RIYADH: The Saudi Health Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Gulf Health Council on ​​research capacity-building and on policies supporting data sharing and accessibility for health research. The MoU was signed in the presence of a number of general managers and department heads at the General Secretariat of the Cooperation Council for the Arab Gulf Countries in Riyadh. The Secretary-General of the Saudi Health Council, Dr. Nahar bin Mezki Al-Azemi, stressed the importance of the MoU in setting priorities for research in the health sector to improve health sector outputs and raise efficiency. Dr. Azemi said that the Saudi Health Council is working on new regulations to improve coordination between health authorities in implementing national programs to improve health levels in the Kingdom. He added that this cooperation with the Gulf Health Council highlights the importance of integration between government sectors and allows the sharing of experience in various fields to improve health services in the Kingdom. For his part, Mr. Sulaiman bin Saleh Al-Dakhil, the Director General of the Executive Office of the Gulf Health Council said that the Saudi Health Council and the Gulf Health Council sought the highest level of coordination to develop health practices in all GCC countries, sharing experiences and cooperating in building research capabilities. He said that they are working on a project to support data sharing, adding that a project will be set to prioritize research in the health sector and benefit from the experiences gained in disease records for research purposes in the health sector and health economics.