Palestine Signs DCO Charter as LEAP 2026 Closes in Riyadh

The Digital Cooperation Organization closed its participation at LEAP 2026 in Riyadh after the State of Palestine signed the DCO Charter to become a Signatory Member and unveiled a Digital Prosperity Plan for 2026-2028, co-developed with the DCO, covering digital infrastructure and AI readiness, digital government, skills, startups and SMEs.

The Digital Cooperation Organization wrapped up its programme at LEAP 2026 in Riyadh with the addition of a new Signatory Member and a country-level digital roadmap to show for it. The State of Palestine signed the DCO Charter during the event, and alongside the signing unveiled a Digital Prosperity Plan covering 2026 to 2028 that was co-developed with the organization.

The plan, according to the announcement carried by Financial Post, is organised around five workstreams: digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence readiness, digital government, digital skills, startups, and small and medium-sized enterprises. That is a familiar template for national digital strategies, but the fact that it was drafted jointly with a multilateral body rather than issued unilaterally is the part that carries weight.

What signing the Charter actually commits a country to

The DCO is an intergovernmental organization built around digital economy cooperation, and its Charter is the founding instrument members accede to. Signatory status is the entry point: it establishes a country inside the organization's governance and gives it access to shared programmes, peer benchmarking and the working groups where cross-border digital policy gets negotiated.

For a smaller or fragmented economy, the practical value is less about a seat at a table and more about templates. Rules on data flows, cloud procurement, digital identity, e-payments and platform regulation are expensive to draft from scratch and easy to get wrong in ways that deter foreign operators. Joining a bloc that already runs those conversations shortens the drafting cycle and, importantly, makes the resulting rulebook legible to investors who have seen it elsewhere in the region.

That legibility is the underrated asset. Telecom operators, cloud providers, payment networks and enterprise software vendors all price regulatory uncertainty into whether they enter a market at all. A national plan that mirrors frameworks used by neighbouring members is cheaper to underwrite than a bespoke one.

Five workstreams that describe a build-out, not a pilot

The composition of the Digital Prosperity Plan is worth reading closely, because each of the five pillars implies a different kind of spending and a different set of counterparties.

• Digital infrastructure and AI readiness. The heaviest capital item on the list. In practice this means connectivity, data centre or colocation capacity, and the compute and data governance groundwork that has to exist before any AI programme is more than a slogan.
• Digital government. Identity systems, service portals, registries and payments. Usually the first pillar to show measurable results, and the one that anchors demand for everything else.
• Digital skills. The constraint that most often stalls the other four. Infrastructure can be procured; a supply of engineers, data specialists and public-sector technologists cannot be bought in a single tender.
• Startups. Signals an intent to build a domestic venture pipeline rather than import all software.
• SMEs. The broadest pillar by headcount. Digitising small businesses — payments, invoicing, logistics, access to credit — is where a digital economy strategy either reaches the general population or does not.

Taken together, the list reads as a sequenced build rather than a set of showcase pilots. Infrastructure and government services first, skills in parallel, and the private-sector pillars dependent on both.

Why this landed at LEAP and not at a policy summit

LEAP has become the Gulf's largest annual gathering of technology vendors, sovereign investors and government buyers, and announcements are increasingly timed to it for the same reason product launches cluster around trade shows: the counterparties are all in one building. A charter signing and a national plan unveiled at the same event puts the political commitment and the commercial audience in the same room.

Riyadh's role here is not incidental. Saudi Arabia has spent several years positioning itself as the convening point for regional digital policy, and the DCO's presence at LEAP reinforces that. For member states, the calculation is straightforward — proximity to the region's largest pools of technology capital and the vendors chasing them.

The gap between a plan and a procurement

The announcement establishes the framework and the membership. It does not, on the facts released, attach a budget, a financing structure, or a named set of implementing partners to the Digital Prosperity Plan. That is the gap anyone assessing the commercial significance should hold in mind.

National digital strategies in emerging markets typically follow a predictable path from announcement to execution: plan, then feasibility and gap assessment, then financing — often blended between government budget, development finance institutions and vendor-supported arrangements — then tendering. Each stage takes time, and the attrition between what a three-year plan promises and what is contracted in its first year is usually substantial.

For Palestine specifically, the infrastructure pillar carries constraints that no policy document resolves on its own. Spectrum, cross-border connectivity, equipment import and the physical siting of network assets are all conditioned by circumstances outside the plan's control. A framework agreed in Riyadh does not change those conditions; it does establish a channel through which technical assistance and coordinated financing can be organised.

What to watch over the next twelve months

Several markers will show whether the 2026-2028 plan is moving from document to delivery.

• Named implementing partners. Multilateral lenders, development agencies or private vendors publicly attached to specific pillars would be the clearest signal that financing is being assembled.
• A digital government milestone. A working national digital identity or a consolidated services portal is the standard early proof point, and the one that unlocks payments and SME digitisation behind it.
• Regulatory instruments. Data protection, cloud and cross-border data transfer rules published in a form recognisable to regional operators would indicate the DCO frameworks are being adopted rather than merely referenced.
• Further accessions. Additional Signatory Members joining would tell you the organization's convening pull is strengthening, which matters for the network value of membership itself.

For technology suppliers and investors watching the region, the immediate read is modest but real: another jurisdiction has committed to a common digital rulebook, and has published a three-year statement of what it intends to buy and build. Whether that converts into contracts depends on financing that has not yet been disclosed. The plan sets the direction; the tender documents will set the pace.

Key facts

• Event: DCO concluded participation at LEAP 2026, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
• New member: State of Palestine signed the DCO Charter as a Signatory Member
• Plan unveiled: Digital Prosperity Plan 2026-2028, co-developed with the DCO
• Pillars: Digital infrastructure and AI readiness, digital government, skills, startups, SMEs

Frequently asked questions

What is the Digital Cooperation Organization?

The DCO is an intergovernmental organization focused on cooperation in the digital economy. Countries join by signing its Charter, which brings them into the organization's governance structures, shared programmes and working groups on digital policy. Its work spans areas such as digital infrastructure, digital government, skills development and support for startups and small businesses across member states.

What did the State of Palestine agree to at LEAP 2026?

The State of Palestine signed the DCO Charter, becoming a Signatory Member of the organization. Alongside the signing, it unveiled a Digital Prosperity Plan covering 2026 to 2028 that was co-developed with the DCO. The plan is organised around digital infrastructure and AI readiness, digital government, digital skills, startups and small and medium-sized enterprises.

What does the Digital Prosperity Plan 2026-2028 cover?

The plan sets out five areas of work: digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence readiness, digital government services, digital skills development, support for startups, and digitisation of small and medium-sized enterprises. It runs across a three-year window from 2026 to 2028 and was developed jointly with the Digital Cooperation Organization rather than drafted unilaterally.

Has a budget been announced for the plan?

No financing figure, budget or named funding partner was disclosed in the announcement. The plan establishes the framework and the priority areas. Typically, national digital strategies of this kind move from an announced plan through feasibility assessment and financing arrangements before individual projects reach procurement, so funding details would be expected to emerge later.

Why was the announcement made at LEAP?

LEAP is the Gulf region's largest annual technology gathering, drawing vendors, sovereign investors and government buyers to Riyadh. Timing a charter signing and a national digital plan to the event puts the political commitment and the commercial audience in the same place, which is why regional digital policy announcements increasingly cluster around it.

What should investors watch next?

The clearest signals would be named implementing partners or lenders attached to specific pillars, publication of regulatory instruments such as data protection and cloud rules, an early digital government milestone like a national digital identity system, and whether additional countries sign the DCO Charter, which would strengthen the network value of membership.

Sources

• DCO Concludes LEAP 2026 with Partnerships and Digital Cooperation Milestones — Financial Post

Photo: Werner Pfennig · Pexels Licence — source