Dr. Abdullah Al Mandous, Director General of the National Center of Meteorology in the UAE, who was elected last week as the new President of the World Meteorological Organization, chaired the seventy-seventh session of the Executive Council meeting of the World Meteorological Organization, which was held in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 5 and 6.
The meeting discussed a number of important issues related to the general, legal, procedural and organizational issues of the organization, the implementation of the decisions of the World Meteorological Conference and the Executive Council regarding technical affairs, the developments of the subsidiary bodies of the Executive Council, and the budget of the organization for the next two years.
The agenda of the meeting also included the adoption of draft resolutions and documents prepared by the General Secretariat, and the announcement of the names of the winners of the International Meteorological Organization Award at its 68th session, and the World Meteorological Organization Research Award for the year 2023.
This session represents the first meeting of the Executive Council chaired by Dr. Abdullah Al Mandous, Director General of the National Center of Meteorology and President of the Asian Meteorological Union, in his capacity as President of the World Meteorological Organization for a period of four years from 2023 to 2027.
Dr. Al Mandous said: “The World Meteorological Organization recognizes the importance of strengthening the capabilities of countries in the field of meteorology to ensure a safer and more prosperous future for all the world’s population, a goal that we seek to achieve by the year 2027 within the framework of the United Nations Early Warning for All initiative by bridging the existing gaps between countries in the field of meteorology. Meteorology and weather forecasts, strengthening forecasting based on impact, and working to increase investments.
In addition to supporting least developed countries, small island developing states and other countries vulnerable to natural disasters, we will also focus our efforts on developing areas of joint action, increasing cooperation in data management and exchanging risk data, and optimal use of the latest technologies such as artificial intelligence.
He also congratulated the newly elected members of the organization’s Secretary-General, the vice-presidents of the organization, and members of the Executive Council, stressing the UAE’s commitment to supporting efforts to address challenges related to climate change and extreme natural phenomena.
