News

IBM And AWS Plan Riyadh Hub To Drive Regional Cloud Growth

The partnership will target Middle East digital agendas with AI and advanced hybrid cloud solutions.

Published

11 months ago

September 30, 2025

Joanna Melki

ibm and aws plan riyadh hub to drive regional cloud growth

IBM

IBM and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are deepening their partnership to accelerate cloud adoption and digital transformation across the Middle East, with plans for a joint Innovation Hub in Riyadh.

The expansion builds on an existing Strategic Collaboration Agreement, combining IBM Consulting’s expertise in AI, hybrid cloud and cybersecurity with AWS’s global infrastructure. The goal is to help regional clients modernize operations, adopt generative AI and meet government transformation targets.

Cloud demand in the Middle East is surging. Sectors such as healthcare and banking are leading adoption, followed by retail and manufacturing. National strategies like Saudi Vision 2030 and the UAE’s Digital Economy Strategy are pushing enterprises to invest in AI, IoT and cloud platforms to boost productivity and diversify economies.

The proposed Riyadh hub will give clients access to proofs of concept and hands-on trials of joint solutions, building on similar models in India and Romania. It will showcase offerings such as IBM’s watsonx platform, oil and gas analytics, and AI-powered citizen services.

IBM plans to expand its AWS Practice in the region, certifying local practitioners and training talent in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. AWS will support by localizing offerings — ranging from contact center intelligence to autonomous security compliance — tailored to priorities around diversification and sustainability.

Security is a central focus. IBM and AWS will offer assessments and managed services, including IBM’s Autonomous Security for Cloud. The service uses AI-driven automation to enforce uniform policies under the AWS shared responsibility model. The partners aim to help clients meet standards such as Saudi Arabia’s Essential Cybersecurity Controls and Abu Dhabi’s healthcare security rules.

Also Read: Abu Dhabi And NVIDIA Launch First Joint AI And Robotics Lab

The collaboration also emphasizes sustainability, aligning with the Saudi Green Initiative and the UAE’s climate goals. IBM Consulting will bring global tools such as its Sustainability Disclosure Assist to support ESG reporting and net-zero targets.

“This partnership underscores IBM’s commitment to helping organizations in Saudi Arabia and the UAE realize their digital transformation ambitions,” said Lula Mohanty, managing partner for the Middle East and Africa at IBM Consulting.

AWS’s Tanuja Randery added that the tie-up will enable governments and businesses “to adopt breakthrough technologies at scale, while reinventing core processes with AI”.

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News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.