Via Andrea Barone, Anila Graupp and Samia Melhem in worldbank.org: Since 2019, the World Bank has been actively engaged with Saudi authorities to enhance the Kingdoms digital sector, and with AI adoption spreading at breakneck speed across the globe, this work continues. Our collaboration has aimed to transform the way people in Saudi Arabia experience everyday online transactions and engage with government services through partnership and technical assistance with four key digital authorities: 1) the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies (MCIT), 2) the Saudi Digital Government Authority, 3) the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority, and 4) the Digital Cooperation Organization. And tangible results were achieved. For example, Saudi Arabia successfully implemented key reforms that revolutionized the production and delivery of public services through digital means. These reforms have improved back-end operations related to data and information management, streamlined workflows and processes around people’s needs, and enhanced online user interfaces. As a result, Saudi Arabia recently came up number 6 out of 193 countries in the 2024 United Nations E-Government Survey ranking.
