JEDDAH: Kitack Lim, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), left Saudi Arabia on Monday after a three-day visit.
During his visit, Lim toured the Mohammed bin Naif Academy for Maritime Science and Security Studies, the Prince Mohammed bin Naif Maritime Base in Jeddah and the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Center for the Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba. The commander of the center explained the missions of search and rescue, as well as the humanitarian work of the center nationally, regionally and internationally, and its efforts to combat maritime piracy and armed robbery.
Furthermore, Lim had a tour of the beach set up by the Border Guards for persons with special needs, with high-quality facilities that are appropriate for them.
Lim and the visiting delegation expressed their admiration of the location. It is the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia.
He also hailed the “efforts of the Saudi Border Guards in their quest to establish swimming pools on all shores of the Kingdom to suit the needs of those with special needs.”
Border Guards Director General Maj. Gen. Awad bin Eid Al-Balawi launched the site on Friday as the beginning of a Border Guards initiative for people with special needs.
“The Saudi leadership has made it a top priority to care for disabled people and people with special needs. It made the protection of their rights a constitutional basis according to the provisions of Islam,” Al-Balawi told the visiting delegation.
He also pointed out that Vision 2030 was supportive of empowering people with special needs to obtain appropriate opportunities for education and work.
“The National Transformation Program (NTP) 2020 is also working on turning people with special needs from recipients of assistance to producers,” he added.
Al-Balawi recently directed the rapid establishment of a fully equipped location for swimming purposes for those with special needs to provide suitable services to beach visitors and provide support to their families.
Lim’s visit was to enhance cooperation between the Saudi Border Guards and the IMO, taking advantage of the expertise and professional cadres of the IMO in maritime and the academic domain, and to establish long-term cooperation between the two sides.
IMO secretary-general hails Saudi Border Guard initiative for persons of special needs
IMO secretary-general hails Saudi Border Guard initiative for persons of special needs
Saudi Arabia’s KAUST named FIFA’s first research institute in MENA
- KAUST President Prof. Sir Edward Byrne said that the university’s selection as the fifth FIFA Research Institute in the world — and the first in the region — marks a significant achievement, reflecting Kingdom’s growing presence in international football
RIYADH: FIFA has designated the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology as its first research institute in the Middle East and Asia to support the development of innovative football research, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.
The recognition highlights KAUST’s commitment to integrating sports, academic research and industry through advanced, high-level initiatives grounded in rigorous scientific methodologies, contributing to the advancement of football studies.
KAUST President Prof. Sir Edward Byrne said that the university’s selection as the fifth FIFA Research Institute in the world — and the first in the region — marks a significant achievement, reflecting Saudi Arabia’s growing presence in international football.
The accreditation aligns with national efforts to invest in research and development and promote the knowledge economy, supporting Saudi Vision 2030’s goals of building an advanced sports system based on innovation and sustainability.
The collaboration’s first project focuses on developing advanced AI algorithms to analyze historical FIFA World Cup broadcast footage, transforming decades of match videos into structured, searchable data, according to the KAUST website.
This work opens new opportunities to apply state-of-the-art computer vision techniques and deepen understanding of how football has evolved over time.
The second project uses player and ball tracking data from the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar and the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 in Australia and New Zealand to compile comprehensive datasets capturing in-game dynamics.
These datasets provide deeper insights into human movement, playing techniques and performance dynamics through AI-driven analysis.
