Kingdom Continues to Win United Nations Awards in Telecommunications and Information Technology

The Kingdom continues to win United Nations awards in the field of telecommunications and information technology at the high-level event, which is an expanded version of the World Summit on the Information Society Forum organized by the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva during the period from 10 to 13 June 2014, in cooperation with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), where the Ministry of Education, a member of the National Information Society Committee, won the e-learning applications award for the (Faris) project.

The Kingdom is participating with a specialized delegation headed by His Excellency the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Eng. Mohammed Jamil bin Ahmed Mulla, and with the participation of His Excellency the Governor of the Communications and Information Technology Commission and Chairman of the National Information Society Committee, Eng. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Darrab, as one of the partners in this event, alongside the participation of ministers and representatives from United Nations member states.

In the opening session, His Excellency Eng. Mulla spoke about how the Kingdom is achieving the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society and the attention it has given to the telecommunications and information technology sector from an early stage, when it adopted the privatization program aimed at raising the efficiency of the national economy and increasing its competitiveness by liberalizing service markets and opening the door to competition, in order to provide advanced telecommunications and information technology services throughout the Kingdom comprehensively, with high quality, and at reasonable prices. His Excellency also spoke about the Kingdom's development efforts through providing voice communication services and broadband internet services with government support in all remote areas, through the implementation of universal service projects.

During the event, the Kingdom will organize a workshop on the contributions of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, a member of the National Information Society Committee, in spreading digital culture and knowledge, and building capabilities.

The high-level event addresses, in its proceedings, follow-up on the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society, and the exchange of experiences and information on a range of key topics such as telecommunications and information technology infrastructure, capacity building, building trust and security in the use of information and communications technology, in addition to linguistic diversity and local content.