Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications participates in launch of Digital Cooperation Organization.

Transportation and Telecommunications Minister, Engineer Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed, participated, along with high-profile officials from many countries in the “Digital Economy Roundtable” and its accompanying ministerial meeting.

During the event, attended by the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union, Houlin Zhao, and the President of the World Economic Forum, Børge Brende, the “Digital Cooperation Organisation” was launched.

The Digital Cooperation Organisation, launched by Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, aims to achieve a digital future for all by empowering women, youth and entrepreneurs, and developing the digital economy through development leaps based on innovation. More countries are expected to join the organisation in the near future as soon as they finalise the required procedures.

Commenting, the minister expressed Bahrain’s pride in being among the founders of such a dynamic organisation, extending thanks to sisterly Saudi Arabia for its important initiative.

He expressed confidence that the new organistaion will enable its members to respond to and adapt to the rapidly changing digital scene.

He added that the Kingdom of Bahrain boasts a unique national experience in availing of information and communication technology in enhancing the efficiency of government work, adding that Bahrain also believes in the importance of regional and international complementarity, which, he said, is an extension to the kingdom’s local efforts.

On the same occasion, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Abdullah bin Amer Al-Swaha, said: “We are rallying today around a consensus on the necessity of digital cooperation to seize an opportunity for our youth, women and entrepreneurs, with an ambition to develop our shared digital economy to a trillion dollars within the next three to five years: the prosperity of our future is linked to the digital economy.”

“However, we will not be able to take advantage of all the potentials provided by the digital economy, unless we unite our efforts as governments and work in a collective manner with the private sector and entrepreneurs so that we can support them in this sensitive phase and contribute to their prosperity by expanding their access to the current markets and helping them enter new markets,” he added.

The launch of the Digital Cooperation Organisation is as an extension of Saudi Arabia’s efforts during its presidency of the G20 Summit to accelerate the growth of the digital economy and digital transformation around the world, as countries expand the adoption of distance education platforms and digital health, as well as encourage the growth and adoption of e-commerce platforms to withstand the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and step up endeavours to recover from these impacts.