Huawei partners CSSL for National Information Technology Conference

From left: Huawei Deputy Chief Executive Officer Xiao Hua Ricardo, Huawei Vice President Indika De Zoysa, Huawei Sri Lanka Chief Executive Officer Liang Yi, CSSL President Prabath Samindra, CSSL Vice President Damith Hettihewa and CSSL Assistant Secretary Heshan Karunaratne

The world’s leading ICT provider, Huawei has come forward to partner one of Sri Lanka’s flagship ICT events – the National Information Technology Conference (NITC) organised by the Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL). 

This year, the consecutive 38th year, the CSSL organises the National Information Technology Conference (NITC), with the theme ‘Towards a Sustainable Digital Sri Lanka’ to bring better value proposition for the participants and also to add value to Sri Lanka by attracting more foreign delegates as well as speakers.

The National Information Technology Conference (NITC) is a flagship ICT event that bring together key ICT decision makers in private and public sector to share and discuss latest trends in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) with over 60 foreign and local prominent speakers and 1000 plus ICT professionals.

“As the nation’s apex association that represents ICT professionals, we are delighted that a global ICT giant – Huawei has come forward to partner one of Sri Lanka’s flagship ICT events, the National Information Technology Conference (NITC),” said CSSL President Prabath S. Wickramaratne.

“We believe this to be another advancing step towards introducing the latest innovative cutting edge technologies that Huawei have developed and brought in over the years to Sri Lanka’s ICT industry and the digital transformation of Sri Lanka,” he said, adding that the move would enable ICT industry stakeholders of the country to explore new avenues and digital innovations that could pave the way for the sustainability of a digital Sri Lanka. 

“As Huawei, we are committed to enrich and cultivate the Digital and ICT skills, talent of the younger generation and digitalisation of Sri Lanka. As a country, it is in fact important to highlight that Sri Lanka has initiated several programs to lay the foundation for the digitalisation of the economy and society in recent times. ICT is one of the fastest growing sectors in Sri Lanka and the Asia Pacific region contributing largely to current GDP despite an ongoing pandemic situation in the world,” Huawei Sri Lanka Chief Executive Officer Liang Yi said. 

“We will share our innovation and best practices for the development of the ICT industry of this beautiful country through similar initiatives such as National ICT Conference. In collaboration with ICT industry partners such as CSSL and even ICTA recently helping the young talent to be competitive, we will continue to be a primary driver of digital transformation in Sri Lanka, being always ‘In Sri Lanka, For Sri Lanka,” Yi pointed out.

The CSSL organises the National Information Technology Conference (NITC) as an annual event. 

Established in 1976 as the foremost association representing Information and Communications Technology (ICT) professionals in Sri Lanka, the Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL), has been inducted into Seoul Accord as a Provisional Member, at the Seoul Accord Meeting in Cambridge, UK 2018. The CSSL is also a member of the South East Asia Regional Computer Confederation (SEARCC) and International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP).

Huawei has been operating in Sri Lanka since 1998 and has extensive and in-depth cooperation with local mainstream telecom operators, governments, and industry customers. Sri Lanka is a country rich with Human Capital and Huawei is strongly committed to continuously develop high-level information and communications technology and youth talent to bridge the gap between skills and capabilities of university graduates and enterprises. Huawei Sri Lanka had entered into new initiatives this year to build up digital skills and to deepen the long lasting collaboration with local ecosystem and partners to cultivate ICT talent for the development of Sri Lanka. 

The initiatives includes a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the leading technological universities in Sri Lanka to enable the educated and talented youth to further enhance their skills in the ICT domain and to be competitive in the ever-growing ICT industry, as part of Huawei’s long-term digital inclusion initiative ‘TECH4ALL’ to support Sri Lanka to fulfil the country’s vision. These initiatives will create new opportunities for Sri Lankan students to be future and industry ready and to fulfil the future demands of ICT industry. 

Over the years, Huawei has continuously promoted the development of the ICT talent ecosystem in Sri Lanka through activities such as the Huawei Seeds for the Future program that was launched in 2016, and providing internship for talented youth, and ICT Skills industrial training.