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Ooredoo And Qatar Airways Partner To Build National AI Hub
The two Qatari giants have signed an MoU to establish a national hub for AI, cloud, and cybersecurity, driving digital transformation and talent development.
Ooredoo and Qatar Airways have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to create a national hub for artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and cybersecurity. The agreement aims to accelerate Qatar’s digital transformation, positioning the country as a regional leader in advanced technology and innovation.
The announcement builds on a 15-year collaboration between the two organizations and represents a major step in Qatar’s long-term strategy for technological leadership and economic diversification. The initiative will deliver advanced infrastructure, digital tools, and data security frameworks that align with national goals for sustainable development.
A core element of the partnership is investment in people. Ooredoo and Qatar Airways will introduce specialized training and upskilling programs in AI, cloud, and cybersecurity, equipping the next generation of professionals with the skills needed to drive innovation across industries.
To support the effort, Ooredoo activated its investment in the NVIDIA GPU platform in July 2025, bringing high-performance computing power to Qatar. This infrastructure will enable businesses, government agencies, and developers to harness large-scale AI processing for advanced solutions.
Sheikh Ali Bin Jabor Al Thani, Chief Executive Officer of Ooredoo, stated: “We are committed to unleashing AI’s transformative power to enhance human potential and redefine what’s achievable. This strategic alliance with Qatar Airways merges our respective expertise to position Qatar as a global leader in AI advancement and digital innovation”.
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Qatar Airways Group CEO Badr Mohammed Al-Meer echoed this commitment: “Leveraging technology to drive innovation has always been central to Qatar Airways’ digital strategy. This partnership allows us to expand our role as a national AI champion and supports Qatar’s ambition to integrate AI across sectors. Together, we are setting new benchmarks for excellence across industries”.
By combining Ooredoo’s AI infrastructure with Qatar Airways’ operational experience in deploying advanced technologies, the partnership will lead to smarter, connected solutions in both telecommunications and aviation. More broadly, it reinforces Qatar’s ambition to create a knowledge-based economy and strengthen its influence as a regional hub for technology and digital innovation.
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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.
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.
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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.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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