Huawei LEAP Summit 2024

A recording of these remarks can be found on YouTube and Tencent.

I am pleased to join this summit on a topic that is growing in pertinence and relevance.

Digital skills are the skills that will be required for workers to innovate and thrive in the 21st century.

However, not everyone has equal access to or capability in information and communications technology.

According to the International Financial Corporation of the World Bank Group, over 230 million jobs in Sub-Saharan Africa will require digital skills by 2030.

However, only 36 per cent of Africans currently enjoy access to broadband connectivity.

As the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said, “African students – like students everywhere – need the skills and knowledge to compete in the modern global economy.”

Therefore, advancing Information and Communications Technology skills for all, including people living in Sub-Saharan Africa, is of critical importance to the United Nations.

This task will require us to transform not only what students learn but also how they learn.

Here, I welcome Huawei’s focus through the roll-out of its LEAP ICT Talent program.

Through this program, young people will build strong digital skills that will lead to the creation of a skilled information and communications technology workforce, while also promoting digital literacy across the region at the same time.

This program hopes to reach more than 100,000 people over three years to build these essential information and communications technology skills.

We hope these efforts can help people everywhere better harness digital technologies, narrow the skills gap and create sustained prosperity along with sustainable development, all of which are essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In such efforts, partnerships with relevant stakeholders, such as those in the private sector, are essential to turbocharge progress on the SDGs.

When I served as United Nations Resident Coordinator in Kenya, I saw Huawei work with us, the Government and other companies to support efforts to reduce maternal mortality.

In fact, this was a flagship initiative between the United Nations system, Huawei, Merck, GlaxoSmithKlein, Safaricom, and Philips, led by the Government of Kenya. 

We were able to have a massive impact in six of the highest-burden counties of Kenya, in reducing maternal death by one-third. 

Therefore, partnerships and a multilateral approach are absolutely critical.

I am also encouraged to see Huawei’s commitment to developing information and communications technology skills globally, including its work with United Nations entities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Through the Open Schools projects, jointly launched by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and Huawei, we are seeing the building of school systems that are more resilient in the face of crises.

We must help schools in developing countries to be transformed into open and technology-enabled institutions that provide more inclusive and equitable educational opportunities and better outcomes for students.

Here, the Instant Network School program of the Vodafone Foundation and The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, supported by Huawei’s information and communications technology equipment, has seen internet access and digital education improve in some of Africa’s most marginalized communities.

Information and communications technology skills are the key to Africa’s future success and its ability to achieve the SDGs.

Whether it is agriculture, manufacturing, the operation of businesses large and small, or the affordable and clean energy transition set to take place in Africa, these digital skills will be needed to leverage the best strengths found across the continent and its young population.

That is why I am excited to see an increased interest among young people in Africa to gain the capabilities to pursue careers in information and communications technology, as highlighted at today’s summit.

Whether it is education, digital technologies, or the SDGs, no individual, group, or country can go at it alone.

Therefore, closing the digital divide is a key objective of the United Nations and will be an important priority at the upcoming Summit of the Future this September.

At this Summit, we will see a focus on science, technology, innovation and artificial intelligence and an expected agreement on a Global Digital Compact.

This Compact, among other things, will seek to spur further action to ensure digital technologies are accessible and affordable to all.

But the barriers here remain immense and require us to collaborate if we are to leave no one behind.

We must work together and exchange ideas to continue making progress and ensure that no one is left behind.

Together, I hope we can develop more impactful and lasting solutions to build peace, dignity and equality on a healthy planet.

I wish you all a fruitful summit.