The Ghana Skills Bank, a web-enabled interactive service aim at storing data of the professional qualifications and experiences of Ghanaians abroad was launched at the Chancery of the Embassy of Ghana in Washington on June 29.

In a message to His Excellency Alan Kyerematen, the initiator of the Bank, The President of the Republic of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor commended him for the establishment of the Bank saying its significance to the economic management of the country could not be underestimated.

According to President Kufuor, the development of Ghana could only be accelerated with the humble applications of those who have acquired the skills and are willing to share with their colleagues at home.

The function, one of the biggest gathering of over four hundred professional Ghanaians who traveled from virtually every part of the United States and Canada also had a message from the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan which was read by Dr. Paa Kwesi Ndoum, Minister for Economic Planning and Regional Integration.

Mr. Annan congratulated Ambassador Kyerematen and said the Skills Bank will not only help in measuring the development capabilities of Ghana but that Ghana should be a leading light in sharing the benefits of the Bank with other African countries.

According to the United Nations boss, it is clear that effective international partnerships aimed at promoting sustainable development while improving governance, rule of law, regulatory systems, investment and management in Africa require the full engagement of African talent, both on the continent and from abroad.

The Skills Bank which will primarily store the details of the professional from around the world will serve as a database for the Government of Ghana, its missions abroad, international financial institutions and development agencies (such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, United States Agency for International Development all of whom representatives attended the launch) to execute projects and programs among others.

It will have a featured personality of the month at its web site, which will bear testimony to the varied talents of the country. At the launch, five people were used as a symbolic gesture of that.

The first was Dr. Vincent Anku, a leading specialist on Cancer treatment in the United States and a member of the prestigious Cosmos Club. He is also the Founder and Director of The Cleveland Cancer Institute. Dr. Anku has in the past five years invested over 5 million dollars in the Ghanaian economy and is setting up what may be the premier Cancer Institute in Africa in Ghana.

Dr. Dotsevi Yao Sogah, Professor at Cornell University is one of the leading scientists in American. Voted by a committee of eminent scientists and Noble laureates as one of the leading scientists in America, he is a Nobel Prize potential and inventor of the Process for Preparing Living Polymers, which was hailed as the invention of the century.

Dr. Kwame A. Boakye another featured personality is Vice President, Technology Planning for AT and T and Consultant on Information Technology, New Emerging Technologies and Development and Strategic planning for the United Nations Agencies and presently a member of the Technological Advisory Council to the United States federal Communications Commission.

The fourth to be recognized was Kwame Anthony Appiah, a world leading authority on ethics and identity of Philosophy and co-editor with Henry Louis Gates, of the monumental African dictionary, the dream project of the greatest Black Sociologist of the last century W.E. B. Du Bois.

The fifth was Dr. Kwaku Ohene- Frempong also world leading authority on Sickle Cell disease and who currently has a Sickle Cell unit in Ghana and travels around the World as international missionary.

The featured professionals later expressed their appreciation to the management for the honor done them and pledged their total support to the Skills Bank.

Also present with a complex team of world, renowned Black and White jazz players that entertained the gathering was Nick Robinson, former Director of the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Accra and now with the Africa Section of the U.S. State Department in Washington and Okyerema Asante.

The Bank, which is also the first, ever initiative between the Embassy and Ghanaian professionals working outside is chaired by His Excellency Alan Kyerematen and has as a Project Director Ivor Agyeman-Duah who is Minister Counselor of Information at the Embassy. Other members include, Kofi Honu, an IT specialist as Technical Director, Messrs Francis Tsegah, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Ghana Embassy, Lawrence Akwasi Agyeman Prempeh, Municipal Management Consultant, Francis Tamakole of the World Bank, Washington, DC and Dr. K. Laast, a medical practitioner.