The CEO of the National Center for Meteorology (NCM) Dr. Ayman Bin Salem Ghulam stressed that the importance of Regional Center for Early Warning of Dust storms stems from being one of the outcomes of the Middle East Green Initiative Summit that was announced by Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, as part of a series of integrated national initiative. The initiative aims at enhancing sustainable development, protecting the environment and improving the quality of life, and for its being a regional program that meets the aspirations of regional countries in improving capabilities related to dealing with dust storms and their negative impacts. Dr. Ghulam made the remarks at the opening session of the first meeting of the steering committee of the Regional Center for Early Warning of Dust Storms, which was held at the center's headquarters in Jeddah in the presence of representative of Gulf Cooperation Council countries, partners at the World Meteorological Organization and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. He said: "We seek, through your presence today as main partners to this important regional center, to jointly enhance technical and technological enablers in this field, achieve the envisioned noble goals from the center through cooperation and fruitful support, and exchange knowledge in the field of studying dust storms for the public interests of our homelands." Ghulam noted that the magnitude of problems resulting from dust storms has become a big concern for our countries and peoples due to what these recurrent storm cause of negative impacts on our region, which required the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to consider taking serious steps that achieves for us and regional countries the ability to expect repercussions of these dust storms through spotting and studying their impacts on our societies. These efforts are considered an initiative from Saudi Arabia to enhance the capabilities of regional countries' capabilities in facing this growing phenomenon and limiting their impacts, especially if we look at climate elements that the region is already suffering from, such dissertation, drought, scarcity of natural resource, in addition to extreme weather conditions that became the focal point for the world and international organizations. The Regional Center for Early Warning of Dust Storms aims at providing users with accessibility to forecasts and information at SDS-WAS through the regional center that is connected with the organization's system WIS and other institutes. This is in addition to identifying and improving the products of the regional center through consultation with operational communities and users, and building the capabilities of concerned countries to use SDS-WAS notes, forecasts and analysis results to meet community needs. — SPA
