RIYADH — The E-Commerce Council, in cooperation with the Joint Saudi British Business Council in London, organized on Thursday an event titled "The Role of E-Commerce in Strengthening the Saudi-British Economic Partnership", with the participation of a high-level Saudi delegation headed by Dr. Majid Al-Qasabi, Minister of Commerce and Chairman of the E-Commerce Council.

The Saudi delegation included representatives from 11 government agencies.

The event aimed to showcase the promising opportunities launched by the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, mainly in digital infrastructure, financial technology, electronic payment, logistics and transportation, last mile delivery solutions, as well as electronic services related to the quality of life such as e-health, e-learning, entertainment, games, and others, in addition to dealing with cooperation and bilateral partnership in light of the high growth achieved by e-commerce.

During the event, which was attended by Prince Khalid bin Bandar bin Sultan, Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the UK, and the Honorary President of the Saudi British Joint Business Council Baroness Symons from the British side, Al-Qasabi said the Kingdom is one of the top 10 developing countries in e-commerce, achieving an annual growth rate of more than 32%.

He stressed that strengthening the e-commerce business system is one of the goals of the National Transformation Program in support of achieving the Kingdom's Vision 2030, due to the importance of e-commerce and its role in strengthening the national economy.

For her part, Deputy Minister of Commerce and General Supervisor of the E-Commerce Council, Dr. Iman Al-Mutairi, addressed the most prominent reforms implemented by the Kingdom in e-commerce, in addition to the growth opportunities in the field, given the market growth that reached SR162 billion in 2021.

On Friday, the delegation will visit several business accelerators and incubators, most notably “techUK” concerned with trade and technology, which represents British government cooperation with around 350 members in various sectors with the aim of forming and accelerating trade policies. They will also visit LEVEL39, a center for innovation and a specialized businesses accelerator in Cyber ​​Security, Fintech, Retail, and Smart Cities.

The event was attended by representatives from the Saudi side including the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Investment, the Ministry of Transport and Logistics, the Saudi Central Bank, the Communications and Information Technology Commission, Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority "Monsha'at", Saudi Data & AI Authority "SDAIA", the National Competitiveness Center, the Saudi Business Center, Saudi Post "SPL”, in addition to 120 company leaders from the two countries. — SPA