JEDDAH: Prince Khalid Al-Faisal, governor of Makkah and advisor to King Salman, chaired a meeting in the presence of Minister of Communications and Information Technology Eng. Abdullah Al-Swaha in Jeddah to discuss developing Makkah into a smart region. During the meeting, attended by the presidents of the region’s universities, Prince Khalid went over the work accomplished by the Ministry of Communications in contribution to the transformation of the region. The parties discussed the best academies in the region specialized in the drones used in developmental fields related to energy and aerial inspection, as well as how women’s participation in communications and information technology in the region has reached 28 percent. Several initiatives related to the development of digital capabilities have been undertaken in the region of Makkah, including initiatives aimed at encouraging youth to participate in digital competitions and experiment with the transformation of ideas into real prototypes. Over 6 million individuals have benefitted from these initiatives since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the meeting, participants went over the main investments in communication and information technology in the regional sector, which have exceeded SR4 billion ($1 billion).