“The Government has already created the Digital Government Authority and Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA), to spearhead the digital transformation programme. In a few years’ time, Saudi Arabia has introduced more than 30 cloud services, established 169 data centres, more than 175 datasets, successfully implemented 8 digital policies, aligned 130 government departments, registered more than 600,000 establishments with the platform, recording more than 510 million transactions with user base exceeding 22 million people.” Saudi Arabia implements Data Driven-Government to realise digital economy as part of the Vision 2030 [Smart City Journal]
“SDAIA operates one of the biggest governmental clouds in the region, hosting approximately 140 governmental entities and providing 35 different cloud services,” Nawaf Al-Sahan, head of cloud computing at the National Information Center. Saudi Arabia focuses on AI-driven economy, considers data the new oil: SDAIA [Arab News]
“Issues like this are always tremendously complex because there are a number of moving parts. There were many issues that had to be addressed. There were other prisoners, Ukrainian and Russian captives, that needed to be exchanged. So, there was a lot of detail that had to be ironed out and worked on. You need to give it time. You need to give it patience. And this is, I think, what the crown prince really put into it.” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan. Inside Saudi Arabia’s role freeing American POWs from Putin’s prison [Fox News]
Almost all Saudi youths polled said they believe their country’s strongest allies are the US, France and the UK and that they think Saudi Arabia “has the most influence in Arab world affairs, followed by the US, the UAE, Russia, and the UK.”
IDS Research & Consultancy, carried out face-to-face interviews with 3,400 Arab citizens, equally split between men and women, aged 18 to 24 in 50 cities across 17 Arab countries from May 13 to June 16, 2022. [Al-Arabiya]
“In 2005, an exceptional three-day holiday was approved in Saudi Arabia on the occasion of the 75th National Day. According to various sources, this date marked the first official holiday in the country’s history.”
What Do We Know About the First Celebration of Saudi National Day? [Asharq Al-Awsat]
“The meeting aims to work with regional and international partners to shed light on the tragic situation suffered by the Palestinians in light of the complete obstruction of the peace process and the absence of any glimmer of hope, and to urge them to take practical steps to support the resumption of dialogue on the basis of the Arab Peace Initiative and relevant United Nations resolutions and peace references.”
Saudi Arabia, Arab League and EU hold Arab Peace Initiative meeting in New York [The National]
“Saudi Arabia is witnessing a major change in line with Saudi Vision 2030 and realizing Saudisation goals. The entertainment industry is evidently growing at a rapid pace and the goal in opening our Saudi headquarters is for Flash Entertainment to become a key contributor to a priority trident of industry development, economic diversification and Saudisation goals. We will bring our learnings from the past 15 years in delivering major global events to meet market needs while striving to create development opportunities for Saudi nationals to help shape the kingdom’s entertainment industry.”
John Lickrish, CEO Flash Entertainment, which has officially opened its Saudi headquarters in Riyadh. [Gulf Business]
“When you shame oil and gas investors, dismantle oil- and coal-fired power plants, fail to diversify energy supplies (especially gas), oppose LNG receiving terminals, and reject nuclear power, your transition plan had better be right… [Current energy transition plans are] just a chain of sandcastles that waves of reality have washed away.”
Amin Nasser, President and Chief Executive Officer, Aramco. [Arabian Business]
“Boeing expects the Middle East market to order 1,580 single-aisle aircrafts in the next 20 years. Demand for bigger aircrafts is also high in the region, with 1,290 expected deliveries going forward.”
Middle East carriers to order nearly 3,000 jets by 2040 as travel recovery takes flight [Arabian Business]
“This would provide the foundational environment for developing competencies, and aiming to reach global leadership and enhance the Kingdom’s position on the international arena, through the production of more than 30 competitive games globally in the Kingdom’s studios, and reaching the top three countries in the number of professional esports players.”
-Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. Additionally, the sector is also expected to contribute $13.3 billion to the Kingdom’s GDP in eight years. Saudi Arabia’s new gaming and Esports strategy to place Kingdom as ‘global hub’ by 2030 [Arabian Business]
