STORY: Huawei holds awarding ceremony for ICT regional competition in Lebanon
SHOOTING TIME: March 28, 2024
DATELINE: March 29, 2024
LENGTH: 00:02:59
LOCATION: Beirut
CATEGORY: TECHNOLOGY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the awarding ceremony
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): JONNY CORM, Lebanese Telecommunications Minister
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): MOHAMMAD CHARARA, Huawei's employee in Lebanon
4. SOUNDBITE 3 (Arabic): MICHELLE HADDAD, Winner of Huawei competition

STORYLINE:

China's tech giant Huawei on Thursday held in Lebanon an awarding ceremony for the country's participants who won the Huawei ICT Regional Competition.
   
According to a statement released by Huawei, the seventh edition of Huawei's ICT (information and communications technology) talent development initiative saw the highest level of participation since the competition was launched in 2017, attracting more than 27,500 students from more than 600 universities in 21 countries in the Middle East and Central Asia.
   
The main objectives of the ICT Competition are to stimulate innovation among university students, enhance their competencies and upgrade their skills, said the statement.
   
The Lebanese team in Network secured first place, the Cloud team won second place and the Computing team got third place in the regional finals, according to the statement.
   
The Network and Cloud teams will participate in the finals of the Huawei Global ICT Competition, which will be held in Shenzhen, China in May, it added.
   
Addressing the ceremony, Lebanese Telecommunications Minister Johnny Corm said the competition is a platform for Lebanese students to showcase their talents, challenge themselves, and ensure they have the resources they need to thrive in the ICT sector.
   
SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): JONNY CORM, Lebanese Telecommunications Minister
"What I can say is that Huawei is present in all the communications companies in Lebanon namely in ALPHA, TOUCH and OGERO and its presence is strong. It is normal that these relations will continue with Huawei."

SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): MOHAMMAD CHARARA, Huawei's employee in Lebanon
"We at Huawei have specialized programs to encourage the technical skills to fill the vacancy we are expecting in the technological field. Huawei is engaging in partnerships with universities around the world, especially in Lebanon with the aim of developing and delivering practical experience to the university students. 
That is what we are doing in Lebanon and this is what we are celebrating today with the students and universities."

SOUNDBITE 3 (Arabic): MICHELLE HADDAD, Winner of Huawei competition
"During this competition, I managed to get the experience I need in the field I want to work in. Through this, I learned too many things in the field I love. I made acquaintances with nice people with whom we formed a team, and we participated in the regional event in Bahrain and were ranked second, and because of this we are now going to participate in the global competition to be held in China."

Over the past years, hundreds of students from several colleges and universities in Lebanon have applied to participate in Huawei's ICT competitions, and many have received outstanding results.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Beirut.
(XHTV)