Government Communications Office Director continues high-level meetings with tech leaders at Web Summit Qatar 2024
Sheikh Jassim bin Mansour bin Jabor Al Thani, Government Communications Office (GCO) Director and Chairman of the Web Summit Qatar 2024 Organising Committee, held another full day of meetings with business executives and government officials on 28 February, on the sidelines of Web Summit Qatar 2024.
Joined by HE Dr Abdullah bin Hamad bin Abdullah Al Attiya, Minister of Municipality, Sheikh Jassim also toured the exhibition visiting pavilions of several major international tech companies and emerging startups to learn about the latest developments in innovation and technology.
Toward expanding the country’s digital footprint and grow its creator economy, the GCO Director signed a Memorandum of Understanding with leading social media platform, TikTok. As part of the agreement, TikTok will open a creative studio in Qatar to help the country’s TikTok users produce high-impact content campaigns, hold creative workshops to develop local talent and strengthen the nation’s creative ecosystem.
In addition, Sheikh Jassim met with representatives from major tech firms, including Mark Read, CEO of WPP, Adam Gerhart, Global CEO of Mindshare, Rayan Karaky, Amazon Ads Managing Director, Ronaldo Moushawar, VP at Amazon MENA and Tamir Bar-Haim, VP of Advertising at Amazon.
The GCO Director also met with Hussein Freijeh, VP General Manager at Snap Inc MENA, Ronan Harris, President of EMEA at Snap Inc, Kendrick Nguyen, Cofounder and CEO of Republic and Nick Bell, CEO of Fanatics Live. To inspire the next generation of tech leaders, Sheikh Jassim met students from the Ministry of Defense’s Emiri Signal Corps and Information Technology Cyber Space Academy.
The one-to-one and multilateral meetings at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center provided opportunities for in-depth discussions about company engagements and strategic partnerships at the first-ever Web Summit held in Qatar and the Middle East.
More so, they reflect Qatar’s meaningful role within the industry and the impactful connections made across the global media and technology landscape, as well as the momentum Web Summit Qatar 2024 has instantly gathered as a platform for partnerships across the global tech space.
With only one day remaining, Web Summit Qatar 2024 has attracted 15,453 attendees from 118 countries, after successfully launching on 27 February. The opening ceremony featured HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Web Summit CEO Katherine Maher, Replit CEO Amjad Masad, and TV host Trevor Noah.
Qatar’s hosting of the world’s largest tech conference has set new records in the event’s history, including the largest gathering of startups in the Middle East–1,043 startups from 81 countries. The summit also presents opportunities for Qatar’s startup community to shine as they comprise 10 percent of the total startups, accelerating Qatar’s drive to build a thriving innovation ecosystem, as part of its Third National Development Strategy 2024-2030.
By hosting the celebrated tech event for five years, Qatar continues to showcase its capacity to organise major international events, firmly establishing itself as a hub for innovation, in line with its national vision for the year 2030.