The Public Authority for Civil Aviation Authority (PACA) will host the 11th meeting of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) Permanent Committee of Meteorology and Climate in Salalah. The meeting will be held during the period 27-28 August 2019 in the presence of all Permanent Representatives of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Heads of Meteorological Services in the Member States. The purposes of the meeting are to enhance the march of joint Gulf action, voluntary work and the strategic plan in the field of meteorology and climate as well as highlighting the draft of the unified meteorological law for the GCC States and the services provided by meteorological navigation for air navigation.

It is worth mentioning that the GCC Permanent Committee of Meteorology and Climate was formed in implementation of the decision of the Ministerial Council at its 120th session held in Jeddah on 11 September 2011. The Committee holds periodic meetings to review its activities during the past year and develop plans for activities during the next year and beyond. The first meeting was held at the headquarter of the General Secretariat of GCC in Riyadh during the period 24 - 25 April 2012, and the tenth meeting was held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia between 20 - 21 December 2016.

The Permanent Committee of Meteorology and Climate aims to enable the meteorological facilities in the GCC countries to provide services in compliance with the international safety standards for meteorological, navigational, maritime and weather services. The Committee also seeks to develop cooperation and reach integration between the meteorological facilities in the GCC Council in the fields of weather, climate monitoring, climate change, the issuance of weather forecasts and early warnings and warnings of extreme weather conditions to protect lives and properties. Moreover, the provision of specialized services to various sectors aimed at achieving sustainable development in the GCC States.

Also, the Committee seeks to achieve complementarity and strengthen cooperation among the meteorological facilities in the GCC States. Thus, to contribute to the development of scientific, economic and security aspects of the GCC States. Likewise, to promote the sustainable development of the region and contribute to mitigating the effects of severe weather conditions to protect lives and properties in the GCC States through commitment International standards for meteorological services and their development in line with scientific developments in this field. The Commission is also endeavouring to upgrade the technical and human capabilities of the meteorological facilities of the GCC States through the exchange of expertise, training and utilization of the programmes available at WMO. Besides, the establishment of centres specialized in various meteorological applications.

The Committee has realized many achievements, the most important of which is the connection of the networks of meteorological stations, weather radars and seismological stations to facilitate communication between meteorological facilities in the GCC countries and increase community awareness of the services provided by these facilities. The Committee has also launched its website (WWW.GCCMET.COM), in addition to preparing the draft of the unified meteorological law for the GCC countries and circulating it to the members for review. The Secretariat then invited a group of meteorologists and law specialists from the Member States to finalize the draft law and adopt it as a mandatory unified law.