The President of Switzerland, Doris Leuthard has revealed that Ghana leads Switzerland in terms of mobile phone penetration and thus congratulated the government and individuals who made this possible.

According to her, Switzerland supports the development of platforms which makes it easier for businesses to have access to relevant laws and financial services via mobile phones which are helpful for SMEs and in this context realised Ghana has already overtaken Switzerland.

“Ghana has now overtaken us Swiss in terms of mobile phone penetration. The latest figure shows a rate of 139 percent in Ghana versus a 135 percent in Switzerland, taking into account that just 10 years ago the rate in Switzerland was more than 4 times higher than your penetration in Ghana. This is particularly impressive” she said.

She made these remarks as she delivered a speech on “Governance in the age of social media” on July 12 at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City in Accra, an event organised by policy think-tank IMANI Africa.

In the early hours of today July 12, 2017, the Federal Republic of Switzerland earmarked an amount of $80 million to support the enhanced competitiveness of Ghanaian enterprises in the global market space as well as help in government’s efforts at diversifying the Ghanaian economy.

The teams from Ghana and Switzerland held discussions in the areas of Foreign Affairs, UN Reforms, Finance, Security and Agriculture, aimed at deepening the bilateral relations existing between them, as well as exploring other areas of co-operation.

She further said Ghana was the first country in Africa to get connected to the internet which is in 1994 making us the pioneer on the continent.