25 Nov 2015

The ambassador of Botswana to China Mr Sasara George has expressed appreciation to Huawei Technologies for sponsoring a group of University of Botswana students' two weeks training in advanced information communications technology in China.

The 10 students, six males and four females studying masters and bachelor's degrees in information and communications technologies, arrived in China for Huawei Technologies Seeds for the Future ICT Training Programme over the weekend.

They were accompanied by Huawei Botswana public communications manager Xu Liang.

While in China they will learn about modern connectivity technologies used by the company for 3G, 4G, and Huawei Clouds among others. They will also visit the company's laboratories in Shenzhen, southern China.

On Monday, the students went for basic Chinese language classes at the Beijing Language University before meeting with the ambassador in Beijing for an official welcome function.

Mr George said the company was playing an important role towards the development of Botswana through its corporate social responsibility ICT programme, the Seeds for the Future ICT Training Programme.

"I have noted that through this training, Huawei Technologies Botswana aims to cultivate ICT professionals and thus drive knowledge transformation.

This is a welcome initiative as it is in accordance with our country's vision on building an educated and informed nation," Mr George said.

He said the knowledge and skills acquired by the trainees would go a long way in contributing to the development of ICT in Botswana.

"I implore you to use this rare opportunity to develop yourselves. I further implore you to grow beyond your present barriers and circumstances and use this training to build your own future," the ambassador told trainees.

On Monday, the students went for Chinese language classes at the Beijing Language University.

Mr Xu , speaking on behalf of the company 's managing director Mr Gao Wenli, explained that Huawei Botswana was aiming to grow together with Botswana.

He said the company has experienced phenomenal growth since starting to operate in Botswana.

He saidHuawei Botswana celebrated 10 years of existence last month. Speaking on behalf of the 10 students, Shathani Mbulawa made assurances that they would take their training seriously.

“We want to be part of the process of developing ICT in Botswana. With the knowledge we are going to learn here, we believe that we would help to build a better Botswana when we get back home,” Mbulawa said.

The training will end on December 4. Ends