Accra, July 1, GNA- Ghana would, in November this year host the next Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Financial Conference for three African countries.

Mr. Edmund Opoku-Agyemang, Senior Export Development Officer, Ghana Export Promotion Council (GEPC) announced this on Saturday at a Service Exports Retreat workshop organized by the Private Enterprise Foundation (PEF) for its members in Accra.

The Conference dubbed: "Bridges across Borders" is aimed at creating networks among service professionals in ICT and Financial sectors from South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana to share experiences in their respective fields.

Mr. Opoku-Agyemang said Ghana was yet to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Trade Centre (ITC) in Geneva for assistance and that the conference would also create the platform for service practitioners to acquaint themselves with international biding processes and knowledge on outsourcing opportunities in the four countries.

He said the GEPC and its partners from the three countries had realized the need to focus on the training of personnel since there was little knowledge on opportunities that existed in their countries. Mr Opoku-Agyemang said the current bidding procedures and requirements in the country was discriminating to local consultants, adding that coupled with insufficient information and knowledge in international bidding procedures had crippled the local exporters. He mentioned poor capture of trade statistics, service providers not being aware of their involvement in exports, neglected field in the economy as some of the challenges facing the country's ability to perform on the international trade market and called for a the development of a national service export strategy, capacity building and the address of funding process to arrest the problem.

Dr. Osei Boeh-Ocansey, Director General, PEF, said even though Ghana's economy was among the 10 performing countries in Africa, it was improper for the economy to be dependent on external funding, adding that there was the need to mainstream local industries in that direction He said the country had increased its expenditure from five to nine percent which was unfavourable and that there was the need to reduce it to the minimum level to ensure a healthy economy. Dr. Boeh-Ocansey said a well functioned economy rested on the private sector and that there was the need for government to give equal treatment to the private sector as it existed with the international donors.

Participants were taken through Trade, construction, Tourism, health, Education, ICT and Financial seminars to help upgrade their knowledge in their respective fields.

The workshop was co-sponsored by SPEED-Ghana, a component of DANIDA Business Sector Program Support (BSPS). 01 July 07