STATEMENT BY THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA
DELIVERED BY THE HON. MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY,
MR FELIX K. OWUSU-ADJAPONG,

Your Excellency, the Chairman,
The Secretary General of the ITU,
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my honour to greet the distinguished guests and participants of the sixteenth Plenipotentiary Conference of the ITU in the historic and enchanting city of Marrakesh.

The delegation of Ghana takes this opportunity to express our sincerest gratitude to the High Guidance of His Majesty and the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco for the warm welcome and excellent reception that has been provided to the delegation since our arrival.

We are convinced that the future of the Union has never been challenged at any moment more than now when the impact of technological development is threatening to consign it to the realm of anachronism and irrelevance unless this Conference undertakes the necessary reforms that will enhance the Union's capacity to deliver better service, and cope adequately with the rather astronomical rate of change.

The city of Marrakesh is today, providing us with a unique opportunity for a re-dedication of our combined efforts to chart a new course for the ITU within the Global setting.

This course should reinforce the pre-eminence of the Union in its chosen goal of achieving a balanced and harmonised telecommunications development in the world.

The mandate that would be handed down to the Union at this Conference should be clear enough and not to constrain the effective discharge of the Union's responsibilities.

We wish to commend the leadership of the ITU for the able manner they have steered the affairs of the Union and also, for providing a clear focus in the crusade to employ information and communication technologies to foster the socio-economic development of the world.

The countries of the developing world and Africa especially, look up to the Union to play an even greater role in these discussions. The ITU should therefore, continue to be guided by Resolution 11 of the Kyoto Plenipotentiary, which identified the four general programme areas, particularly for developing countries and the Least Developing Countries (LDCs) ie:

• Human resource development,
• Infrastructure development,
• Application of new technologies,
• Assistance to countries in special need.

The delegation of Ghana understands quite well that the ability of the ITU to strengthen its role and influence the development of issues will depend on the partnership between the public and private sectors. This should be conducted in collaboration with civil society and other stakeholders.

In this regard, greater collaboration should be developed with the regional organisations. The African Telecommunications Union (ATU) should be sufficiently supported to be able to fulfil its mission of promoting the continent's rapid development of full inter-country information and communications systems connectivity.

The management of the Internet is a subject of valid international interest that must flow from full international cooperation. Resolution 102 (Minneapolis 1998) invited member states to participate in and follow the progress of work on the management of Internet domain names and addresses. The relationship between ICANN and the ITU should be properly examined with a view to assisting ICANN in its reform process.

In the implementation of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), we in Ghana believe that the role of an efficient continental information and communication network would be crucial. In matters such as regional economic co-operation, trade, telemedicine, e-governance and mutual interdependence, ICT holds a major promise of making Africa the new hub of global economic, cultural and geo-political exchanges.

We are convinced that the development of all forms of telecommunication infrastructure would facilitate primary access to the universal services such as telephony and value-added services based on the state-of-the-art technologies.

Ghana was among the first few countries on the continent to embark upon the liberalisation and privatisation of its telecommunication sector in 1994. The pace of technological change and the demands of the new application services however require further investment and modernisation of the infrastructure to meet the demands of the technological revolution.

It is now the vision of my Government that within the next 2 to 3 years, every town in Ghana with a Senior Secondary School or Teacher Training College should have broadband telephone connectivity that will ensure the successful deployment of the Internet nation-wide. To be able to achieve this, a national communications backbone infrastructure has been conceived to support quicker and more efficient delivery of services. This will use the country's installed 600 kilometres of fibre optic cable on the high-voltage electricity transmission lines that criss-cross the entire length and breadth of the country.

When accomplished, the backbone infrastructure will provide the basic platform for offering non-discriminatory open access to all ICT service providers in all districts of the country. There is also the possibility of extending the facility to neighbouring countries so as to improve connectivity within our sub-region.

Allow me your Excellencies, to express the wishes of the delegation of Ghana for a successful work of this historic Plenipotentiary Conference.

Ghana wishes to place on record its continuous preparedness to contribute to the administration of the ITU. Even though Ghana joined the ITU in 1957, we have never served on the Council. You are all aware how Ghana has been active in the work of the ITU and the ATU. Ghana therefore now seeks the support of this Conference for one of the 13 seats allotted to Africa on the ITU Council.

Ghana has strong belief in the capacity of the International Telecommunication Union to bring about significant change to the quality of life of all the citizens of our global village. There is so much expectation out there and this august gathering should not forfeit an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to improve the lives of so many people.

Your Excellencies, Distinguished participants, I thank you for the opportunity to make this statement.