The beneficiary tertiary institutions are University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana Technology University College, IPMC College and Koforidua Technical University.

The programme is under the Seeds for the Future the Ministry of Communications in collaboration with Huawei Technologies Ghana Limited launched five years ago to annually support tertiary ICT students from Ghana to be trained in ICT programmes in China and so far 60 tertiary ICT students have benefited from the programme.

Speaking at the launch of the 2019 edition of the Seeds for the Future programme in Accra yesterday, the Minister of Communications, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful said the growing demand for ICT professionals has created the need to train more ICT professionals.

She said the country could not depend on foreign professionals to undertake ICT projects for the country.

The Minister said a lot of companies in recent times rely on ICT applications to run and drive their business processes, stressing that ICT was helping increase productivity for businesses.

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said there were huge prospects in the ICT sector and urged the beneficiaries to take advantage of the programme to develop their ICT skills  and help build the country`s  ICT industry.

The Minister said the programme would help build the ICT skills of the beneficiaries to be to compete with their international counterparts.

While acknowledging that ICT was causing disruptions, she said sector had also created a lot of jobs and business opportunities in the country.

Government, the Minister said would continue to innovate and put the necessary legal framework in place to build a vibrant thriving ICT sector in Ghana.

She encouraged the beneficiaries to work hard and be good ambassadors of Ghana whiles in China.

The Managing Director of Huawei Technologies Ghana Limited, Tommy Zhou said the Seeds for the future was one of the flagship Corporate Social Responsibility programmes of his outfit.

The objective of the programme was to help train the youth in the latest ICT technologies and trends to help develop their countries.

Mr said the beneficiaries would get the opportunity to learn from and interact with Huawei ICT experts in China and would be taken through topics such as Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, and Internet use cases.

The Counselor of the People’s Republic of China to Ghana, Chai Zhing lauded Huawei Technologies Ghana Limited for the initiative and urged other Chinese companies in Ghana to emulate the company.

The representative of the 2019 Seeds for the Future programme, Pamela Aboagyewaa Mantey expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Communications and Huawei Ghana for the opportunity granted them and pledged they would work hard to justify the confidence reposed in them.