According to AlEqtisadiah, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Eng. Abdullah Al-Sawahah, said that there are several international companies in the techniques of financial and digital payments will enter the Saudi market soon, through local companies with a global partner, some with MasterCard and some with Western Union.
Al Sawahah explained, "the financial techniques and digital payments project comes after the issuance of a royal order in this regard that is including within 90 days, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology should be working with the banking sector, banks, entrepreneurs, information and communication companies to launch business models in this are." " We launched the STC pay service," he added, "in addition to the project Halala, which is next in the way. There are other companies coming in this area as well."
On the latest developments of the platform (Etimad) through which the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology links government agencies, Al-Sawahah said, "All government agencies have been linked to Etimad platform, and there were previously 800,000 paper transactions between the Monetary Authority and the Ministry of Finance. However, today through the digital certification of the integration channel in Yesser, all the paperwork is automated and takes only minutes."
He added, "this mechanism provided millions of riyals, if not billions, and increased productivity in decision-making and support of government agencies. The transparency of the private sector has been raised, and the private sector can now see the tender, as well as the brochure and the stages through which the tender and ensure receipt of receivables after 60 days."
The Minister pointed out that the ministry is working on a number of projects in the field of artificial intelligence and data analysis.
The announcement soon unveiled a platform called "Istishraf" that is the support of decision-makers and job seekers in raising the efficiency of addressing unemployment and also finding jobs."
Today, for example, "we can access databases from 20 government agencies such as the Ministry of Labor and other government agencies and seeing applicants for job or job seekers and linking them to massive data in the world of communications, while maintaining privacy and confidentiality."
"We will be able to know the pattern and behavior of the job seeker, where there are those who are serious in the search for work, is at seven in the morning to look for work, and there is a the lazy who delay in waking up from sleep. This information will enable us to find the appropriate programs for each category, and of course this is done in coordination with both the Ministry of Labor and the National Information Center."
On improving competitiveness and supporting innovation in the Kingdom's telecommunications markets, he said, "There are three markets in the Kingdom in this area, the telecommunications market, the IT market, and the future technology market or the emerging technologies."
He explained that the market for emerging technologies and the future is built entirely on the entrepreneurs, and there is a very competitive and openness in this sector.
He pointed to the presence of more than five thousand players in the technical field, as there is high competitiveness in the sector.
With regard to the ICT market, he stressed that the telecommunications sector should integrate with the market of technology and modern technologies if it wants openness, progress and innovation.
The whole world today was living on an effective integration of these sectors for continuity and progress. In the United States of America, for example, there is an integration between the world of communications and the world of information, as well as in Europe where the integration of communications and logistics and financial services.
He stressed the need for the market to support companies and be creative in the emerging technologies and modern integration with telecommunications companies.
Furthermore, the Minister Al-Sawahah said that the Kingdom has made the human being a key axis of development and an active partner in international development, as the Kingdom is the largest donor countries in terms of humanitarian and development assistance in the world, with a contribution of 3.7% of Saudi GDP, which is surpassing the United Nations proposed of 0.7 per cent.
In the Kingdom's speech at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference that was held in Dubai today, he stated, "The Kingdom believes in the great importance of communications and information technology and its impact on enabling economic and social prosperity. The Kingdom stands on a great legacy of the principles on which it is based to fulfill its obligations to the international community."
He noted the Kingdom's full commitment to implementing the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society and achieving the goals of sustainable development, and stimulating the participation of developing countries in the work of the Union, contributing to support their efforts for digital transformation, and to continue to cooperate with its partners in the United Nations and the international community to achieve those goals at all levels.
He stressed that the Kingdom is among the top 20 economies in the world and leads the list of the largest markets for telecommunications and information technology and e-commerce in the Middle East and North Africa.
The volume of spending on ICT services is about $ 36 billion in 2017.
