On the sidelines of the International Telecommunications Forum, organized by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in Hungary from September 9 to 12, Zimbabwe and China signed an agreement to boost their ICT sectors.  

The cooperation deal was inked by Zimbabwe's ICT Minister, Kazembe Kazembe (pictured), and China's Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Chen Zhaoxiong. Zimbabwe will benefit from China's expertise in various segments of the telecom sector, including the development of the optical fiber network, mobile broadband network, and local Internet connectivity; the development of international and cross-border land and submarine cables; the development and operation of international voice and data services; and the use and management of satellite radio spectrum.

The African country is seeking China's support in research and development, manufacturing and assembly plant development, big data, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, data center technology, software applications and product development using advanced technologies.

Zimbabwe would like to accelerate the promotion of mobile and Internet applications in areas of industrial convergence adaptation such as smart cities, smart agriculture, smart health, smart education, and smart planning.