The Eighth National Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Symposium in Saudi Arabia was inaugurated by Eastern Province Gov. Prince Saud bin Naif in Dammam yesterday. The three-day symposium is being held under his patronage.

Prince Saud stressed that the Kingdom was on the path to development, urbanization and progress. “Without development of all sectors, the country won’t be counted among the successful and developed countries in the world,” he said.

He highlighted the vision of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Crown Prince Salman for the Kingdom, and emphasized that they dedicate all their efforts in the service of the nation. They also want to increase the awareness of the importance of science and use it for the progress, development and welfare of the country.

Prince Saud said help from global experts will serve the local development plans. “Throughout the previous seven years great achievements have been made to develop the area and the Kingdom with help from specialists and scientists from the Kingdom and abroad,” he said.

Abdullah Al-Qadi, president of the technical committee and organizing committee of GIS, said the government understands that the most valuable and real wealth of the nation is its people, and added that Saudi Arabia is in the forefront in the use of technology.

He said that the symposium would encourage exchange of knowledge and experience in geospatial sciences among researchers, practitioners, and professionals within the country and abroad.

More than 1,000 international experts are participating in the symposium. There are about 36 lecturers from the Kingdom besides those from the United States, Canada, Germany, Poland, Malaysia, Nigeria, Egypt and Morocco.

Al-Qadi thanked Prince Saud for his support to the event, which, he said, will create a platform for interaction, sharing and discussion on various topics such as collaboration on technologies for the development of the Eastern Province and the Kingdom.