CHINESE tech companies such as Huawei (T) have a key role in Chinese government efforts in extending high technology in African countries for them to march with the fast growing digital world economy, the country’s envoy has stated.

Chen Mingjian, the resident Chinese ambassador, made this affirmation in Dar es Salaam yesterday, gracing the ICT talent annual ceremony held at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), in line with awarding students from universities emerging winners of the 2025 global ICT competition.

In her remarks, the envoy reaffirmed support to Tanzania’s initiatives in the development of innovation, to uplift the information, communication and technology (ICT) sector towards achieving integration in a vibrant digital economy.

Trade between the two countries reached almost $9bn, making China the leading trade partner for Tanzania, she said, underlining that China’s investments in Tanzania were growing fast, strongly promoting economic development.

As for the education sector, last year China provided more than 200 degree slots for Tanzanian students, largely covering ICT courses, she said, pointing at Tanzania’s ICT development as heading to its advanced age in achieving global digital development.

Tanzania is well positioned in grooming ICT professionals since it hosts youths in higher learning institutions who are eager at excelling in ICT in local and wider settings, she stated.

Dr Amos Nungu, the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) director general, commended the annual ICT competition organized by Huawei Corporation, along with UDSM, the University of Dodoma (UDOM) and the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT).

The tech company has been working with the government in training university students in ICT skills and has seen Tanzanian teams win global awards, he said, noting that the collaboration has been crucial to running the ICT Academy programme in partnership with universities.

This provides hands-on training and the Seeds for the Future programme which offers digital skills training and includes study opportunities abroad, he elaborated, explaining that the goal for this programme and collaboration is to cultivate a strong local ICT ecosystem and build a digital talent pool for Tanzania's sustainable development.

The ICT competition is one of the company’s flagship ICT talent cultivation programs, with over 100,000 students participating in the competition worldwide every year, he said, pointing out that Huawei Corporation first held this competition in Tanzania in 2018.

In the following six years, 19 ICT academies have been established in collaboration with various Tanzanian universities, and more than 6,000 students have been trained through these academies, with over 2,500 of them participating in the ICT competition locally, he said.

Dr. Florence Rashid, a UDOM specialized college principal, said that in this year’s competition Tanzanian teams emerged winners of the global grand prize in the connectivity and networking category.

This year’s competition featured 179 teams from 48 countries worldwide, meanwhile eight students will this month travel to Shenzhen for a two-week programme as part of the hands-on training extended by the company, she added.