The Vice President, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, has opened the 2025 National ICT Week celebration in Accra with a strong call for innovation, part­nerships and sound policies.

This according to her would help advance Ghana’s ambition of becoming Africa’s digital trade hub.

The event is on the theme: “Ghana as Afri­ca’s Digital Trade Hub: Innovation, Policy, and Partnerships for the Future.”

In a speech read on her behalf by the Policy Advisor, Political Affairs – Office of the Vice President, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, she emphasized that Ghana’s stability, democratic credentials and dynamic economy position the country as a natural leader in the digital era.

The Vice President said Ghana had already laid important foundations through national programmes aimed at modernising the econo­my and preparing the workforce for the future.

Among the flagship initiatives she highlight­ed was the 24-Hour Economy policy, designed to boost productivity by enabling businesses and institutions to operate around the clock.

“Equally important is the One Million Cod­ers Project, which seeks to equip young people with coding and software engineering skills to make them active participants in the African Continental Free Trade Area,” she said.

With the AfCFTA Secretariat based in Ac­cra, she said Ghana has a unique opportunity to drive innovation and digital trade across the continent.

The Vice President noted that government is investing heavily in digital infrastructure, expanding the national fiber-optic backbone and broadband networks to ensure high-speed internet access for schools, hospitals, business­es and households.

These efforts, she explained, were bridging the urban-rural digital divide and creating op­portunities for inclusive growth and pointed to the Ghana.Gov platform as a major achieve­ment in public service delivery.

“By providing a one-stop digital gateway for services such as passport applications, tax filing and business licensing, the platform is reducing bureaucracy, enhancing transparency and im­proving revenue mobilisation,” she explained.

Professor Opoku-Agyemang further stressed Ghana’s unique achievement of being the only African country with a fully interoperable instant payment system, allowing seamless transfers between banks and mobile money wallets.

This system, she said, has expanded financial inclusion, fuelled mobile money adoption and created new opportunities for e-commerce.

The Vice President described ICT Week as a timely platform for dialogue and action, bring­ing together government, industry leaders, innovators and development partners to define new priorities and secure commitments.

She called for collaboration across all sectors, emphasizing that government could not achieve the digital transformation agenda alone, “Entrepreneurs, technology start-ups, the private sector, international investors, the diaspora and academia must all play their part”.

The Vice President reaffirmed Ghana’s sup­port for the AfCFTA’s Digital Trade Protocol, which promotes a secure and trusted ecosys­tem across the continent through harmonised regulations and strong cybersecurity standards.

The Deputy Minister for Communications, Digital Technology and Innovations, Moham­med Adam Sukparu, said the chosen theme was both visionary and practical, positioning Ghana at the centre of Africa’s digital econo­my.

He noted that digital technologies were changing the way businesses operated markets function and citizens access services.

According to him, e-commerce platforms, digital payments, online markets and innova­tions were proving that trade was no longer limited to physical shops or warehouses.

He explained that government’s digital drive rests on robust infrastructure, secure systems and empowered citizens, with NITA playing a central role as regulator.

He emphasized that licensing service provid­ers, accrediting products and certifying profes­sionals are vital to protecting citizens, building investor confidence and ensuring competition.

Acting Director-General of the National Information Technology Agency (NITA), Dr Mark-Oliver Kevor, assured stakeholders of the agency’s commitment to creating a secure, efficient and inclusive ICT environment.

He outlined initiatives such as the rollout of the National Digital Literacy Platform to pro­mote seamless data sharing across government and the private sector, the operationalisation of the Ghana Data Trust Network to strength­en digital identities and secure transactions, and stricter regulation to ensure global best practices.

He said NITA was also working with industry and academia to expand innovation hubs, develop new applications and promote knowledge transfer programs.

This year’s ICT Week is expected to serve as a platform for dialogue and concrete commit­ments