Remarks by Hon. Frank Tumwebaze
Minister of ICT & National Guidance
Event: Huawei Seeds for the Future Program Launch Ceremony
Venue: Makerere University, Kampala
Date: April 24th, 2017
The Deputy Chief of the Mission, Chinese Embassy to Uganda
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education
The Deputy Vice Chancellor of Makerere University
Huawei Managing Director
Guests present,
Students,
The Media,
Ladies and Gentlemen
Good Afternoon
It is my utmost pleasure to be here today to witness the launch of the Huawei Seeds for the Future Program 2017. I also commend the government of China for the long standing traditional friendship that exists between the two nations. This relationship has been a driving force in boosting solidarity, cooperation and national development.
As a Ministry, we have been working with Huawei for more than 10 years since the National Backbone Infrastructure/e-government project was started until today. It’s worth noting that the third phase of this Project has been completed connecting towns such as; Masaka, Mutukula, Mbarara, Kabale and Katuna boarder. With further expansion of the national backbone infrastructure, the government shall be provided with a seamless and secure communication amongst MDAs and also provide high speed connectivity throughout the towns and districts to enable the provision of e-government services such as e-education, e-health, e-tax etc.
The Ministry signed an MOU with Huawei in April 2016, and the Seeds for the Future program is one of the activities that were agreed upon by both parties. Under this program, mentorship of students is to be done through study opportunities through internship among students and study trips to China for 10 students. We are grateful that this is being fulfilled today.
The Seeds for the Future program is in line with the digitization Uganda strategy. It helps cultivate and pool together ICT professionals and students that are crucial to industry development, thus boosting ICT industry growth, driving the development of different sectors and contributing to lower unemployment rates over the long term.
Finally, I take this opportunity to thank the government of China, the Ministry of Education and Sports, Huawei, Makerere University, the other various universities and everyone else involved in this program that greatly contributes to the ICT Sector.
To the beneficiary students, please don’t take such opportunities lightly but rather maximize them to become better by gathering useful experiences.
I thank you all.
Frank K. Tumwebaze, MP
MINISTER OF ICT AND NATIONAL GUIDANCE
