President of Statistics Authority Stresses Importance of GIS Conference

Doha, February 04 (QNA) - President of the Statistics Authority HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jabor bin Jassim Al Thani, stressed the importance of the topics being discussed in the Second World Conference of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in reaching a road plan that leads to achieving the common goals of development and peoples' welfare. In his speech at the opening session of the conference, HE the President of Statistics Authority stressed that all the participating countries seek to achieve the desired hopes and develop mechanisms that would lay the foundations for cooperation between the countries regarding the exchange of experiences in areas related to geographic information systems. He added that the State of Qatar is proud to host this important international conference, "which is one of the most important gatherings hosted by the Qatar during this period," expressing hope meantime that the participants would reach positive outcomes. HE the President of Statistics Authority further said that the second round of the conference is being held baring the decisions and recommendations of the First Conference held in Korea 2011. He noted that the participants in Seoul conference unanimously agreed on the importance of uniting the efforts of all concerned countries to find mechanism that will stimulate coordination and cooperation to develop a vision on the importance of relying on GIS in strategic planning. The First conference discussed the importance of developing a geographic information database that covers the important information available, he said stressing however the need to keep pace with technological developments and to monitor changes taking place in the world and integrate them in their trends and geographic locations. HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jabor bin Jassim Al Thani noted that this integration will allow better measurement of these trends and implications of development in various sectors, and will make it possible to facing all the challenges and difficulties. Visions and aspirations can not be achieved without the optimum use of modern methods and technologies, he added. The participants in the second GIS conference seek to find appropriate mechanisms to build the geographical information database, that covers statistical and geographical information and matchees the international standards, to serve as a reference for managing emergency situations. The Conference addresses, as well as, the future trends in the field of geo-spatial information and its relationship to sustainable development in addition to coordination and exchange of experiences among the participating countries in this area. (QNA)