WITHDRAWN: Indian Prime Minister to visit Ghana

- The Press Secretary to the President has requested that the story below should be withdrawn

Indian Prime Minister Mr Atal Bihari Vajpeyee would pay a three-day state visit to Ghana from Monday, December 8 to 10.

The visit is at the invitation of President John Agyekum Kufuor, Mr Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, Press Secretary to the President and Presidential Spokesman, told newsmen in Accra on Monday.

He said Mr Vajpeyee would address Parliament and attend the inauguration of the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in Information and Communication Technology on Tuesday, December 9.

The Centre estimated at about 13 billion cedis was established with the Indian Government's assistance and named after Busumuru Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary General, would create an Information Communication Technology (ICT) hub in the West Africa Sub-Region.

Training and technological solutions at the Centre would be offered to Ghanaians, with particular emphasis on tailor-made skill for industries and businesses.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Centre was signed in New Delhi, last year August, between Mr Felix Owusu Agyapong, former Minister of Communications and Technology for Ghana and Mr Pramod Mahdjan, Minister of Communications and Information Technology of India.

It was during the four-day State visit to India by President Kufuor, who witnessed the signing ceremony with Premier Vajpayee.

Under the agreement, India would provide the latest state-of-the-art computer hardware such as servers, desktop printers and scanners.

Others are soft wares and communication equipment such as routers, switches and other equipment required to set up the Centre.

India would in addition train ICT trainers from Ghana, help in the design of the curriculum for teaching of ICT in both schools and colleges.

Ghana is providing the infrastructure and administrative and technical staff.

The facilities at the Centre include an auditorium with the capacity for 250 people, four acoustic computer laboratories with a sitting capacity of 45 people each, a boardroom, offices, reception, library, corporate conference room and a snacks bar.

The Presidential Spokesman said the visit being a reciprocal one by President Kufuor would also reinforce the longstanding relationship between the two countries.

He said relations between Ghana and India began during the Colonial period when India had a Consul General in the Gold Coast and a formal diplomatic relations was established after Independence in 1957.

Mr Agyepong said both countries had played active role in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).