Accra, Sept. 13, GNA - Hewlett Packard (HP), one of the world largest IT companies, has established its presence in Ghana with the opening an office and signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the University of Ghana to help train local students to become globally competitive.

The company, which under the MOU hopes to transfer its rich expertise and technology into Ghanaian economy, will also provide commercial customers in the country better access to HP broad portfolios of products and services by allowing them to transform their businesses through an improved IT infrastructure.

University of Ghana Vice Chancellor, Professor Ernest Aryettey and HP Vice President and Managing Director for Africa and Middle East, Santiago Cortes, initialed the MOU, which has an unlimited lifespan with a future goal of networking with other universities locally to further enhance the partnership.

On ICT potentials and on HP technology especially, Mr Cortes said Governments could leverage on it to drive economic growth and stability by modernizing the delivery of services in key areas as education, healthcare and e-Government services.

HP, he said, was also holding discussions with Government of Ghana on the possibility of setting up a plant in Ghana to assembly HP products.

Given its long years of providing excellent quality products and services across the world, Mr Cortes said, HP was committed to addressing the issue of counterfeit products in Ghana and Africa as a whole under its anti-counterfeit programme.

HP's press statement issued said: 93HP will work with law enforcement authorities in Ghana to fight the availability of counterfeit products, which defraud customers, pose potential risks to consumers and bring negative economic impacts to the local economy."

Ghana's Trade and Industry Minister, Ms Hannah Tetteh said Government was committed to fighting counterfeit and that failure to do that could discourage investments from companies that manufacture quality products in the country.

She said Ghanaians must ensure that intellectual property rights of individual and companies were protected, adding that 93HP's arrival is an indication of Ghana being a good place to do business."

Professor Ernest Aryettey said the new partnership, which falls in line with the University's vision and programme, would provide students with skills needed by the job market.

He said the University looked forward to several years of working relationship with the company where students would work with HP IT professionals across the world.

"HP is proud to establish operations in Ghana at a time when the country is emerging as a high growth economy," Dr George Antiohene, the appointed Country Director of HP-Ghana said in a press statement.

"The deployment of HP's cloud-based and connectivity technologies by the Ghanaian Government and local industries can help build a strong IT industry, which in turn generates economic growth and innovative solutions that could make a positive impact in Ghana's communities," he said.