The vice president Alhaji Aliu Mahama has said that Ghana is positioning itself to closed the digital gap that exist between the developed and developing worlds in the ICT sector through the development of an Information Technology (IT) park at the free zone enclave in Tema to attract more ICT companies, services and products.

"The construction of the technology park will indeed offer hope to a great leap forward in our technology development".

The Vice President said this when he opened the 3rd international conference on information technology and economic development at the Accra international conference center.

He urged participants to explore the possibility of supporting the efforts being made by government towards the development of the park.

According to him, it is possible for a developing country like Ghana to leap frog in the process of adopting new technologies for developmental purposes. "The requirement for this approach is the availability of highly skilled workforce to facilitate the integration of ICTand development", he added.

He added that the conference would help the participants to draw recommendations from best policy ICT policy practices, models and projects, the opportunity to network and build partnerships with a range of local and international professionals in government, business, education and civic society.

He said the purpose of the conference is to explore new opportunities in information and communication technology (ICT) for the socio- economic development of nations involved.

The vice president stated that the increasing pace of technological development here is substantial evidence that new information technologies are in many ways transforming the operations of modern economies.

He said that most developing countries, including Ghana, were left behind during the period of the agrarian and the industry revolutions.

According to him information technology facilitates the transformation of processes and institutions, creating opportunities and linkages previously impossible or unimaginable.

He noted that the conference was well positioned to propel developing countries to critically examine the challenge they face in their attempt to make information technology become pervasive in their quest for an information society, which would bridge the digital divide between the developed, and the developing nations.