By Our Reporter
The Minister of ICT and National Guidance Hon. Chris Baryomunsi has said that the government of Uganda will continue working with Huawei in fast-tracking digital in order to achieve the 2040 digital vision. He made these remarks at the Huawei ICT Congress 2023 held at Sheraton Hotel Kampala on Wednesday.
The Huawei ICT Congress is a mirror of the Mobile World Congress always held in Barcelona where Huawei has been a top exhibitor showcasing the latest technology. The Huawei ICT Congress 2023 with the theme “Guide to the Intelligent World” organized by Huawei Uganda is aimed at Building collaborations between Uganda & Huawei to support & deploy AI in all sectors of Uganda’s Economy.
Huawei exhibited technology in Smart converged offices network, smart education solutions, green datacenter solutions, Huawei cloud, national digital transformation solutions, 5G to Business and Rural networks. This is the second time Huawei is holding such an event in Uganda.
The Minister of ICT and National guidance Hon. Dr. Chris Baryomunsi emphasized the need to embrace and integrate technology in all sectors of the Uganda’s economy such as agriculture, education and Health among others for better service delivery and productivity.
“We must embrace technology because during the COVID-19 lockdown, children in urban areas who had access to technology benefited more than those in rural areas… so during that time (covid-19 lockdown) ICT was more appreciated by many others who never thought they needed technology. Our desire as the ministry is that when we speak of 4th industrial revolution and the technological advances, we must move and join the rest of the world,” said Chris Baryomunsi.
“We want thank Huawei for the good work you are doing, you are one of the committed partners, we have worked with you in many programs such as the National Backbone Infrastructure just as the NITA ED mentioned and we shall continue working with you in the future for our digital transformation journey,” he added.
In attendance at the congress was Dr. Amina Zawedde, Permanent Secretary Ministry of ICT and National guidance NITA-U’s Hatwib Mugasa, Huawei Vice president of Carrier Business Group Southern Africa Mad Chen, Huawei Vice President of Enterprise Business group Amy Xia and Huawei Uganda MD Gaofei.
While giving her remarks, The Permanent Secretary Ministry of ICT and National Guidance Dr. Aminah Zawedde applauded Huawei for enabling various digital opportunities in Uganda called upon all innovators, tech start-ups, and BPO firms to take advantage of the opportunities availed by Huawei. She said that digital transformation is part and parcel of all government agendas to acknowledge the fast-growing sub-sector.
“Thank you, Huawei for the enormous opportunities provided to the Ugandan population. Digital transformation is at the heart of the country & we need to acknowledge that the country is transforming at a very fast rate thus we as a ministry have been tasked with creating an enabling digital vision having the people at the center of it all,” she said.
The Executive Director of NITAU Uganda, Dr. Hatwib Mugasa said that they are working together with Huawei, to establish a National Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) that spans over 4,000 kilometers across the country.
He said this has enabled access to high-speed internet for businesses, schools, and communities in remote areas of Uganda. The NBI enabled the successful implementation of e-government services which have greatly improved efficiency and transparency in government operations.
“We are working tirelessly to ensure that the policy’s goals are achieved by providing the necessary infrastructure and support for the digital transformation of Uganda,” he said.
According to Huawei’s Vice President & President of Huawei Cloud of Southern Africa Stone He, “last year, Huawei and Ugandan operators worked together to deepen connectivity to connect more people, homes, enterprises, Improve ICT skills for young people and joint innovations. With the strong support of the Ministry of ICT, We are glad to see that, Uganda’s network coverage and quality has been significantly improved, Internet users continued to increase, and the digital economy is showing gradual progress”.