The Communication and Information Technology Regulatory Authority declared specializing three sites to build data centers of mega space for Google Cloud Kuwait company. Minister of State for Municipal Affairs and Minister of State for Communication Affairs Fahad Al-Shu’la said in a news conference marking the occasion that digital transformation has become a tangible and inevitable reality particularly during the coronavirus crisis.
Affirming that achieving objectives of Kuwait Vision 2023 is certain, the minister emphasized the government resolve to build effective and fruitful partnerships with international and local technological corporates, companies, start-ups and innovative business pioneers. For his part, Dr. Ammar Al-Husseini, the acting director general of the Information Technology Center, said the strategic alliance with Google would lead to significant benefits for the Kuwaiti economy, in addition to fruits to be reaped at the security, human and technological levels.
This coalition, he added, would enable 114 government departments and institutions to benefit from the clouding services. Dr. Al-Husseini indicated at formation of an oversight panel headed by the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority (KDIPA) to supervise the contract with Google and an executive committee formed by the minister of communication for handling the technical aspect of the deal. As to the first phase of operating Google Cloud services in Kuwait, Dr. Al-Husseini said the government would initially focus on digitizing services, particularly in the health, labor and educational sectors, in addition to re-designing the information systems’ infrastructure.
On the issue of luring conglomerates to the country, he affirmed the government keenness on working out identical deals with heavy-weight foreign companies, noting necessity of employing such deals to back up youth projects.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Al-Rashed, board member of the communication authority, said the planned data facilities would be an extension of Google Cloud zones worldwide, revealing that each site would be as large as 30,000 square kilometers. Affirming the business benefits and proceeds from the venture, Al-Rashed said Google Cloud Kuwait had been established as an independent entity and would have a free hand in dealing with the private sector, in addition to its role in the public sector. For his part, Elie Tabshouri, the director of public business development at Google Cloud in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said the national skills development venture had been launched in partnership with the Kuwaiti government, with the objective to train 3,000 public servants, namely from the higher education institutions on artificial intelligence and security issues’ solutions. (KUNA)