Digital Cooperation Organization wants Global South to join global digital policymaking

Pakistan has recently concluded the first Digital Foreign Direct Investment Forum 2025 (DFDI) in preparation for taking over the presidency of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO). The multilateral organization is aimed at promoting the digital economy in the Global South, including digital public infrastructure (DPI) and digital identity.

The two-day event, which concluded on April 30th, invited around 400 state delegates and over 200 IT and telecom companies in Islamabad to discuss investments into the digital economy.

“The presidency of Pakistan that is planned for 2026 for DCO is a continuous effort for positioning Pakistan as the digital powerhouse for the region and for the globe as well,” DCO Secretary-General Deemah AlYahya told Arab News.

Pakistan is one of the five founding members of DCO, established in November 2020 on the sidelines of the G20. The Riyadh-headquartered organization believes in giving countries in the Global South a stronger voice in global digital policy.

One path towards this is boosting investments. During the Forum in Islamabad, Pakistan presented its first national implementation of the DCO Digital Foreign Direct Investment (DFDI) Initiative, which has already attracted over US$700 million.

The Initiative was launched in 2022 in collaboration with the World Economic Forum (WEF) to help countries attract FDI into digital industries and infrastructure. The first country on the list was Nigeria, while DCO plans to replicate the program in all its 16 member states.

Another path is drafting policies. DCO is currently drafting an AI treaty that will not only include ethical principles but also infrastructure, capacity building and practical applications. The organization is also in talks with the Council of Europe and the African Union to expand the initiative.

Aside from AI, the main focus for DCO is data flows and misinformation, AlYahya said in an interview with Semafor in March.

“We still don’t have harmonized policies or regulations when it comes to tech … There is nobody on a global level that is actually providing that,” she says.

In November last year, DCO released a policy paper on digital rights, which includes a right to personal digital identity and protection against algorithmic bias. Digital ID systems should not only prioritize transparency, accountability and alignment with user needs, but also establish interoperability with other national systems to encourage the cross-border digital economy, the document says.

The organization gathers Ministries of Communications and Information Technology from 16 countries, including Bangladesh, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Ghana and more. Collectively, they represent a market of 800 million people and a GDP of $3.5 trillion. AlYahya hopes that grouping together will allow these countries to take on technology giants such as Meta on regulatory issues, such as data sovereignty.

In February, the DCO elected Kuwait to their Presidency for 2025. During the event, the organization pledged to broaden membership by introducing an Associate Membership mechanism

“Our Presidency comes at a pivotal time for DCO, with the 2025-2028 Agenda setting a blueprint for the next four years,” says Omar Saud Al-Omar, the Kuwaiti Minister of State for Communication Affairs.

Last year, the DCO inked an agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on digital cooperation. Earlier this year, it also announced several Memoranda of Understanding with the Mohammed Bin Salman Foundation (MISK), tech company HP and the Agency for Economic Cooperation and Development (AED).

Article Topics

Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO)  |  digital economy  |  digital ID  |  digital inclusion  |  digital public infrastructure  |  Saudi Arabia