in the telecommunication sector.

He hinted that the ministry is partnering Huawei in major projects such as the National Data Centre to offer opportunity for data storage, web hosting and cloud services for both private and public institutions.

Mr Kwakye Ofosu commended Huawei for launching special initiatives which would afford Ghanaian students the opportunity to train in China.

He said 75 students would have the chance to be trained in China for the next five years.