PR88964

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, April 12, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

The Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO), based in Riyadh, announced the

joining of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Sultanate of Oman, as

founding members, joining Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.

Combined, the seven countries are an economic bloc of $1.2 trillion in GDP. The

population base of the seven nations is close to 480 million, 80% of whom are

under 35 years of age.

DCO convened its first ministerial meeting, chaired by H.E. Minister of

Communications and Information Technology, Abdullah bin Amer Al-Swaha and was

attended by ministers of the DCO countries. The meeting also featured ITU

Secretary-General His Excellency Mr. Houlin Zhao, president of world economic

forum His Excellency Mr Børge Brende, Secretary General of the Cooperation

Council for the Arab States of the Gulf His Excellency Dr. Nayef Falah M.

Al-Hajraf and Representatives from other UN programs.

During the meeting, an agreement was reached to launch five high impact

initiatives. These initiatives aim at establishing a center to highlight the

importance of cooperation in relation to flow of data across borders,

empowerment of women in the digital labor market, in addition to serving

entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to grow and achieve a

digital future.

It was also agreed on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's presidency of the

organization until the end of current term, in addition to the appointment of

Ms. Deemah Al-Yahya from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as Secretary General of

the organization.

The meeting discussed ways to promote cooperation in all areas driven by

innovation and acceleration of growth of digital economy. They also discussed

the organization's governance, organizational structure and future plans.

The DCO established in November 2020 as a partnership to pursue common values

and goals in the digital economy, between Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain,

Pakistan, and Jordan, that will promote shared digital aspirations among member

nations for economic diversification and increasing social prosperity through

the growth opportunities available across the digital economy, and public

sector digital transformation.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1485682/DCO_Logo.jpg

Notes to Editors:

More information about DCO can be found at: www.DCO.org.

Media contact: media@dco.org

Source: The Digital Cooperation Organization