New global organization to strengthen the growth of the digital economy

The Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) is a new global organization that aims to strengthen collaboration among its members across all innovation-driven areas as well as to accelerate the growth of the digital economy.

The launch of the DCO follows the conclusion of Saudi Arabia’s G20 Presidency to maintain the Kingdom’s momentum on accelerating the growth of the digital economy across the globe as nations everywhere increase their adoption of remote learning, telemedicine and contact-less economic systems to survive and thrive beyond the social and economic impact of COVID-19.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Global Industry Vision 2025 report predicted that the global digital economy would grow to a value of $ 23 trillion over the next four years. According to the report, the number of personal smart devices will reach 40 billion and the total number of connections around the world will reach 100 billion.

Based on its digitally focused charter, DCO welcomes the participation and guidance of the private sector, international organizations, non-governmental organizations and academia.

Founded in the Saudi capital Riyadh on November 26, 2020 by Saudi Arabia and four other countries, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan, DCO is driven by a vision to realize a digital future for all by empowering women, young people and entrepreneurs.

The founding Member States welcome new members who can subscribe to the organization's vision, strategic goals and common values. In an effort to promote digital transformations, including and in a multi-stakeholder approach, the founding Member States welcome new members in addition to governments - including private sector entities, research and academic institutions, international organizations, civil society groups and other institutions.

“We are joining hands together towards a commitment to drive consensus on digital cooperation to make sure that we seize an opportunity for our youth, our women and our entrepreneurs with the ambition to grow our combined digital economy to one trillion dollars in the next 3-5 years,” said Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mr. Abdullah Amer Al-Swaha at the launch. “Our future prosperity will depend on the digital economy. But it can only reach its full potential if we are able to make governments work together collectively with businesses, and entrepreneurs so they can survive and thrive, expand their depth into current markets and open doors for everyone into new ones.”

The DCO inauguration ceremony was attended by Secretary General of International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Mr. Houlin Zhao and President of World Economic Forum Mr. Borges Brende.

Mrs. Deemah Al Yahya has been appointed as its Secretary General. Mrs. Al Yahya is a Saudi computer engineer who worked previously as consultant, program designer and leader of strategic digital initiatives. She is also the founder and CEO of the organization “Woman Spark”, which has been concerned with training women in Saudi Arabia on the technology industry since 2013.

The DCO headquarters will be located in Saudi Arabia's capital of Riyadh.

According to the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2020, Saudi Arabia is in a global 34th place, having risen from the rank 39 in 2019. Saudi Arabia also ranks number 2 in the field of continuous improvement of the corporate cybersecurity, according to the international competitiveness annual report 2020, released last June.

Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Denmark Fahad M. Alruwaily commented on the establishment of DCO, mentioning that Saudi Arabia is making great success in its investment in modern digital technologies and its infrastructure.

”A lot has been achieved since the creation of the National Committee for Digital Transformation in July 2017, among other policies under Vision 2030, designed for modernizing Saudi Arabia's economy and creating a knowledge-based society,” Ambassador Alruwaily stated. He also noted, that despite COVID-19 and its difficulties, Saudi Arabia continued to make significant advancements in this regard, and that this had been praised by several concerned international agencies, including United Nations and The World Bank.

”We look forward to enhancing cooperation and exchange of knowledge and experiences with our global partners, including Denmark that this year ranked at a the global 3rd place in the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2020,” Ambassador Fahad M. Alruwaily concluded.