JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia is one of the largest markets for communications technology in the region, according to Prince Sultan bin Salman, chairman of the Kingdom’s tourism commission.
The prince, who in 1985 became the first Arab astronaut when he flew on the seven-day space mission that launched the second ArabSat satellite, was speaking at the Global Space Technology Forum in Abu Dhabi, which opened on Dec. 7.
Reviewing the changes in science and technology over the quarter century since his space flight, Prince Sultan said satellites had radically changed the world. Without them there would be no satellite TV or radio, weather forecasting would be very different as well as Internet and telephone communication. There were now four new generation ArabSat satellites orbiting the earth, he said. Altogether 10 satellites had been launched and two more would be in orbit by 2012.
As one of the founders and the largest shareholder in ArabSat, Saudi Arabia was, he said, “a true believer” in the importance of space to national development. It had promoted the widespread use of satellite technology in the region and continued to invest heavily in science and technology.
That was evident in the fact that there were 80,000 Saudi students studying on science-based scholarships around the world, he said, as well as 24 public and eight private universities specializing in science and technology being built in the Kingdom.
Moreover, most Saudi universities had forged links with major academic institutions elsewhere. The Kingdom had also invested in science clubs and centers and funded a plan for the development of science and technology.
