5th Plenary Meeting of the Regional Committee of United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management for the Arab States Muscat, Oman, 19 – 21 February, 2018 The 8th session of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management, is scheduled to be held from 1 – 3 August 2018 at UNHQ New York http://ggim.un.org/ Positioning geospatial information to address global challenges

Strengthening National Geospatial Information Management, Systems and capacities, and the Global Data Ecosystem Efforts and activities that contribute to the unique local-to-global value of UN-GGIM for Member States; strengthening national geospatial information management, systems and capacities; norm-setting, frameworks, principles, guides, standards and methodological development helping Member States implement their national development priorities, make decisions, and measure and monitor outcomes Positioning geospatial information to address global challenges

UN-GGIM: Strengthening the Global Data Ecosystem Strengthening global geospatial information management Contribution of regional committees, thematic groups and networks Legal and policy frameworks and issues related to authoritative data Trends in national institutional arrangements Adoption of standards and technical specifications Strengthening collaboration with UNGEGN United Nations activities in geospatial information management Secretariat programme management Frameworks, guides, norms, standards and methodological development Global geodetic reference frame Global fundamental geospatial data themes Integration of geospatial, statistical and other information Geospatial information and services for disasters Land administration and management Geospatial information for sustainable development National geospatial data and information systems Marine geospatial information Normative strengthening, capacity building and implementation of GGIM in support of the 2030 Agenda UN-GGIM: Strengthening the Global Data Ecosystem Within UN-GGIM – we are leveraging our convening and coordination power to bridge the divide through technical integration, knowledge transfer and capacity building to overcome many systemic organizational impediments and institutional challenges. None of this is revolutionary, it’s more about evolution and engaging what we call ‘human interoperability’ and technical integration rather than profound changes. Walk through how we see UN-GGIM contributing to the development process with the national geospatial agencies. UN-GGIM: 2017-2021 – Coordination, coherence and implementation Facilitate the strengthening and normative capacity building of global geospatial information management in support of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Efforts include promoting the use of geospatial information systems and services for modern mapping; methodological development; national and regional capacity-building; standards-setting; data collection, dissemination and sharing; and better integration of geospatial and statistical information systems for Member States. Regional Commissions provide relevant support, upon request and as appropriate, to the work of the regional committees of UN-GGIM, and that the outcomes and benefits of the activities be equally disseminated to all Member States in each region. The activities and efforts that contribute to the unique local-to-global value of UN-GGIM for Member States

Participants – representatives from: 5th Plenary Meeting of the Regional Committee of United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management for the Arab States (UN-GGIM: Arab States) Muscat, Oman, 19 – 21 February, 2018 Participants – representatives from: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia and United Arab Emirates (13 Member States) UN/DESA/SD/Secretariat of UN-GGIM UN-ESCWA World Bank GCC-Stat Four invited subject matter experts Considerations: Annual Report of the Regional Committee. Updates and contributions towards strengthening of regional geospatial information agenda from Secretariat of UN-GGIM, UN-ESCWA and World Bank. Updates and progress in strengthening national geospatial information management nationally (country presentations). Progress report and activities by the 4 Working Groups – Institutional arrangements, legal and policy issues, awareness and capacity building Fundamental data and geo-standards Geodetic reference frame Integration of geospatial and statistical information (four invited experts supported and contributed to each of the four work areas) Positioning geospatial information to address global challenges

Prioritising a set of 11 fundamental data themes for the region. 5th Plenary Meeting of the Regional Committee of United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management for the Arab States (UN-GGIM: Arab States) Muscat, Oman, 19 – 21 February, 2018 Key outcomes: Prioritising a set of 11 fundamental data themes for the region. Agreed to progress work on coordinating and implementing the ArabREF initiative, a regional geodetic reference frame that is a part of the Global Geodetic Reference Frame. Pursuing the implementation of the five principles of the Global Statistical Geospatial Framework. Welcomed the development of an overarching integrated geospatial information framework that Member States can reference and be guided by when strengthening and modernizing their national geospatial information management and systems. Support the UN World Data Forum, Dubai (Oct 2018), and the UN World Geospatial Information Congress, Deqing, China (Nov 2018). Positioning geospatial information to address global challenges

WORLD GEOSPATIAL INFORMATION CONGRESS UNITED NATIONS WORLD GEOSPATIAL INFORMATION CONGRESS 19 – 21 November 2018 Deqing, Zhejiang Province China Positioning geospatial information to address global challenges