Deemah AlYahya

H.E. Deemah AlYahya is a tech diplomat and digital economy expert serving as Secretary-General of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO), the intergovernmental organization dedicated to accelerating the inclusive growth of the digital economy. For more than two decades, she has turned digital policy into measurable results across government, industry and multilateral institutions. Elected in April 2021 as the DCO’s founding Secretary-General, she became the first Saudi woman to lead an international organization. In April 2025, Member States unanimously reappointed her to a second four-year term. Under her leadership, the DCO has grown from five founding Member States to 24, representing nearly one billion people, and is advancing a four-year agenda focused on digital economic resilience and social prosperity. She has convened the DCO General Assembly in Riyadh, Manama, Amman and Kuwait City, bringing ministers, CEOs and partners together to set the organization’s direction. At the Fifth General Assembly in Kuwait in February 2026, Member States adopted the Kuwait Declaration on Responsible AI for Global Digital Prosperity, committing to concrete action on inclusive and trusted digital transformation in the age of artificial intelligence.