The Minister of Communications and Information Technology, H E Mohammed bin Ali bin Mohammed Al-Mannai; Minister of Justice and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs, H E Ibrahim bin Ali bin Issa Al Hassan Al-Mohannadi; and Minister of State for Foreign Trade, H E Dr. Ahmad bin Mohammed Al-Sayed, along with other officials during the Google Cloud Summit held yesterday.
Doha, Qatar: Google Cloud is expanding its investment in Qatar’s AI ecosystem with a national skilling initiative that will create more than 50,000 learning opportunities, as Axxes Partnership projects the organisation’s partnership with the government could generate at least $1.5bn in annual economic impact and a further $1.4bn in workforce productivity through AI training by the end of the decade.
The figures were highlighted by the Regional General Manager for Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Iraq at Google Cloud, Ghassan Kosta, during the Google Cloud Summit, marking three years of acceleration of AI adoption and regional innovation, yesterday.
The event was attended by the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, H E Mohammed bin Ali bin Mohammed Al-Mannai; Minister of Justice and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs, H E Ibrahim bin Ali bin Issa Al Hassan Al-Mohannadi; and Minister of State for Foreign Trade, H E Dr. Ahmad bin Mohammed Al-Sayed, along with other officials and representatives.
Speaking to The Peninsula on the sidelines, Kosta noted that the initiative is the latest phase of Google Cloud’s growing engagement with Qatar, marking the third anniversary of the launch of the company’s cloud region in Doha.
“Qatar’s digital future is being built around its people”, he said, highlighting Google Cloud’s efforts to develop local capabilities before the company’s cloud infrastructure was established in the country.
The official pointed to the launch of Google Cloud’s Center of Excellence in early 2021 as an early milestone in that effort. According to Kosta, the initiative has since trained more than 12,800 learners.
At the summit, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology H E Mohammed bin Ali Al-Mannai honoured a number of organisations for their contributions to digital transformation, artificial intelligence and innovation.
The awards recognised achievements across a broad range of institutions, including the Ministry of Labour, the Civil Service and Government Development Bureau, Qatar University, Qatar Museums, Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa), the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, Qatar Airways, the Public Works Authority (Ashghal), Ooredoo Qatar, Al Jazeera Media Network, Omantel, and the Department of Information Technology of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq.
Delivering a keynote speech at the summit, Assistant Undersecretary for Infrastructure and Operations Affairs at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), Sami Mohammed Al-Shammari, said, “Our framework agreement with Google Cloud provides a strategic foundation for advancing cloud and AI adoption across Qatar’s government sector. Today, cloud infrastructure is enabling the next stage of our digital transformation, providing the foundation to integrate advanced and agentic AI capabilities into core government operations. Through this agreement, we are supporting government entities in adopting these technologies at scale, while strengthening the national digital capabilities needed to deliver sustainable impact in line with the Digital Agenda 2030.”
Assistant Undersecretary for Infrastructure and Operations Affairs at MCIT, Sami Mohammed Al-Shammari. PIC: SALIM MATRAMKOT
Al-Shammari highlighted Qatar’s ongoing efforts to expand its advanced computing infrastructure.
The MCIT official also presented growing uptake of artificial intelligence across government and other sectors. More than 40 AI-driven projects are currently being developed or implemented, spanning areas such as public services, healthcare, labour, justice, infrastructure, scientific research and media. The Innovation Lab is also expanding its capabilities through its collaboration with Google Cloud. The facility offers an advanced platform for AI development, bringing together developers, researchers, startups and established businesses to build, experiment with and validate new solutions. Its infrastructure is designed to help projects progress beyond the prototype and pilot stages toward wider, large-scale deployment.
Building on its five-year partnership with the government, Google Cloud is closely collaborating with MCIT to drive a new phase of digital transformation centered on agentic AI.
Regional General Manager for Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Iraq at Google Cloud, Ghassan Kosta addressing the gathering at the Google Cloud Summit yesterday. PIC: SALIM MATRAMKOT
“We’re seeing some groundbreaking work across Qatar in the use of AI, from Al Jazeera’s innovative applications to nationwide adoption driven by MCIT,” Managing Director of Google Cloud’s Artificial Intelligence business across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Alex Rutter, told The Peninsula.
He further added, “What excites me most is seeing institutions like Qatar University use Gemini to transform the student journey and embed AI across departments, helping position Qatar as a leader in AI-powered education.” The summit at the Qatar National Convention Center convened over 2,000 technology executives, developers, and strategic partners to review the integration of Gemini Enterprise across key industries.
