Chinese tech behemoth Huawei reaffirmed its dedication to support Saudi Arabia in its shift towards carbon neutrality, a spokesperson told Al Arabiya English in an interview on the sidelines of GITEX Global 2022 in Dubai on Monday.
“We are strong supporters of the Middle East region’s green ambitions and the strategies of countries like Saudi Arabia and others to move towards carbon neutrality. This movement involves innovating green, low-carbon networks and data centers while promoting clean energy development,” said Alaa Elshimy, Managing Director and Senior Vice President of Enterprise BG at Huawei Middle East.
Elshimy said that Huawei has several clean energy and digital power projects in place across the Middle East.
“We have always believed that the biggest value Huawei can bring to advance the green agenda is to use continuous technology innovation to help all industries reduce their energy consumption and achieve low-carbon development,” Elshimy said.
“Within this context, Huawei is stepping up efforts in digital power. Our vision is to integrate digital and power electronics technologies, develop green power, and enable energy digitalization for a better, greener future. We continue to invest in foundational digital power technologies, developing clean power, and promoting energy digitalization.”
Elshimy’s comments come as the world begins its shift towards net-zero emissions and ahead of the COP27 climate conference which is set to take place in Egypt next month.
Under the Saudi Green Initiative, the Kingdom aims to cut carbon emissions by over 270 million tons per year in order to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060. The initiative, launched in 2021, will see investments of more than $183.63 billion, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in recorded remarks last October.
“In my opinion, the GCC is the most important market for us outside of China. Saudi is the biggest market for us in the region, followed by the UAE.”
The Chinese tech giant has supported the Kingdom on a variety of projects, including upskilling local talent to support the digitalization goals outlined in Saudi’s Vision 2030 – a transformative economic and social reform blueprint launched and initiated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2016.
The Saudi Digital Academy (SDA) recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Huawei to develop local talent within the technology domain.
The two organizations are working together on the launch of new projects within the Huawei ICT Academy Program which involves building a talent supply chain, covering the entire process of learning, certification, and talent promotion.
Through such projects, SDA and Huawei aim to support 8,000 Saudi trainees through the Huawei ICT Certification Program.
Source: Alarabiya News