Riyadh – Mubasher: Cisco has announced plans to build a new regional head office in Riyadh and launch a new phase of its Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) programme in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
The CDA’s third phase is set to align with the goals of the Saudi Research and Development National Strategy, focusing on health and wellness, sustainable environment and affordable supply of essential needs, energy and industrial leadership, and economies of the future, according to a press release.
The new announcement came during LEAP 24, which takes place in Riyadh between 4 and 7 March with the attendance of over 172,000 regional and international tech professionals, alongside more than 1,800 global tech exhibitors.
Haitham bin Abdul Rahman Al-Ohali, Vice Minister of Communications and Information Technology, stated: “Technology is a key enabler in achieving the Saudi Vision 2030. Investments of global tech players like Cisco play a crucial role in strengthening our technology landscape, and in fostering economic growth and diversification.”
“They help in bringing the necessary resources, expertise, and innovation to propel the Kingdom forward on its path to a diversified, knowledge-based economy, and advance its position as an innovation hub,” the vice minister added.
Guy Diedrich, Senior Vice President and Global Innovation Officer at Cisco, commented: “Our CDA program and Cisco Networking Academy are powerful platforms that drive co-innovation, unlock co-investment, and train the workforce of the future.”
“As we enter the next chapter of our commitments in Saudi Arabia, we look forward to once again, lend our expertise, resources, and global network, to help the Kingdom’s transition into a vibrant, diverse digital economy,” Diedrich said.
Reem Asaad, Vice President for Cisco Middle East, Türkiye, Africa, Romania, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), noted: “Cisco’s ongoing investments in Saudi Arabia’s growing digital economy contribute to the rapid integration of technology across all sectors to drive innovation, enhance efficiency, and foster economic growth.”
Salman Faqeeh, Managing Director of Cisco Saudi Arabia, highlighted: “With our technologies spanning every IT and business objective, from networking to security, collaboration, monitoring, application development and more; Cisco continues to be at the heart of driving digitization together with our customers and partners.”
Tech giant Cisco has been granted a regional headquarters licence by the Saudi Ministry of Investment, expanding its footprint in the kingdom to support operations across the Middle East and North Africa.
The US networking titan reiterated its long-standing commitment to Saudi Arabia's digital transformation on receiving the licence in August 2023.
The new regional HQ licence allows Cisco to better support the Kingdom's digitalisation efforts through initiatives like CDA. It comes as Saudi pursues its ambitious Vision 2030 reforms to develop sustainable industries and create high-value jobs powered by new technologies.
Cisco first set up in the country in 2016 through its CDA programme, which has helped drive digitisation in key sectors like healthcare, education and smart cities over the past seven years, implementing more than 20 national projects in collaboration with entities like KAUST, the SDAIA and Vision 2030 giga developments.
The company also fosters vital digital skills through its Networking Academy, having trained over 335,000 Saudi learners in fields such as networking, cybersecurity and programming.
At LEAP 2024, Dell Technologies announced the opening of a new merge and logistics fulfilment centre in Saudi Arabia, including a second touch manufacturing facility.
