By : Wael Elhoseny – Nahla Makled

Huawei, the world pioneer in information and communication technology solutions, participated in a round table entitled "The Future of Technology and Post-Pandemic Digital Transformation", conducted within the 4th edition of the World Youth Forum that is held from 10-13 January 2022 in Sharm El-Sheikh under the auspices of H.E. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt. The round table shed light on the role of technological advancement in exposing and combating the challenges of the pandemic in various areas.

During the forum, Dr. Amr Talaat, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, emphasized the role of technology in helping achieve the sustainable development goals, highlighting the Egyptian strategic partnerships for promoting digital transformation in light of Egypt Vision 2030.

“Sustainable development can only be done if we managed to use ICT effectively, and education is the key to doing so. We are keen to invest in human resources especially young people to digitally empower and prepare them for the labor markets in the future as new ICT-related jobs will appear. We doubled the allocated budget to human development, targeting a huge package of training programs. One of those programs is Huawei ICT talent bank (iTB), through which we targeted to train and upskill 10,000 trainees in the most advanced fields and technologies. This cooperation is of great value to us, we hope to continue our cooperation with Huawei as our plan targets 200,000 trainees,” Dr. Talaat said.

Presenting Huawei’s vision for the future of the technology, Mr. Philippe Wang - Executive Vice President Huawei - Northern Africa, participated in the round table, highlighting the company’s efforts to support digital transformation strategies, in Africa. Mr. Wang tackled the technological infrastructure and its impact on digital transformation and sustainable development strategies and their post-pandemic challenges in Africa and developing countries, in addition to the factors influencing the formation of the digital future in Africa.

Mr. Wang reflected Huawei’s contribution in developing the infrastructure in African countries and maximizing the resources of their countries, as well as the efforts to bridge the digital divide between developing and developed countries, to achieve sustainable development.

“My participation in this round table at the World Youth Forum is a great opportunity to exchange expertise in the field of ICT. It also opens the door to tackle the methods to maximize the potential of Africa and help it utilize its diverse resources. We, at Huawei, are keen to empower the African young people through our training programs that target developing the youth skills and bridge the gap between education and the labor market in various ICT areas, to advance Africa's digital transformation to achieve sustainable development. This comes as part of Huawei’s efforts to digitally empower Africa and bridge the digital divide,” Mr. Philip Wang said.