Page 43 - SAMENA Trends - November 2020

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Saudi Arabia Makes Giant Leaps Toward Digital Transformation, Covering

Key Sectors

impact on Saudi society. The Saudi
Customs launched the TIR (Transports
Internationaux Routiers) system, which
seeks to facilitate trade through borders,
as the system reduced the time spent for
trucks through the ports by 40 percent,
while the number of beneficiaries of the
national platform for donations launched
by the Ministry of Human Resources
and Social Development reached more
than 250,000. The transactions through
the Etimad platform, launched by the
Ministry of Finance, reached more than
two million, and payments made through
the application of Zakat from the General
Authority of Zakat and Tax reached more
than 200,000.The Baladi platform provides
full municipal services under the smart
cities sector while in the tourism and
digital culture sector, the Tourist Visa
Saudi Arabia ranked second globally in the reviewed the goals and achievements Portal provides visas to the beneficiaries
field of corporate cybersecurity and jumped of the digital transformation, as the within 3-5 minutes. In the field of financial
nine places to become No. 12 among committee worked under the directives and technology, the Wathaq platform was
the G20 countries in the e-government support of the Crown Prince. The report launched, which automates all procedures
development index, according to the sheds light on the most important digital of issuing bank guarantees. In the digital
World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY). service achievements in all government health sector, the report noted, around
The high-ranking reflects the remarkable and service sectors in the Kingdom. The 53 million appointments were booked
achievements the Kingdom has made ever report focused on highlighting the efforts through the Mawid application and more
since it embarked on ambitious Vision 2030 of government agencies in the process than 1.8 million medical consultations
launched by Crown Prince Muhammad Bin of digital transformation in various were provided to citizens by the Sihha
Salman. The unprecedented progress and fields, which contributed to creating a application. n the education sector, there
achievements in many other vital sectors digital infrastructure that keeps pace were 34 million sessions held by the
too have put the Kingdom in a prominent with changing times and meets the unified education system for more than
position on the world map. The Kingdom requirements of becoming an ambitious one million beneficiaries. In the justice
ranked 7th globally in financing technical nation with a thriving digital society within sector, nearly 1.4 million people benefited
development in WCY, which is a yearly report the framework and objectives of the from the Najiz justice services platform,
published by the International Institute Vision 2030. The report includes a large while more than 39,000 operations were
for Management Development (IMD). number of achievements and initiatives in carried out through the mobile notary
According to WCY, the Kingdom ranked 8th digital transformation in all vital sectors service, and through which over 119,000
among the G20 countries and 27 globally and areas. These include the smart judicial sessions were documented. The
in the digital infrastructure index within government sector, where the number Public Prosecution adopted a strategy
the e-government development index, of documentation processes carried out of “Paperless Prosecution” to convert all
climbing more than 40 places, and 10th through the “Unified National Platform GOV. procedures related to it to digital services.
globally in average mobile Internet speeds SA” reached more than 185 million, and the In the sector of digital infrastructure and
that exceeded 66.54 Mbps. Moreover, the number of “Tawakkalna” application users capabilities, a total of 8,377 5G towers
Saudi government has won the Government exceeded seven million, while the Saudi have been established in all regions of
Leadership Award 2020 instituted by “Tabaud” application ranked third in the the Kingdom, and more than 8.5 million
the International Telecommunications world in employing modern technologies citizens have benefited from the Digital
Union. It is noteworthy that Saudi to contain coronavirus pandemic. The Giving initiative to spread digital knowledge
Arabia’s National Committee for Digital value of contributions to the Joodeskan and develop digital capabilities, the report
Transformation has recently issued the initiative reached more than SR300 million. pointed out.
half-yearly report for the year 2020 that All these have had a tremendous positive

43 NOVEMBER 2020