The Ministerial Committee for Posts and Telecommunications in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries held its 27th meeting on Sunday, February 5, 2023, in Riyadh. The meeting was chaired by, Engineer Saeed bin Hamoud Al Maawali, Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology of the Sultanate of Oman, Chairman of the current session, and in the presence of Engineer Majid Sultan Al Mesmar, Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Thamer Al Kaabi, Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Engineer Abdullah bin Amer Alswaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Ali Al Mannai, Minister of Communications and Information Technology of the State of Qatar, and Omar Saud Al Omar, Board Chairman of the Communications and Information Technology Regulatory Authority of the State of Kuwait, with the participation of Jassem Mohamed Albudaiwi, Secretary-General of the GCC. At the onset of the meeting, Their Excellencies, the members of the Committee, congratulated Albudaiwi on the assumption of his duties as Secretary-General of the Cooperation Council, wishing him success in his tasks, in line with the directives of Their Majesties and Highnesses, the leaders of the GCC states. During the meeting, several topics discussed between the GCC countries included; cooperation in the postal and telecommunications sectors, the adoption of the guiding framework for the protection of personal information of GCC citizens, the adoption of an action plan for the telecommunications sector in the GCC countries, and the launch of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's initiative for the Research Award for Technology and Digital Economy Foresight. The meeting also approved the unified system (law) regulating the activity of companies and private institutions working in express mail and packages. The GCC Secretary General delivered a speech in which he emphasized the role of the Committee since its inception in achieving outstanding accomplishments in the fields of post and telecommunications. He also affirmed that this reflects the keenness and interest of Their Excellencies, the members of the Committee, in this sector and their strong belief in the goals that will benefit the economy of the GCC countries through a solid postal and communications division in a way that contributes to increasing the public and private sectors' productivity, improving its efficiency, increasing the return on investments, and providing better and easier access to services for citizens and the business sector. He also underlined that the Committee work comes in line with the efforts exerted to achieve the aspirations of Their Majesties and Highnesses, the leaders of the GCC states, to push the Gulf entity towards higher, more developed, and advanced ranks. Moreover, the GCC Secretary General congratulated the GCC countries for their qualitative leap in the field of the digital economy and achieving advanced ranks in the communications and information technology sector's global indexes, in the areas of network readiness, competitiveness, progress, digital entrepreneurship, the tremendous development in fifth-generation networks, and the speed and coverage of the Internet, in addition to the milestones achieved in the development of the field of digital skills and all other sectors. In the same context, the Committee discussed the latest developments related to the reduction of roaming service charges in the GCC countries, the reports of the GCC states regarding development in communication with major companies that provide Internet services and applications, the telecommunication indicators, analysis and monitoring of the GCC telecom markets, in addition to the coordination between the GCC countries concerning the overlapping of mobile phone networks with the radio services in the GCC countries. The meeting concluded with the approval of the Sultanate of Oman's proposal to re-study the functions and competencies of the Ministerial Committee for Posts and Telecommunications.
