The Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO), based in Riyadh, announced the 
joining of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Sultanate of Oman, as 
founding members, joining Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. 
Combined, the seven countries are an economic bloc of $1.2 trillion in GDP. The 
population base of the seven nations is close to 480 million, 80% of whom are 
under 35 years of age. 

DCO convened its first ministerial meeting, chaired by H.E. Minister of 
Communications and Information Technology, Abdullah bin Amer Al-Swaha and was 
attended by ministers of the DCO countries. The meeting also featured ITU 
Secretary-General His Excellency Mr. Houlin Zhao, president of world economic 
forum His Excellency Mr Børge Brende, Secretary General of the Cooperation 
Council for the Arab States of the Gulf His Excellency Dr. Nayef Falah M. 
Al-Hajraf and Representatives from other UN programs.

During the meeting, an agreement was reached to launch five high impact 
initiatives. These initiatives aim at establishing a center to highlight the 
importance of cooperation in relation to flow of data across borders, 
empowerment of women in the digital labor market, in addition to serving 
entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to grow and achieve a 
digital future. 

It was also agreed on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's presidency of the 
organization until the end of current term, in addition to the appointment of 
Ms. Deemah Al-Yahya from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as Secretary General of 
the organization.

The meeting discussed ways to promote cooperation in all areas driven by 
innovation and acceleration of growth of digital economy. They also discussed 
the organization's governance, organizational structure and future plans.

The DCO established in November 2020 as a partnership to pursue common values 
and goals in the digital economy, between Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, 
Pakistan, and Jordan, that will promote shared digital aspirations among member 
nations for economic diversification and increasing social prosperity through 
the growth opportunities available across the digital economy, and public 
sector digital transformation.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1485682/DCO_Logo.jpg

Notes to Editors: 
More information about DCO can be found at: www.DCO.org. 
Media contact: media@dco.org

Source: The Digital Cooperation Organization