China's telecom equipment vendor Huawei yesterday opened its first Customer Solution Innovation and Integration Experience Centre (CSIC) in the capital to showcase its innovative technologies.

State Minister for Telecom Tarana Halim inaugurated the centre in Gulshan, which is the company's 20th such centre globally, said officials.

Li Guangjun, economic and commercial counsellor of the Chinese embassy in Dhaka, and Zhao Haofu, chief executive of Huawei Technologies (Bangladesh), were also present.

Tarana said the innovation centre will help digitise the country.

Haofu said their vision is to build a connected Bangladesh, together with their customers and partners.

"It is positioned to be an experienced centre to see the global best practices, to be a centre of idea exchange and business solution innovation, and to be a platform to develop a win-win eco-system," said Haofu.

Huawei CSIC is a global network of dedicated and global innovative and state-of-the-art experience labs that allow interested parties to experience, validate and build information and communication technology solutions and applications, the company said in a statement.

Huawei also has a handset business in the country and they are now the number four handset importer.