The Saudi Ministry of Media signed on Monday several agreements and memoranda of understanding with local and international companies and entities, in the presence of Minister of Media Salman bin Yousef Al-Dosari.
The agreements were signed on the first day of the LEAP 2024 exhibition in Riyadh.
Vice Minister of Media Dr. Abdullah bin Ahmed Al-Maghlouth signed the agreements, which included a cooperation agreement with Alibaba and Alibaba Cloud.
The agreements aim to develop training programs for workers in the media sector, focusing on AI and other technical fields. Additionally, they aim to host the ministry's infrastructure, services, and platforms, among others, in Alibaba Cloud's data centers. This includes hosting the Disaster Recovery Center and the Saudipedia encyclopedia in its next version.
Al-Maghlouth also signed an agreement with Cisco to develop the Ministry's emergency and disaster call center and smart building infrastructure. It involves integrating AI techniques in developing infrastructure, equipping the Ministry's facilities with advanced smart solutions, and organizing technical workshops by the company to raise the efficiency of technical operations and enhance the Ministry's human capital.
The ministry signed an agreement with the Chinese company eWTPA to provide training opportunities for local and international journalists. This, in turn, will offer full media support in Chinese by translating, broadcasting, and publishing news related to the Saudi media sector.
The agreement also calls for funding and arranging visits between the two sides to exchange knowledge and experiences in the fields of entrepreneurship and media.