VISION 2030 ON TRACK

Great news is coming from the Arab world’s biggest economy, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, that it will invest $20 billion in artificial intelligence projects by 2030, as the country seeks to diversify its economy (“Saudi to invest $20b in AI by 2030, to review VAT increase,” Nov.20, Gulf Today).

It’s part of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s “Vision 2030” plan that the country will launch an artificial intelligence strategy to atract investors.

Respectable Abdullah Al Ghamdi, head of the Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority, which was established in 2019, said that “we aspire to have artificial intelligence as a component of an alternative economy through startups and innovation companies... and view artificial intelligence as a source of savings and additional income,” he said during a G20 media briefing.

The G20 summit in Riyadh at the weekend is set to bring together the leaders of the world’s 20 richest nations.

The G-20 — whose member-countries represent around 85% of the world’s economic output and three-quarters of international trade — was founded in 1999 as a way for finance ministers and central bank governors to discuss the global economy.

In March, when border closures and lockdown orders to slow the spread of the virus affected well over a quarter of the world’s population, Saudi King Salman convened G-20 leaders virtually. It proves that Saudi Arabia has the capacity to achieve the goals of Crown Prince’s “Vision 2030”.

Mohammed Al Qasabi By email