Today, the Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, concluded a visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, opening doors for future collaboration in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies.
Minister Solomon engaged with senior Saudi leaders, including His Excellency Engineer Abdullah Amer Alswaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, and His Excellency Fahad bin Abduljalil Al-Saif, Minister of Investment. He also met with representatives from leading Saudi Arabian AI and telecom companies, like HUMAIN and STC group, as well as the Kingdom Holding Company (KHC).
Discussions focused on advancing practical cooperation in AI, digital infrastructure and emerging technologies. Both sides noted the strong fit between Canada's AI strengths and Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 priorities, including building domestic capability, expanding compute and data systems, and accelerating innovation-driven economic growth.
Minister Solomon participated in a roundtable discussion with Canadian and Saudi AI and digital health companies that are actively bridging the Canadian and Saudi innovation ecosystems by conducting their research and development (R&D) in Canada. The companies outlined the various strategies and initiatives they have implemented to strengthen collaboration between Canada and Saudi Arabia on R&D and provided valuable suggestions on facilitating further cooperation.
The visit highlighted the importance of close government-to-government cooperation, partnerships, knowledge exchange and cross-border innovation efforts to unlock new opportunities in AI. It laid the groundwork for future agreements, investments and initiatives to strengthen ties and advance collaboration in AI to the benefit of both countries.
