Saudi Arabia Hosts ITU Forum on Embracing Metaverse

Saudi Arabia is expected to host the first edition of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) forum on embracing the metaverse, which will last till March 9.

The three-day event is being co-organized by the National Cybersecurity Authority, Communications, Space and Technology Commission, and the Saudi Information Technology Company (SITE) in cooperation with the United Nations agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

The forum aims to stimulate the global dialogue about the metaverse, provide a global platform that explores the challenges and promising opportunities in it, and contribute to strengthening its standards and organization in addition to creating a safe and prosperous environment for its services.

The event will witness panel discussions in which participants will tackle the importance of adopting, enabling, and regulating Metaverse services and applications in the Kingdom, enabling interoperability of Metaverse, and the future of cybersecurity in protecting its various applications and services, with the participation of a group of local and international specialists in the field.

Following the event, the Focus Group on Vehicular Multimedia (FG-VM) of the ITU will hold its first meeting to discuss issues related to the metaverse and work on setting up international technical standards and future strategies to enable the interoperability of its services and applications on a global scale.

It is not the first time Saudi Arabia hosted an event related to the metaverse. Earlier, the Saudi capital of Riyadh hosted LEAP 2023 from February 6 to 9 with the participation of dozens of experts, government officials, and representatives of companies who discussed the latest developments in virtual reality, fintech, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and smart cities.

The event saw inking agreements between Saudi and global tech companies on developing metaverse technologies.

LEAP23 announced a series of total investments worth $580 million to promote Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation in various fields.