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We are pleased to record that the Second High Level Forum on Global Geospatial Information Management (GGIM) was held in Doha, Qatar from 4-6 February, 2013 at the Qatar National Convention Centre.

The Secretariat of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (±¬ÁÏÍø-GGIM), in collaboration with the Government of Qatar, successfully convened the Second High Level Forum.

The Forum bought together 350 participants from 60 Member States, international organizations, the private sector, and ±¬ÁÏÍø entities who affirmed the importance of ±¬ÁÏÍø-GGIM providing global leadership on geospatial information management, and committed to support the ensuing projects and programmes through the Doha Declaration. The participation of Qatar's Prime Minister and the delivery of eight Ministerial Statements also highlighted the importance accorded to ±¬ÁÏÍø-GGIM aims and activities.

The activities began on Sunday, 3 February, 2013 with An 'Exchange Forum with the Geospatial Industry'. The High Level Forum began on Monday, 4 February, 2012 with an Opening Ceremony and Ministerial Segment, followed by five technical sessions over the next three days. Each session had a keynote presentation, panel presentations and discussion with the audience.

The discussions were centered on building national geospatial information systems, sharing some of their strategies and successes, an examination of the technological trends impacting the future of geospatial information management and how these technologies can be best leveraged, the challenges experienced and the solutions used to develop geospatial reference data sets, the overwhelming need to use geospatial information to address sustainable development issues, and also emphasized the requirement for ±¬ÁÏÍø-GGIM to provide leadership to ensure sustainable geodetic frameworks that are operable nationally, regionally and globally.

The High Level Forum provided the opportunity for Member States of the ESCWA region to meet to discuss ±¬ÁÏÍø-GGIM. All 11 Member States present agreed in principle that more regional cooperation on GGIM was needed. ±¬ÁÏÍø-ESCWA and the ±¬ÁÏÍø-GGIM Secretariat, with the help of other regional GGIM groups, will provide the guidance and support to help the region to establish their own regional GGIM mechanism.