The Riyadh Development Authority (RDA) and the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) signed a cooperation agreement with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), pursuant to which the city of Riyadh joined other 50 cities worldwide under the umbrella of the ITU’s KPIs on Smart Sustainable Cities Project.
The agreement was signed by HE CEO of Riyadh Development Authority, Engr. Tariq bin Abdulaziz Al-Faris, HE Dr. Abdulaziz bin Salim Al-Ruwais, CITC Governor, and HE Houlin Zhao, ITU secretary-general.
The project, carried out by the ITU in collaboration with 18 UN organizations, aims at developing a set of international key performance indicators (KPIs) for smart sustainable cities (SSC) to establish the criteria to evaluate signatories’ contributions in making cities smarter and more sustainable, and to provide cities with the means for self-assessments in order to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
In line with the Saudi Vision 2030, this step will enhance capabilities of the Riyadh Urban Observatory in the light of the policies outlined in the Metropolitan Development Strategy for the Riyadh Region.
The project will also improve the rank of the city of Riyadh among the founding cities of the Smart Sustainable City Index.