President of Statistics : Unified Framework to Take Advantage of GIS Projects in the World Cup

Doha, February 05 (QNA) - President of Qatar Statistics Authority HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jabor bin Jassim Al Thani said efforts are underway in Qatar to engage all concerned parties to draw up a unified framework to take advantage of geographic information systems in the light of the big projects that will be carried out by the state including the 2022 World Cup's projects. This came in a joint press conference held by HE the President of the QSA with Paul Chang, Senior Advisor in the United Nations and Coordinator of the Second High-Level Forum on Global Geospatial Information Management, currently in progress at the Qatar National Convention Centre. HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jabor Al Thani said "We have a great coordination with the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning in several projects and there is a trend to involve all stakeholders in the state to develop a common framework for promoting a bigger use of information systems in all projects and various services." He explained that there are a lot of government bodies that have GIS applications, and this is reflected in the accompanying exhibition, adding, "We will cooperate with various parties in the state to create a perception of a unified Geographic Information System service through the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning." HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jabor went on to say that the state has projects, plans and programmes that must be carried out accurately and this will not be achieved unless there is accurate information and consistent evidence provided by the Geographic Information System. He stressed that the Second High-Level Forum on Global Geospatial Information Management, which began in Doha yesterday, seeks to come out with a roadmap to be a reference for the development of geographic and spatial information systems in the region and the world. The conference is being held at an important stage the region is going through, HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jabor said noting that regional states, especially GCC countries, are experiencing an accelerated development. The President of QSA underlined the importance of coordination and cooperation between GCC countries in the field of geographic information systems applications . He said this collaboration will be fruitful, especially after the establishment of the GCC Statistics Centre. "We hope that the coming years would see considerable coordination between these countries in the field of geographic information systems under the umbrella of this centre'', he said. On the international experiences in the field of GIS applications that were presented during the first day of the forum, he pointed out that those experiences, including the British and Belgian experiences, revealed the importance of information systems in the service of various sectors such as the traffic, security, transportation, communications and planning sectors, hosting large sporting events and others. The happiness that the tests offered or to be presented at the conference support the directions of the State of Qatar by taking advantage of the experience of others in this area.(QNA)