Majid Al-Hogail, head of KSA’s newly formed Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing

Majid Al-Hogail
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Updated 29 January 2021
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Majid Al-Hogail, head of KSA’s newly formed Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing

Majid Al-Hogail was named minister of the newly formed Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing following a royal order to combine the Housing Ministry and the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs. 

Al-Hogail has been housing minister since July 2015, and chairman of the Real Estate General Authority since January 2017. As housing minister, he has led the effort to implement the affordable housing initiative of Vision 2030. He has also been the acting minister of municipal and rural affairs since February 2020.

Al-Hogail received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from King Saud University in 1985.

He also obtained a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1998. 

A year later, he did a US accounting fellowship in New Mexico. He completed an extended development program in management at the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2007.

Additionally, he attended a number of training courses, including plans for guaranteeing the foundation’s continuity in emergency cases, financing the agents and activating and integrating the finance administration with the stock market in Saudi Arabia.

He was managing director of the RAFAL Real Estate Development Co. from August 2007, before joining Aljazira Capital in January 2014 as its chairman, leaving both in July 2015.

During the same period, he was a board member of budget airline Flynas. Earlier, he served as deputy finance director at the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) from 1990 to 1998.

Al-Hogail, who is a member of the board of directors at Qiddiya, NEOM, Amaala, the Red Sea Development Co. and ROSHN, has also been chairman of the Real Estate Development Fund since July 2015, and chairman of the Saudi Real Estate Refinance Co. since August 2017. 


SDAIA president says Saudi Arabia is building an integrated AI ecosystem

Updated 20 February 2026
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SDAIA president says Saudi Arabia is building an integrated AI ecosystem

RIYADH: Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority President Abdullah Al-Ghamdi says that Saudi Arabia is moving steadily to establish artificial intelligence as a trusted national capability, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Guided by the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030, Al-Ghamdi said the goal is to use AI to help develop government services, enhance competitiveness, build human capacity and improve quality of life through a comprehensive strategy based on three main pillars that unlock the potential of this technology and achieve sustainable developmental impact.

“The first pillar focuses on building human capacity and enhancing readiness to engage with AI technologies,” he said.

The second pillar is building an integrated national AI ecosystem that drives expansion and innovation by developing advanced digital infrastructure that enables various sectors to adopt AI applications efficiently, consistently and with effective governance, Al-Ghamdi said.

The third pillar, he said, is governance that ensures responsible and measurable AI through a national framework aligned with international standards.

This came during Al-Ghamdi’s speech at a high-level ministerial session held on Thursday on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi.

He is heading the Saudi delegation, and the session saw broad participation from heads of state, decision-makers and technology leaders from around the world.

Al-Ghamdi also had a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday evening, discussed AI cooperation and expressed his gratitude for hosting the summit and for the hospitality extended to the participants.