Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, second deputy premier and minister of defense, met with Satya Narayana Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft, at the IT giant's office in Silicon Valley in San Francisco on Tuesday. During the meeting, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed, under which Microsoft will train young Saudis and will support the Kingdom in its ambitious digital and knowledge-based innovation transformation under Vision 2030. Microsoft inked another deal to boost the Decision Making Support Center at the Royal Court by setting up systems and operational programs with the help of a team of experts from Microsoft. Speaking on the occasion, Nadella expressed Microsoft's keenness in entering into partnership with Saudi Arabia in its great initiative to transform into a digital Kingdom. "Microsoft will come out with technology to translate the Vision 2030 into a reality, with a focus on human capital and innovation, and we aspire to achieve it as early as possible," he said. Deputy Crown Prince also met with Salman Khan, president of Khan Academy. They discussed various aspects of academic partnership between Misk Foundation, and the academy, which is a global non-profit educational organization with the aim of providing a "free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere". The Deputy Crown Prince also met with the founder and executive director of Ober company. In a related development, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology has recorded more than 30 initiatives as part of the National Transformation Program 2020. Prince Turki Bin Saud, president of the city, said that these included scientific partnership to establish 10 research centers in the United States. These centers will be devoted to implementing top priority research projects for the Kingdom in the vital strategic fields, he told the Saudi Press Agency. Cisco to help KSA achieve digital goal Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, second deputy premier and minister of defense, on Monday met with the California-based Cisco Systems' Chairman John T. Chambers and his executive team. Prince Muhammad was also briefed on the latest research in the telecommunications industry during the meeting. Following the meeting, a memorandum of understanding was signed with Cisco Systems to help develop the digital infrastructure in the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030" reform plans unveiled in April set out a specific goal of improving high-speed broadband access in the Kingdom which will provide housing coverage of 90 percent in densely populated cities and 66 percent in other urban zones. Cisco has its market cap at $146 billion. Its profits after taxes were $2.35 billion for the first quarter of 2016. Prince Muhammad is currently visiting the US where he met US officials last week including President Barack Obama. He's currently meeting with technology giants in Silicon Valley in talks about further investments.
