Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit alongside his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

Malawi has announced plans to launch a Smart Village Initiative working together with Huawei. 

This effort, according to the government, seeks to bring digital transformation to rural areas across the country, thereby improving connectivity and access to digital services.

President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera outlined the idea on the sidelines of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit in Beijing in China.

The plan would entail the establishment of technical training centers in rural areas to provide young people with necessary digital skills such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and smart agriculture solutions.

The Smart Village Blueprint, which serves as the project's foundation, is intended to be a realistic tool for improving access to the internet in rural and isolated communities. 

The program intends to deliver equitable and efficient services connected to the Sustainable Development Goals through the use of digital technologies.

"My administration is also keen on collaborating with Huawei on several specific areas of the Smart Village Initiative for rural communities, including the establishment of technical training centers for ICT to help us upskill our youth in digital skills, AI and cybersecurity, Smart agriculture solutions to support our large-scale farm initiatives, and Cybersecurity for Malawi's digital landscape," Chakwera explained.