Riyadh – Saudi Arabia remains resolute in its role as a dynamic and influential leader in both the regional and global digital economy, said Minister of Communications and Information Technology Eng. Abdullah bin Amer Al-Swaha.
He underscored the Kingdom’s pivotal role within the G20, where it actively contributes to shaping digital policies and spearheads numerous initiatives aimed at addressing the global digital divide.
Under India’s leadership of the G20 this year with the theme “One Earth, One Family, One Future,” the digital economy working group has identified three core priorities: public digital infrastructure, cybersecurity in the digital economy, and skills development.
This is because digitization and digital transformation contribute to addressing current and future challenges, creating new prospects through the adaptation of human-centred technologies, and enhancing the growth of the digital economy to support global economic recovery.
“Today, the Kingdom takes pride in its advanced technological sector, which has solidified its regional and global position as a leading tech hub. With national digital capabilities boasting global qualifications and enabling digital infrastructure, these collective advancements have resulted in progress reflected in international indices and reports,” the minister said.
Eng. Al-Swaha revealed that the Kingdom secured impressive rankings in global digital competitiveness in 2023, standing as the second-ranked nation among G20 countries according to the European Centre for Digital Competitiveness.
He added that the Kingdom also achieved the fourth position worldwide and the second among G20 nations in the Digital Readiness Index by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
Furthermore, it clinched third place globally in the GovTech Maturity Index Update (GTMI) released by the World Bank Group for the year 2022, he said.
These efforts, the minister said, culminated in the Kingdom’s ascent to the top spot for venture capital investments in the region, with a remarkable $446 million in the first half of the current year.
He also highlighted the Kingdom’s exemplary model in empowering women, exemplified by the increase in their participation from 7 percent to 33 percent across various sectors.
Eng. Al-Swaha stated that these efforts even reached the realm of space, with the first Arab and Muslim female astronaut, Rayana Barnawi, joining her colleague Ali Al-Qarni in conducting 14 pioneering scientific and educational experiments in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station (ISS).
This further solidifies the Kingdom’s role in advancing the aerospace sector and making significant global contributions to space science research, leveraging these research endeavours for the betterment of humanity, he noted.
 Concerning its endeavours to serve humanity and its contributions to digital health, the minister pointed out that the Kingdom has introduced a pioneering initiative through the development of the Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) program, seamlessly integrating it with terrestrial networks. Â
Additionally, he said the Kingdom has inaugurated the world’s largest virtual hospital, offering advanced medical services to over a million people each month within the Kingdom and across the region.