RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defense faces many challenges including the country’s cultural and economic growth, a top government official said Wednesday. Lt. Gen. Sulaiman bin Abdullah Al-Amro, director general of the Kingdom’s Civil Defense, was addressing a forum in Riyadh, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The event, which focused on the digital transformation of Civil Defense operations, was inaugurated by Assistant Minister of Interior for Technology Affairs Prince Bandar bin Abdullah Al-Mishari. “The Directorate General of Civil Defense faces many challenges, including the cultural and economic growth witnessed by the Kingdom in light of its ambitious Vision 2030 (reform plan),” Al-Amro told the forum. “To cope with the constant and rapid modernization of IT, it is necessary to implement initiatives and technical projects to provide services, systems and electronic applications to serve the administrative, financial and field work in all regions of the Kingdom.” The challenges required the development of a strategic plan for digital transformation in line with international standards to establish a “knowledge and technology community,” he added. The conference began with the presentation of specialized research papers tackling various IT-related topics including cybersecurity, data analysis, forecasting and infrastructure. Brig. Gen. Mohammed bin Aed Al-Omari, director general of the IT department at Civil Defense, said the forum was part of an ambitious strategic plan to enhance and upgrade the quality of Civil Defense services through IT, and in implementing technical projects. He said the objective of the forum was to inform delegates about the latest IT innovations in the civil defense field. He identified the challenges and technical difficulties facing Civil Defense personnel and ways to overcome them, in addition to identifying ways to coordinate between departments and ministries in the Kingdom and universities.