Huawei holds 1st 'SFTF Alumni Reunion' in Tunisia

The Chinese tech giant Huawei held on Saturday the opening ceremony of its first "Seeds For the Future (SFTF) Alumni Reunion -- North Africa 2022" in the Tunisian capital of Tunis.

The event was attended by Chinese Ambassador to Tunisia Zhang Jianguo, Tunisian Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Moncef Boukthir and Executive Vice President of Huawei Northern Africa Wang Dong.

The three-day event kicked off on Friday, attracting more than 80 alumni of the SFTF program from 21 African countries, including Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Egypt.

During the ceremony, Zhang called for closer cooperation between governments, businesses, universities and institutions to make digital education a fundamental right for the African youth.

For his part, the Tunisian minister said the fact that Huawei chose Tunisia to host the first edition of the forum proves its confidence in the North African country, which will serve as a locomotive for the North African region to strengthen cooperation with China.

"We believe that there is great potential to develop and structure this knowledge-based collaboration," Boukthir said.

Wang noted that "SFTF is not just a simple academic program. It's a bridge that crosses all borders of the world to build a better and more prosperous future for the generations to come."

"Huawei plans to train around 10,000 ICT engineers in Tunisia in the next five years," he added.

SFTF is Huawei's flagship CSR (Corporate social responsibility) program run since 2008, which aims to develop ICT talents in different countries.