Oman joins DCO to accelerate digital economy
Oman and Nigeria have joined the Riyadh-based Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) as a founding member along with Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
The DCO has been established to pursue common values and goals between the member countries in the digital economy. This will promote shared digital aspirations for economic diversification and enhance social prosperity through the growth opportunities available across the digital economy and public sector digital transformation.
Combined, the seven countries are an economic bloc of US$1.2tn in GDP. The population base of the seven nations is close to 480mn, 80 per cent of which are under 35 years of age.
On Monday, the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology announced the news of Oman joining DCO. Describing the organisation, the ministry stated that it is a non-profit organisation founded in November 2020 ‘to achieve prosperity, social stability and growth of the digital economy by unifying efforts to advance digital transformation and promote common interests’.
According to the ministry, Oman’s decision to join DCO is in line with Oman Vision 2040 and its efforts to accelerate the digital economy. The main objectives of joining the bloc include increasing the contribution of the digital economy in the national GDP, attracting more foreign direct investment, scaling Omani tech companies to newer markets and building capacity of talented youth.
DCO convened its first ministerial meeting on April 12, chaired by Abdullah bin Amer al Swaha, Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology, and attended by ministers of member countries, besides ITU Houlin Zhao, Secretary-General of International Telecommunication Union, Borge Brende, president of World Economic Forum, Dr Nayef Falah M al Hajraf, secretary general of Gulf Cooperation Council, and representatives of various UN programmes.
At the meeting, an agreement was reached to launch five high impact initiatives, including establishing a centre to facilitate flow of data across borders and empowerment of women in the digital labour market.