Oman participates in G20 digital economy meeting in India

Bangalore: The Sultanate of Oman, represented by the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, participated in the meeting of digital economy ministers that was held in the Indian city of Bangalore, on the sidelines of the G20 summit, and came out with a number of recommendations centered on public digital infrastructure for digital inclusion and innovation.

The importance of building a secure digital economy and developing digital skills to build global forces ready for the future. Participants in the meeting agreed to establish a common framework for public digital infrastructures to guide the development, deployment and governance of digital public infrastructures, recognizing the important role of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the need to develop comprehensive approaches that ensure online safety, protection of children’s privacy and personal data, respect for human rights and the creation of a toolkit For education and cyber awareness for children and youth.

Participants welcomed the initiative to develop a virtual center of excellence that acts as a repository of practices related to digital skills programs, occupational standards, skills classification, professional certifications, skills accreditation, and studies related to supply and demand gaps. And agreeing to create a toolkit for designing and delivering programs to improve and reshape digital skills, and agreeing on a roadmap to facilitate comparison and common understanding of job roles, digital skills and related qualifications between G20 member states and other countries.

The delegation of the Sultanate of Oman participating in the meeting was headed by His Excellency Dr. Ali bin Amer Al Shaitani, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology for Communications and Information Technology, who stressed the importance of developing modern digital infrastructure that protects personal data and guarantees privacy, and the importance of the digital economy in achieving the goals of sustainable development.

His Excellency gave a summary of the National Program for the Digital Economy and its various executive programmes, such as the Government Digital Transformation Program, the Digital Industry Program and the Cybersecurity Industry Program. In addition to introducing the efforts of the Sultanate of Oman in enhancing regional and international cooperation in the field of cybersecurity, including: hosting, managing and operating the Arab Regional Center for Cybersecurity of the International Telecommunication Union, and hosting the National Initiative for Qualifying Digital Competencies “Makeen”, which aims to qualify 10,000 Omanis with digital skills by 2025.

His Excellency called for the necessity of bridging the digital gap between the various segments of society and the importance of continuous qualification of digital competencies. Through its participation in these meetings, the Sultanate of Oman seeks to enhance its international cooperation in the field of sustainable digital economy, benefit from the experiences of participating countries in the field of digital economy, and build cooperation and partnership relations in the field of developing policies and strategies that support the digital economy between countries.