Aviation | News | 2024-05-24 | WMO and ICAO attend a GCC workshop on aeronautical meteorological services
The Secretariat of World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) were kindly invited to attend a workshop on meteorological services for the safety of air navigation in the countries of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), which took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 21 and 22 May 2024.
The GCC is a regional, intergovernmental, political and economic union comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Aeronautical meteorology is one of the many domains of interest to GCC countries.
The aim of the workshop was to introduce current best practices of aeronautical meteorological services and to exchange expertise and experience in this field among the GCC countries. The workshop targeted observers, forecasters and service managers working at aeronautical meteorological services. Approximately 20 delegates attended the workshop in-person and online.
Mr Greg Brock, Head, Services for Aviation, WMO delivered a keynote presentation on aeronautical meteorological services, which covered, inter alia, the role played by WMO in the regulatory framework of international civil aviation, the relevance of key service delivery enablers such as quality management, personnel competency and cost recovery, and the availability of resources to support aeronautical meteorological service providers involved in implementation. Meanwhile, Mr Jun Ryuzaki, Technical Officer (Meteorology), ICAO delivered a keynote presentation on ICAO’s Global Air Navigation Plan (GANP) and its aviation system block upgrades (ASBU) methodology, the development of international standards as well as major ongoing developments in aeronautical meteorology linked to GANP/ASBU and the challenges and opportunities these developments present to aeronautical meteorological service providers in the Middle East and elsewhere.
The workshop was declared a success, with participants having benefitted from the valuable insights given by WMO and ICAO as well as the interactive nature of the workshop which allows exchanges of views and a sharing of experiences among the aeronautical meteorological service providers of the GCC countries in attendance. Further workshops may be convened by the GCC Secretariat-General.
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