Eng. Abdullah bin Amer Al-Sawaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who is also Chairman of the Communications and Information Technology Commission, told conferees at the Delegates of the International Union for Communication, currently ongoing in Dubai, that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has considered human being a pivotal core for development and an effective partner of international development, citing that it is the world's forefront donor in terms of humanitarian and developmental assistance worth 3.7 percent of the Saudi domestic product, overpassing the internationally projected rate of 0.7 percent. Al-Sawaha said the Kingdom is committed to implement the outcomes of the world summit of information community, achieve the objectives of the global sustainable development, stimulate the participation of developing countries in the union's works and contribute to support its digital transformation, including cooperation with the UN and the world community to achieve those goals at all levels. He said the Kingdom ranks among the world's largest 20 economies and tops the Middle East and North Africa communication and information technology and electronic trade markets with a $36 billion worth of expenditure on communications and information technology services in 2017, culminated by being registered as among the world's most mature in the field of communications and information technology according to the United Nations. He vowed that Saudi Arabia has successfully extended the fiber optic network to more than 700,000 homes out of two million targeted by 2020, liberate further frequency spectrum to enable the fifth generation and ameliorate the internet speed, resulting in the first test of the fifth generation at the Middle East and North Africa level. He cast light on the future NEOM smart city which is projected to accommodate increasing number of robots than human beings. He announced having granted the Saudi nationality to a robot, depicting the Kingdom as the world's first to offer its prestigious nationality to an industrial human being. He briefed the conference on steps taken in the Kingdom to empower women in the society, citing that she was benefiting from some 36 strategic goals within the national transportation program 2020. He added that the Ministry is aiming at increasing women contribution to the labor market from 22% to 30% by 2030, a projected 3% in the non-oil gross domestic product. He called on the world community, led by the International Union for Communications to forge and enforce an international law to control the internet flow and protect national and personal information and data against hacks and attacks and make the cyber space more safe and assured.
