H. E. Dr. Mohammed bin Yahya Al-Sayel, President of the General Authority for Survey and Geospatial Information (GEOSA) and Chairman of UN-GGIM- Arab States - speaking on behalf of the Arab Committee — presented the UN-GGIM's report to the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN). Addressing the UNGEGN’s 4th Session held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the United States of America, from 28 April to 2 May 2025.
In his report, Dr. Al Sayel confirmed that the UN-GGIM committee is committed to boosting cooperation and integration with UNGEGN in line with its commitment to, and its firm belief, in the importance of geographical names as an integral part of cultural heritage and a central pillar of sustainable development. Dr. Al Sayel pointed out that the committee is ready to provide every possible support to the goal of ensuring the successful fulfilment of the UNGEGN’s strategic plan up to the target date of 2029.
The report hailed the progress made on the cooperation aimed at the development of a group charged with the duty of planning the necessary organizational arrangements and effective operational practices needed to push forward the integration among the competent bodies and institutions involved in the geospatial information activities, along with all other national agencies and institutions concerned with geographical names.
In this report, Dr. Al Sayel also pointed to the main activities carried out by the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) in 2023–2024, the most important of which was the creation of a new and expanded Secretariat, initiating the operations of United Nations Global Geodetic Centre of Excellence (UN-GGCE) in Germany, the United Nations Global Geospatial Knowledge and Innovation Centre (UN-GGKIC) in China, the ongoing work on the establishment of the United Nations Global Geospatial Ecosystem Centre of Excellence (UNGGECE), to be hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the capital city of Riyadh. That in addition to pushing forward the work effort aimed at realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the implementation of the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (IGIF).
It is worth mentioning that, the Kingdom was represented at the 4th Session of the UNGEGN by a multi-member delegation from the government agencies concerned with geographical names in the Kingdom headed by the President of GEOSA and Chairman of the National Committee on Geographical Names Dr. Mohammed bin Yahya Al-Sayel.
The Kingdom currently holds the chair's seat of the Arab Committee of the United Nations Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management, the committee's General Secretariat as well as the Secretariat of the Arab Division of Experts on Geographical Names, an offshoot of the UNGEGN.