KUWAIT, Dec 12 (KUNA) - Kuwait's Communications and Information Technology Regulatory Authority (CITRA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Wednesday with Whale Cloud, a member of the Alibaba Group in China.

CITRA said in a press statement that the signing took place on the sidelines of the visit of the Chief Executive Officer of Ali Baba and Whale Cloud Ben Zhou and its headquarters in the country.

Eng. Salem Al-Ozainah, Chairman and CEO at CITRA, stated that signing of the MoU is intended to reflect the Authority's strategy to make Kuwait a regional hub for telecommunications and data technology by enhancing cooperation and exchange of experiences between the two parties in the field of ICT development.

Al-Ozainah added that the Authority focused on benefiting from the company's strategy of using Kuwait's unique geographic location to reach the surrounding countries through the infrastructure of Kuwait and to make Kuwait a center for the movement of data and information among the countries of the world.

He confirmed that the signing of the MoU with Alibaba and Whale Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, was an attempt to achieve the vision of digital transformation in Kuwait, which contributes to transforming Kuwait into a center of digital economy in line with the vision of Kuwait 2035.

The MoU aims at enabling the local market to adopt the Internet (IOT) and Artificial Intelligence (Ai) as well as motivating the small business sector to adopt the latest technological means that will allow citizens to gain technical expertise to build the new market with their innovations and efforts.

 Alibaba and Whale Cloud will provide strategic advice in finding innovative technological solutions for the government and private sector and provide expertise in building the optimal structure for smart cities, explained Al-Ozainah.

He pointed out that the MoU seeks to create an intelligent generation that supports the vision of the digital economy in Kuwait, in addition to discussing the proposal to develop the educational infrastructure to enable Kuwaiti talents to integrate into the new market.

 Alibaba and Whale Cloud are among the largest companies in the information technology market and are recognized worldwide for the provision of cloud computing services, a subsidiary of the Alibaba Group.