Huawei Tech. Investment Saudi Arabia and the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu have signed an agreement to establish a training academy and a smart city innovation center in Yanbu.
The agreement, which accelerates smart city deployment in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, coincided with King Salman’s recent visit to China and took place during the Saudi-China Investment Forum 2017.
The academy is expected to open for training this year. In order to build the most skilled team in the Kingdom, Huawei will be supplying the latest in lab equipment, training instructors, monitoring talent development and other proactive knowledge-sharing initiatives. The smart city innovation center is also expected to be open this year, and will aim to support Saudi Arabia’s 2020 transformation program focused on digital economy.
Alaa bin Abdullah Nassif, CEO of the Royal Commission of Yanbu and Jazan Economic City, said: “Enforcing the directives of the wise leadership and with the aim of achieving the strategic goal of developing a unique city that is technologically advanced based on global standards of smart cities, the Royal Commission of Yanbu established and developed the first smart city in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through partnerships with several private sector companies.
“Today, we signed a partnership deal with one of the leading companies, Huawei, to develop and establish the smart city innovation center — which is the first of its kind in the region — as well as to develop the Huawei training academy in order to transfer the knowledge and global experience in the technology field.”
Ramadan Ding, CEO of Huawei Tech Investment Saudi Arabia, said: “As a global leader in smart city innovation, Huawei is proud to be a strategic partner of the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu in developing local ICT capabilities that will support the development and implementation of Vision 2030.”
“Huawei’s advanced smart city innovation coupled with its global leadership in research and development will ultimately benefit the people of Saudi Arabia. Huawei reaffirms its full support and commitment to the Kingdom and the people of Saudi Arabia,” he added.
The Saudi-China Investment Forum was organized under the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce and Investment and inaugurated by Majid A. Al-Qasabi.
The forum focused on the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, the roles that private sectors of both countries can have in the implementation of that vision, and the Belt and Road Initiative.

Source: Arab News