Huawei's ICT Middle East Competition concluded recently with an award ceremony for the winning Pakistani teams at the Presidential Palace in Islamabad. The President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Dr. Arif Alvi, himself attended the ceremony hosted by Huawei and the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT). Other attendees included federal secretary of IT & telecommunication Sohail Rajput, Huawei Middle East VP Shunli Wang, Huawei Pakistan CEO Mark Meng, and other officials from MoITT and Huawei Pakistan.
Huawei's ICT Competition is an annual event designed to nurture global ICT talent. In 2021, the Middle East division of this competition hosted multiple roadshow gatherings, registering over 10,000 competitors from 134 universities across the country. All participants then participated in regional training, and the top 2 teams of 6 students were invited to Riyadh, Saudia Arabia, to participate in the regional finals. Both competing teams from Pakistan achieved great success, taking first and second place.
At the ceremony, President Alvi said, "I am aware of the cooperative arrangement of the Huawei Academy with about 80 different universities in Pakistan to develop and groom young talent. I also appreciated companies like Huawei for training a large number of students in the field of information technology, noting the international companies wanted to create an ecosystem for harnessing talent."
Secretary Rajput said, "If we want to increase our exports and reduce our trade deficit, the only way is to invest in our youths because they are our biggest asset. And the most suitable avenue for investing in youth and talent is IT. Under the president's leadership, we are putting more investment in the ICT sector so that Pakistan can achieve its targets in the short-, medium-, and long-term."
Huawei's Wang concluded the ceremony and said, "Based on Huawei ICT Competition, I really hope to be able to count on this partnership with all of you, together we can drive the digital transformation of Pakistan and help to develop the next generations of local ICT talents to boost Pakistan's digital economy."
