President Lazarus Chakwera has praised Huawei Technologies for its vital role in enhancing digital infrastructure in Malawi. The President made these remarks on Tuesday during a meeting with Huawei’s Technical Management Team, led by Vice President Li Junfeng, in Beijing, China.
Accompanied by Minister of Information and Digitalisation Moses Kunkuyu, President Chakwera highlighted the significant benefits Malawi has gained from Huawei’s cutting-edge solutions, ranging from smart devices to advanced digital services. He particularly noted the successful execution of the Fibre Backbone Project, which enabled the inauguration of Malawi’s first State-of-the-Art National Data Centre in Blantyre on July 21, 2022. This achievement, according to Chakwera, has firmly placed Malawi on the global digitalisation map.
“My administration is keen on collaborating with Huawei in several key areas, including the Smart Village Initiative for rural communities, the establishment of technical training centers for ICT to upskill our youth in digital skills such as AI and cybersecurity, and smart agriculture solutions to support our large-scale farm initiatives,” President Chakwera stated.
The President also reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to expanding electricity access across the country through the minigrid project, expressing his intent to explore financing opportunities to identify eligible areas nationwide.
Huawei Technologies Managing Director for Malawi, Gomez Gu, expressed the company’s readiness to support Malawi’s digitalisation efforts, particularly in power solutions through microgrids and computing, especially in rural areas.
Minister Kunkuyu added that the government will soon launch the first Smart Villages project, aiming to increase connectivity and access to online services in rural areas across Malawi.
The meeting was part of President Chakwera’s broader engagement with various Chinese companies on the sidelines of the Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which runs from Wednesday to Friday.
