African union, Huawei sign pact to connect Africa

Written by Olabisi Olaleye - Nigeria

African union, Huawei sign pact 

Huawei, an information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, has collaborated with the African union to accelerate better connectivity.

This partnership deal was sealed recently in in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Huawei Senior Vice President, Charles Ding met with Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy of the African Union, Dr. Elham Ibrahim at the African Union specialized technical committee on Communication and Information Technologies (CCICT), to chart way forward.

During the conference, Ibrahim said "Recently in January, Huawei has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the African Union to jointly enhance Information and Communication Technology literacy and capability and ICT infrastructure development. This would further speed up the realization of the lofty set goals of Africa's Agenda 2063 and also we are very grateful of Huawei’s goodwill to offer ICT training for 25 employees of AU in China in the near future.

As a gesture of goodwill, Huawei would offer ICT training for 25 employees of AU in China in the near future. We are very grateful of such opportunities. Huawei has also pledged to train up to 1,000 ICT professionals from member states" She added.

On his part, Ding disclosed Huawei is solidifying efforts over the years with “Our partners on all fronts because we believe that ICT technologies are reshaping Africa and other parts of the world, and leading the next wave of sustainable social development. With our 17 years of experience within Africa's ICT industry coupled with our extensive industry global network, Huawei is well positioned to share the best practices and latest ICT solutions. we hope to support ICT infrastructure deployment and digital transformation practice across the Continent; upgrade labor force qualification and create more jobs through technology hands-on and transference, and provide regulatory policy consultation, including spectrum and licensing policy. While strengthening research and development capabilities, we promote people-to-people and technological exchanges, expand investment in the appropriate areas, and consequently to make greater contribution to poverty reduction and regional civilization."

Also speaking, Huawei Ethiopia CEO, Mr. Stone Shi, revealed that the company has released the global connectivity index (GCI), which is granted as the national economy barometer, a strong correlation between a country's ICT spending and its GDP.

“The natural conclusion is that the more a country invests in ICT, the more positive impact it has to its GDP. And he highlighted that ICT innovation and sustainable investment to empower Agenda 2063 should be the common goal . In the long journey, ICT regulatory framework will take a navigating role in the implementation of the Agenda 2063. So Let us be together realizing the ICT prosperity in Africa"