“Listening World Tour”
Virtual Meeting between IAG and UN-GGCE
The UN-GGCE will be hosting two listening sessions to maximize the opportunity for participation fromIAG members all around the world. Both sessions will have the same agenda, so please choose whichtime suits you.

Session A: 28th November 2023 | 07:00 UTC (11:00 UTC+4 / 16:00 UTC+9 / 18:00 UTC+11)
Session B: 28th November 2023 | 15:00 UTC (12:00 UTC -3 / 10:00 UTC-5 / 07:00 UTC-8)
Concept Note and Provisional Agenda
The vision of the United Nations Global Geodetic Centre of Excellence (UN-GGCE) is one where allcountries have strong political support for geodesy which enables them to – together – accelerate theachievements of the Sustainable Development Goals1 and derive social, environmental and economic
benefits. Our objective is to work with Member States and geodetic organizations to strengthen ourcollective impact to:•Enhance investment in the global geodesy supply chain.

•Improve coordination and collaboration amongst Member States and geodetic organizations.

•Share geodetic data and improve standards, on a voluntary basis, to contribute to the globalreference frame and regional densifications.

•Provide greater technical assistance, especially for capacity development in geodesy fordeveloping countries.

•Make geodesy and its benefits more visible and understandable to society.

The UN-GGCE recognizes the important role the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) plays in thegeodetic community. In particular, the enormous in-kind contribution IAG representatives and theirrespective Member States / organizations provide throughout the supply chain of infrastructure
construction and operation, data collection, analysis, product development and data sharing. The UNGGCE’s role is not to duplicate any of the work being done by the IAG. Instead, one of the UN-GGCE
roles is to support IAG to continue to deliver on its mission and objectives.
The staff in the UN-GGCE would like to meet with IAG representatives, listen to you and better
understand how we can assist you.

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THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development (un.org)

Provisional Agenda
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Welcome and brief introduction of UN-GGCE staff
Brief introduction on UN-GGCE vision and strategic objectives
Brief statement from President of IAG
Brief statement from Chair of GGOS
Listening to IAG members. Discussion topics include:a) What are the key problems IAG is facing?
b) What challenges do these problems lead to?
c) How could UN-GGCE assist solving these problems?
d) How can UN-GGCE best interact with IAG?
e) What does success in our collaboration look like 1 year from now?
f) Who would you like UN-GGCE to engage with?
g) What could we do right now that would help you?
h) Do you have events coming up where you think it would be useful to engage? And how wouldyou recommend we engage?
i) Are there other IAG representatives who aren’t here you think we should talk to?
6) Summary, next steps and close.

Register and Join

Session ASession B

Microsoft Teams meeting

Microsoft Teams meeting

Register
Click here to register for the meeting

Register
Click here to register for the meeting

After you register, you will receive an email with acalendar invitation and the link to join on the day.

After you register, you will receive an email with acalendar invitation and the link to join on the day.

Participation
The “Listening World Tour” virtual meeting will be open to all members of IAG.

Page | 2Organizer
This expert consultative meeting is organized by the UN-GGCE, Statistics Division, Department ofEconomic and Social Affairs.

Recording
The sessions will be recorded to ensure the UN-GGCE staff can accurately record the comments made.
The recordings will not be used by anyone outside the UN-GGCE.

Language
The consultative meeting will be conducted in English.

Points of Contact
For administrative matters:
Ms. Sarah Kowal
Federal Agency of Cartography and Geodesy (BKG)/
United Nations Global Geodetic Centre of Excellence
Email: sarah.kowal@bkg.bund.de
For substantive matters:
Mr. Nicholas Brown
Head of Office
United Nations Global Geodetic Centre of Excellence
Statistics Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs
United Nations
Email: nicholas.brown@un.org(23 October 2023)

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BackgroundAn agreement “On the Operationalization of the United Nations Global Geodetic Centre of Excellence”
between the United Nations and the Federal Republic of Germany was formalized in November 2022. The
agreement formalizes the offer from Germany to host the United Nations Global Geodetic Centre ofExcellence (UN-GGCE) at the UN Campus in Bonn to support the work of enhancing global cooperationand coordination across Member States and relevant geodetic stakeholders, strengthening geodetic
infrastructure, as well as supporting Member States in improving their national contributions to the global
geodetic infrastructure, as outlined in the Framework Plan of UN-GGCE annexed to the agreement.
UN-GGCE’s overarching goal is to assist Member States and geodetic organizations to coordinate andcollaborate to sustain, enhance, access and utilize an accurate, accessible and sustainable Global Geodetic
Reference Frame (GGRF) to support science, society and global development. The objective is to support,
within available resources, the implementation of General Assembly resolution 69/266 throughstrengthening and advancing: global geodetic cooperation and coordination; sustainable worldwide
geodetic infrastructure; standards and policies; education and capacity development; and communication
and awareness; while also coordinating measures and overseeing their implementation.
To strengthen global cooperation and coordination and to improve national contributions to thesustainability and stability of the GGRF, a global geodesy development plan is necessary. This planaddresses the five operational focus areas within the agreed Framework Plan, global geodesy needs andcapacities, contributions of geodetic actors and stakeholders, so as to enhance global cooperation andcoordination across Member States and relevant international organizations maximize the benefits ofongoing geodetic efforts, to ensure coherence, and avoid duplication.
For more information and background about the UN-GGCE, visit UNSD — UN-GGIM

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