December the 4th, 2021 - Huawei Technologies, in cooperation with the Ministry of Science and Education and the Croatian Academic and Research Network - CARNET, has donated 100 tablets to Croatian school children. More specifically, the devices have gone to five primary schools located around Vukovar.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes, this donation is part of the global donation project "1000 Dreams", which Huawei is implementing across Croatia for the third year in a row. It was launched here in Croatia on the basis of signed Memoranda of Understanding between this gigantic tech company and the Central State Office of the Government of the Republic of Croatia for the Development of the Digital Society from 2019.

As part of the “1000 Dreams” project back in 2019, 200 books, picture books and 200 educational toys of various kinds were donated to the users of the Zamisli (Imagine) association, while at the beginning of this year, 320 STEM books and 80 tablets were provided for primary schools in Glina, Petrinja and the surrounding areas.

"CARNET has been working for many years on the digital transformation of the educational system and the equipment of Croatian schools with modern technology through numerous projects. Therefore, we're very happy to respond to Huawei's invitation to participate in the ''1000 Dreams'' project, which will enable students and teachers to take advantage of the benefits of information and communication technology and gain new knowledge and skills,'' said Hrvoje Puljiz, Director of CARNET.

Representatives of Huawei visited schools and Croatian school children and handed over the tablets to the principals of the schools.

"Children and young people are the most important social group that we at Huawei are particularly focused on. We believe that in today's world, access to digital technology is a prerequisite for their development and we're extremely pleased that through such donations we can contribute to building a better future. In addition to raising the quality of teaching, we hope that our tablets will have a positive impact on directing young people towards the further discovery of modern digital technologies and opportunities that open up to us,'' added Kevin Zhang Qiming, the CEO of Huawei Technologies Croatia.

The "1000 Dreams" project is otherwise a five-year cooperation programme during which Huawei will continuously work to improve the digital skills of young people in Central and Eastern Europe and encourage them to find a passion for science and engage in research.

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ZAGREB, April 20, 2020 - Public Administration Minister Ivan Malenica and the Director General of Huwaei Croatia, Zhang Heng, on Monday visited Zagreb families who were left without their homes in the March 22 earthquake and are living in a student dormitory in Zagreb, donating to them Huawei tablets worth HRK 250,000.

The Chinese technology company donated 170 MediaPad T5 10 tablets to families affected by the earthquake.

Minister Malenica spoke with citizens about their everyday routine in the temporary accommodation, recalling the possibility of using digital services, which would help them in coping with their current situation, the ministry said in a press release.

"It is in situations like this that digitisation is the key and all its advantages come to the fore - even though we are distanced, we are connected," said Malenica.

We wanted to relieve the everyday routine for fellow citizens affected by the earthquake who were compelled to vacate their homes. We hope that these tablets will help the youngest keep up with online lessons and provide older users with access to timely information as well as facilitate contact with family members and serve as a way to occupy one's free time, Zhang Heng said.

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ZAGREB, November 3, 2019 - Croatian Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković, who is on an official visit to China on 2-6 November, on Sunday visited Huawei, a Chinese multinational technology company specialised in manufacturing telecommunications equipment, including smartphones.

Senior executives of this company, headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, informed the Croatian official of the group's operation in more than 170 countries worldwide and participation in digitisation and digital transformation processes.

They expressed satisfaction with the company's business in Croatia.

In that context they recall two memoranda signed by Croatia's central state office for the development of digital society and Huawei Technologies Croatia in April this year during the China+17 Summit in Dubrovnik.

The documents strengthen the cooperation between Croatia and the company in the field of the development of smart city project and in exchange of know-how between the company and Croatian universities., which enables Croatian undergraduates to acquire further education in Huawei research and development centres in China.

Jandroković expressed satisfaction with the talks in the Huawei headquarters, adding that the Chinese group has announced new business projects in Croatia.

More news about relations between Croatia and China can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, May 20, 2019 - Users of Huawei mobile phones in Croatia should not worry about the termination of cooperation between that Chinese company and the U.S. Google, as all applications and services available on their phones will stay the same, however, the situation regarding future buyers remains to be seen, says Dragan Petrić, an executive editor of the IT magazine BUG and Croatia's representative to the European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA).

Petrić notes that the sale of Huawei phones has been on the rise in Croatia just as all over the world.

The US has just put Huawei and 70 of its affiliates on an exports blacklist. Google has suspended business with Huawei that isn't covered under open source licensing, Reuters reported Sunday, following the Trump administration's decision to effectively ban the Chinese company in the US.

Petrić told Hina on Monday that this move had unexpectedly complicated the situation on the mobile phone market. We do not think that this will affect customers much or cripple the business of the strong Huawei, although it can have an impact on the extremely strong trend of growth of that Chinese technology giant at the global level, Petrić said.

Dražen Tomić, the owner of the ICT Business portal, said that everything was still unclear. It remains to be seen how the situation will unfold and how Huawai will respond, he said, adding that for most Huawai phone users it would not be a big problem if they were not provided with Google updates.

The head of the Croatian central state office for digitisation, Bernard Gršić told Hina on Monday that this was new information and that the developments should be analysed. He would not answer if Croatia's government would follow the example of the USA and Google.

Croatia has recently signed a memorandum of cooperation with Huawei.

Asked whether some projects had been launched under that memorandum, Gršić said a few meetings were held on future models of cooperation.

Croatia pursues its own policy, but it will be in compliance with EU policies, Gršić said.

More IT news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

A Croatian delegation led by Prime Minister Plenković visited China recently, meeting with Huawei's leadership for Europe there. The Chinese technology company, one of the largest in the world, is interested in a partnership in the digitalisation process of Croatia’s public administration system, reports Večernji List on November 10, 2018.

Prime Minister Plenković confirmed at a government session that in China he met with the key state-owned companies in the shipbuilding, road, bridge, railways and wind power plant sector, adding that all these companies were interested in cooperation with Croatia.

The government and the Administration Ministry did not disclose further details about talks with Huawei, but unofficial sources say that the company’s leaders had allegedly expressed their wish to move their centre from Belgrade to Zagreb. Further contacts with Huawei representatives will be done through the Directorate for Modernisation of Public Administration (e-Croatia), which deals with the digitalisation of internal operations of the state administration.

According to unofficial information, at the meeting with Huawei, the government delegation was also offered the possibility of educating Croatian IT experts in China. “Details of the co-operation are to be elaborated, but they have offered us the possibility to send students to China for further education,” said a source.

Prime Minister Plenković pointed out that Huawei was similar to Microsoft in its size and influence within the ICT sector, adding that their interest in the digitalisation of Croatian public administration would be of interest to the Administration Ministry, which is responsible for the process. The Administration Ministry did not want to discuss the issue, saying it was too early.

“The market of one billion and 400 million people wants to open much more than before and that is a great chance for the Croatian economy. That is why I am pleased that an economic forum was organised in cooperation with the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, with more than 100 Chinese partners and 30 Croatian businesses,” said Plenković.

When it comes to digitalisation of public administration system, Croatia is stagnating and the European statistics show that Croatia is ranked 25th among 28 member states. Finland and Estonia are at the top of the rankings, followed by Denmark and Spain, while the only countries behind Croatia are Greece, Hungary and Romania.

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Translated from Večernji List (reported by Iva Puljić-Šego).