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The Award Distribution Ceremony for Huawei’s ICT Middle East Competition in collaboration with The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication of Pakistan was conducted at the President House in Islamabad. President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Dr.ArifAlvi, Secretary Telecommunication and Information Technology Dr. Sohail Rajput, Vice President of Huawei Middle East, Mr. Wang Shun Li, CEO of Huawei Pakistan, Mr. Mark Meng, the winning Pakistani teams, along with other officials from MoITT and Huawei Pakistan were all present at the occasion.
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 the participation of 11 teams from countries covering the entire Middle East Region.
On 23rd Dec, Pakistan’s team consisting of Sateesh Kumar, Iqra Fatima, and BhagchandMeghwar along with their instructor Dr. Faheem Khuhawar Instructor won 1stprize of 20,000 USD. Not only so, the 2ndprize was also grabbed by Pakistan’s team two consisting of Hafiz Rizwan, Adnan Ali, and Mukhtar Muhammad along with their instructor.
President Dr. ArifAlvi, speaking at the closing ceremony of the Huawei ICT competition here, saying
“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. I believe that ten million people would get jobs in information technology sector in future.”
Secretary Telecommunication and Information Technology Dr. Sohail Rajput reiterated the sentiment, saying,
“First of all, I congratulate all the Pakistan excellent talents won this ICT competition final. This shows we have the talents, the youths and energy which can bring a lot of things for Pakistan. If we want to increase our exports and reduce our trade deficit, the only way is invest to our youths because this is our biggest asset. And Formula investing in youth and talent is the IT. Under president’s leading and put more investment in ICT sector, we can easily get our target in short future.”
After everyone viewed a short video summary of the competition, Mr. Wang Shunli stated at the ceremony,
“This is the super competitiveness that Pakistan will rely on 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.”
Sateesh Kumar, a member of Pakistan’s team that clutched the first prize was grateful for the opportunity, saying,
“In my first attempt, I could not quality for the finals but that didn’t come in the way of my drive, I tried harder & pushed my limits, added more skills and gave a second attempt in which I made my nation proud. Huawei gave us a wide range of opportunities through which my team and I can revolutionize our world, starting with Pakistan.”
