News in 2015

FIG President visits the Regional Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh

2 - 6 October in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt

President of AUS Dr. Sarkis Fadous, FIG President Prof. Dr. Chryssy Potsiou, FIG Honorary President Prof. Dr. Holger Magel, and President of UMG Dr. Aziz Hilali participated in the Regional Conference: “Surveying & Development” held in Sharm El-Sheikh, the “city of peace”, in Egypt, 2-6 October 2015.  

 FIG President at the opening session

FIG President Prof. Chryssy Potsiou at the opening session

The Conference was organized under the auspices of the Egyptian Prime Minister, the Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Prof. Dr. Hossam El-Din Moghazi, the President of the National Water Research Center Prof. Dr. Mohamed Abdel Motaleb, the Egyptian Survey Authority, and the Egyptian Committee for Surveying and Mapping, and the Arab Union of Surveyors. The Conference Coordinator was Prof. Dr. Dalal Alnaggar, Former FIG Vice President.

This regional conference was an important opportunity for the Arab and African surveyors to meet, exchange experience, and discuss common issues in surveying and development in their countries. The event covered the state of the art of technologies in the various fields of Geomatics as well as an update of the progress of the major construction and land management projects in Northern Africa and the Middle East region. In addition, a number of high-profile international and regional speakers were present as keynote speakers to share the current global trends and international experience in Surveying. The number of participants was in total 260, while the majority of them were from Egypt, Arab and African Countries. The conference program included 7 plenary sessions, 9 technical sessions, and 2 workshops on STDM and private sector participation, as well as social and cultural activities.
 

Former FIG VP and Conference Coordinator Prof. Dr. Dalal Alnaggar at the AUS meeting

Presidents, and delegates, of the Regional Professional Associations and International Organizations active in the region, such as FIG, GLTN/UN habitat, UMG, AUS, WWC, and AWC, gave keynote speeches about their organizations and their action plans and about the development strategy for the region. FAO celebrated its 70th Anniversary at this conference.

The 4-day event’s main topics of interest included a technical program addressing the most recent theoretical, applied research and challenges facing surveyors with a special focus on Mega projects in the region, such as the impressive Sahara Irrigation mega project in Egypt to reduce desert, and the fast and successful construction of the New Suez Canal; 48 reviewed technical papers were presented. Various topics addressed among others, the following important inquiries:  How to keep the professional qualifications up to date and what is the role of the modern technology in advancing our profession.

FIG Honorary President Prof. Holger Magel, Former FIG VP Prof. Dalal Alnaggar, FIG President Prof. Chryssy Potsiou and Former Minister Prof. Abu Zeid, who hosted FIG WW in 2005 in Cairo

The venue

During the event, an exhibition was successfully developed presenting activities, publications, equipment and products of the surveying regional and international companies and organizations.

http://www.fig.net/n3.	FIG President with the Governor of South Sinai at the opening of the exhibition

FIG President Prof. Chryssy Potsiou with the Governor of South Sinai at the opening of the exhibition

FIG President participated in the meeting of the Arab Union of Surveyors. The president of AUS encouraged the participation of the Arab Young Surveyors who attended  the meeting, to get informed by the president of FIG about the current FIG Work Plan and the goals of FIG, the planned meetings and forthcoming events, the FIG Foundation activity, the Young Surveyors Network activity, etc. FIG President has discussed with the AUS members various professional aspects of interest for the region and exchanged ideas on identifying ways to strengthen the relationship between FIG and AUS.

Dalal Alnaggar and Chryssy Potsiou

October 2015