Tunisian Minister of Education Hatem Ben Salem (4th R) and Chinese Ambassador to Tunisia Wang Wenbin (C) pose with outstanding students of Seeds for the Future 2019 program during an award ceremony in Tunis, capital of Tunisia, on Dec. 20, 2019. Chinese tech giant Huawei organized the ceremony here on Friday to honor students and instructors from the programs of Huawei ICT Academy and Seeds for the Future 2019 program. (Photo by Adele Ezzine/Xinhua)

TUNIS, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese tech giant Huawei on Friday organized a ceremony in Tunisia's capital Tunis to honor students and instructors from the programs of Huawei ICT Academy and Seeds for the Future 2019 program.

The event was attended by Tunisian Minister of Education Hatem Ben Salem, Chinese Ambassador to Tunisia Wang Wenbin, and General Director of Huawei in Tunisia Zhang Qian as well as professors and students in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

"Seeds for the Future program celebrates its fifth anniversary in Tunisia this year," said Zhang in his inaugural speech.

Each year, Huawei sends to China 10 Tunisian ICT engineering students who are rigorously selected through the program.

So far, Huawei has sent more than 55 students to study in China by its cooperation with more than 20 Tunisian universities in the program.

Tunisia hosted the Huawei ICT Academy program at the end of 2017, the first French-speaking country in Africa to do so, according to Zhang.

"Huawei has signed agreements in this area with 47 major Tunisian universities," Zhang said.

A total of 1,900 Tunisian students have participated in the competition of Huawei ICT Academy for the past two years, he added.

For his part, the Chinese ambassador hailed the two Huawei programs as "investment programs in the ICT professions of tomorrow."

"These programs strengthen Tunisian-Chinese collaboration in several fields and share knowledge between the two cultures, especially in new technology," Wang said.

Ben Salem also praised Huawei's role in developing Tunisian ICT industry.

"Huawei ICT Academy and Seeds for the Future allow future engineers to improve their knowledge, share their skills, and compare themselves in theory and practice with other engineers around the world," the Tunisian minister said.

Huawei Seeds for the Future is a global initiative that has been successfully operating since 2008. The program has been implemented in 108 countries with the participation of over 5,000 students so far.