International Organizations Praise the Efforts of the Regional Center for Dust and Sand Storms as the Regional Capacity Building Workshop Concludes in Jeddah

The Regional Workshop on Capacity Building in the Field of Sand and Dust Storm Analysis and Modeling, organized by the Regional Centre for Dust and Sand Storms of the National Centre of Meteorology, in cooperation with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the League of Arab States and the Barcelona Dust Storm Centre, concluded today in Jeddah, with the participation of experts and representatives from Arab and West Asian countries.
The participants expressed their thanks to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its efforts represented by the Regional Center for Dust and Sand Storms, and for its distinguished work in training national and regional cadres and developing technical skills in the field of monitoring, analysis and modeling, praising the role of the Center and its contributions as an effective link between countries in achieving their goals related to confronting dust and sand storms and reducing their effects on public health, the environment and the economy.
The representatives of the countries and organizations participating in the workshop stressed that the regional center's work is a distinctive step to enhance regional cooperation and exchange of experiences, and contributes to raising the efficiency of forecasting and early warning of sand and dust storms, pointing out the importance of continuing these efforts to achieve scientific and practical integration between the concerned authorities in the region.
The participants also stressed the need to strengthen cooperation between the countries of the region, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the ESCWA Committee in the fields of exchanging climate data and technical expertise, and developing joint programs to raise the level of regional preparedness to face dust and sand storms.
For his part, the Executive Director of the Regional Center for Dust and Sand Storms, Mr. Jumaan bin Saad Al-Qahtani, explained that the workshop comes within the Center's efforts to transfer knowledge, exchange experiences, and build technical and human capacities among member countries, indicating that the Center, as the fourth center accredited by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), works to improve the accuracy of prediction of sand and dust storms and develop regional monitoring tools to support decision-makers and enhance environmental readiness.