by Mariam Raheem 

 

Islamabad -- President Dr. Arif Alvi Friday expressed his appreciation for companies like Huawei for training a large number of students in Information Technology (IT), and pointed out that international companies wanted to create an ecosystem for harnessing talent. “I believe that ten million people would get jobs in information technology sector in the future.”

 

 

The President gave the above remarks on the Award Distribution Ceremony for Huawei’s ICT Middle East Competition in collaboration with the the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication of Pakistan. He is aware of the cooperative arrangement of the Huawei Academy with about 80 different universities in Pakistan to develop and groom young talent.

 

The President was of the view that data had assumed huge significance in today’s world and software engineers and other professionals were required to analyze and sift the data which was getting added at a very fast speed. Professionals were needed in the new areas of cloud computing, cyber security, artificial intelligence and block chain.

 

He added that data warfare was a constant feature of today’s world and Pakistan was also being targeted. The youth bulge of Pakistan could be utilized to make headway in information technology, through which now people could work from anywhere in the world. He also underlined the need for bridging the technology gap and educating the youth through distance learning and internet applications.

 

On the occaion, Mr. Wang Shun Li, Vice President of Huawei Middle East, highlighted that the super competitiveness that Pakistan will rely on is the youths who are equipped with ICT technology most in the future. “For this mission, I really hope to be able to count on this partnership with all of you, together we can drive digital transformation of Pakistan and help to develop the next generations of local ICT talents to boost Pakistan digital economy.”

 

Dr. Sohail Rajput, Secretary Telecommunication and Information Technology underscored, “if we want to increase our exports and reduce our trade deficit, the only way is invest in our youths because this is our biggest asset. And the Formula of investing in youth and talent is IT. Under president’s leading and put more investment in ICT sector, Pakistan can easily get our target in short future.”

 

 

The competition is a Huawei annual ICT initiative, designed to nurture global ICT talent. Over the month of October, Huawei’s Talent Ecosystem team carried out multiple roadshows at more than 134 universities, hitting a registration number of 10,150 candidates. 8 excellent students were interviewed after regional training and the top 6 qualified for Regional Exam which was scheduled to be held from 21st – 23rd Dec in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The final round of the competition witnessed participation of 11 teams from countries covering the entire Middle East Region.

 

On 23rd Dec, 2021, Pakistan’s team one consisting of Sateesh Kumar, Iqra Fatima, and Bhagchand Meghwar along with their instructor Dr. Faheem Khuhawar Instructor won 1st prize of USD 20,000. Not only so, the 2nd prize was also grabbed by Pakistan’s team two consisting of Hafiz Rizwan, Adnan Ali, and Mukhtar Muhammad along with their instructor. Mr. Mark Meng, CEO of Huawei Pakistan, the winning Pakistani teams, along with other officials from MoITT and Huawei Pakistan were all present on the occasion.

 

This article originally appeared on Gwadar Pro.