It gives me great pleasure to congratulate both the Government of Ghana and the Government of India on the partnership that has brought the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT from just an idea to the state-of-the-art facility we see before us today. This is also an especially vivid demonstration of South-South cooperation.

Information technologies have tremendous potential to improve health, education and governance, to promote trade and economic growth, to spread knowledge and integrate people and countries alike into the global knowledge economy. But too many of the world's people remain untouched by the information revolution.

It is my hope that this centre will help bridge the digital divide by empowering people in Ghana and throughout Africa. I thank everyone involved for their leadership, and for this tangible contribution to the United Nations' global mission of peace and our efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.