Keeping pace with Saudi Arabia’s new direction towards innovation and the digital economy, the Saudi Cabinet, chaired by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, approved on Tuesday, the Communications and Information Technology (IT) law.
The new law is meant to reinforce the Kingdom’s digital infrastructure.
Communications and Information Technology Minister Abdullah Alswaha said that the ICT law is an important step in consolidating Saudi Arabia's position as a center for technology, innovation and leadership, and a key driver for accelerating the growth of the digital economy, empowering entrepreneurs and enhancing the Kingdom's competitiveness.
Besides the telecommunications sector, the law focuses on the information technology sector.
Now, it includes broadly and more accurately the main and subsidiary telecommunications and information technology sectors, which include digital infrastructure, emerging technologies, e-governance, and enabling applications and services in various sectors.
Moreover, the Cabinet ratified an indicative model of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) and peer entities in the other countries to launch the electronic link to verify the passengers’ compliance with COVID-19 health precautions.
SDAIA chairman will be delegated to hold talks with counterparts in other countries regarding a draft MoU, sign it and refer the final signed copy to proceed with formal procedures.
In other news, Saudi Arabia’s Governor of the Communications and Information Technology Commission Mohammed Al-Tamimi has participated in the inauguration ceremony of the World Summit on the Information Society Forum 2022, which is held in Geneva under the theme “ICTs for Well-Being, Inclusion and Resilience.”
The Kingdom’s participation aims at enhancing its international status in the ICT sector, in addition to highlighting its efforts and achievements in issues to be discussed in the forum, where the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is considered a strategic partner to realize the goals of the summit and relevant Sustainable Development Goals and a main player in enhancing the culture of excellence and creativity in all fields related to ICT in the world.
Al-Tamimi, during a speech he delivered at the forum, highlighted the importance of sustainability for the ICT sector and the increasing need for it considering the accelerating challenges the world is witnessing.
