The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia represented by King Abdulaziz and his Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity "Mawhiba" and the Ministry of Education, won a silver medal in the Asia-Pacific Informatics Olympiad "APIO 2024". It was organized by the People’s Republic of China remotely, with the participation of 286 students representing 36 countries during the period from May 18 to 19.

Grade 12 student Adeeb Salem Al-Shehri from the Eastern Province Education Administration won the silver medal, which is the first silver medal for the Saudi Informatics team in this competition; as it had previously achieved 3 bronze medals in previous participations. It is one of the difficult competitions that many countries rely on to choose the team participating in the International Olympiad in Informatics competition.

Student Adeeb Al-Shehri had extensive training prior to his participation in the Asia-Pacific Informatics Olympiad, amounting to 2,168 training hours in "Mawhiba" at the hands of an elite group of Saudi and foreign experts.

This is the fourth participation of the Saudi Informatics Team in the Asia-Pacific Olympiad; as Saudi Arabia raised its score of Olympic awards to 4 awards after winning the silver medal in the current session.

The Secretary-General of Mawhiba, Dr. Amal Al-Hazza praised the Saudi Informatics Team’s victory with the first silver medal in Asia-Pacific Informatics Olympiad. She noted that the wise government is trying to anticipate global changes and provide opportunities and skills ahead of its time. She added that the Kingdom has become a destination and a forum that brings together talents from all parts of the world.

She stated that "Mawhiba" is working to develop the skills of gifted Saudis in the field of informatics and programming, and open a wide door for them to become future leaders in this field. So, the Kingdom will devote its position as a source of inspiration to the world, especially since they are distinguished by creativity and innovation. She pointed out that the participating Saudi team was prepared to be at the level of the Kingdom’s status.

It is noteworthy that the competition was held remotely. Its first session was launched in 2007 and the Kingdom’s first participation was in 2021. During the competition, participating students are exposed to three programming tasks of an algorithmic nature, which must be solved in C++ language within five hours.