President John Agyekum Kufuor has toured two major Information Technology (IT) Institutions in Bangalore, India as part of his four-day state visit to India.

He arrived by air from Kolkata to Bangalore, the Silicon valley of India and visited the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), established in 1991 by the government to encourage, promote and boost the software exports from India. It is a full export oriented unit scheme for the development and export of software using Data Communication links.

The Director of the STPI, Mr B.V.Naidu who briefed President Kufuor and his entourage on how the facility operated, pledged to assist Ghana to train its personnel in software technology. President Kufuor said such an exchange programme would further give an impetus to the Centre of Excellence in Computer Training jointly being undertaken by Ghana and India in Accra. He also toured Infosys Technologies Limited, which offer consulting services in technology by developing solutions based on deep business process knowledge so that businesses could achieve marketing goals.

Earlier, President Kufuor and his wife Theresa paid glowing tribute to the memory of Mother Margaret Teresa at Kolkata before they emplaned to Bangalore. President Kufuor, who would continue with his institutional tours on Thursday in Mumbai, would visit the Santacruz Electronics Export Promotion Zone (SEEPZ), the Parle Foods, TELCO and he is also expected to attend a meeting with the business community in Mumbai to end his visit.

President Kufuor is expected to leave Mumbai on Friday to London enroute to Ghana. He left Accra on July 26 for a State visit to Malaysia and also continued to attend the Global 2002 Smart Partnership International Dialogue in Langkawi, Malaysia.