The Minister of Knowledge Economy, Start‑ups and Micro‑enterprises, Noureddine Ouadah, presided this Wednesday at the ministry’s headquarters a working meeting with the new Chief Executive Officer of Huawei Algeria, Tony Shi Xiaohua. The session focused on the modalities for strengthening bilateral cooperation in the fields of digital technology and innovation, according to a ministerial communiqué.
This meeting, attended by senior officials from both sides, fits within a broader drive to “support Algeria’s technological transformation” and “build a more integrated and competitive start‑up ecosystem,” the ministry stated. Discussions centred on several strategic axes deemed essential for the future of the national digital sector.
Artificial intelligence emerged as a priority lever. In an international context marked by the rise of large‑scale language‑model technologies, both parties addressed “growing needs in computing capacity” and “access to specialised equipment,” particularly graphics processing units (GPUs), which are critical for designing and deploying AI‑based solutions.
In this perspective, the partners discussed “mechanisms to facilitate the acquisition of these technologies while encouraging the development of locally‑made solutions tailored to the needs of the national and African markets.” This line of thinking reflects the government’s stated ambition to build technological sovereignty by harnessing and valorising domestic skills.
The talks also tackled training and human‑capital development, with both sides underlining “the strategic importance of investing in human capital,” notably through the strengthening of research‑and‑development programmes and the mobilisation of Algerian talent in high‑technology sectors.
In the same vein, the possibility of building a local electronics‑equipment industry was examined. The discussions emphasised “the need to integrate micro‑enterprises more deeply into value chains,” in order to stimulate wealth creation and foster a diversified industrial fabric.
The opportunities offered by fifth‑generation (5G) technology were also widely discussed. The partners explored “innovative deployment opportunities,” in particular those driven by Algerian start‑ups, for concrete applications across various economic and social sectors.
At the close of the meeting, the two sides reached a preliminary agreement to “establish the foundations of a serious and effective partnership,” based on “greater involvement of start‑ups” and close coordination with the public start‑up accelerator Algeria Venture. This reinforces the authorities’ stated goal of making the digital economy and innovation central pillars of Algeria’s development, at the crossroads of sovereignty, competitiveness and openness to African markets.
By opting for a strategic partnership with Huawei, the Algerian government aims to bypass technological bottlenecks, capture the fields of artificial intelligence and structure an innovation ecosystem able to project its influence beyond the national border