During the Ninth Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in 2007, members of the participating Arab delegations decided to entrust the representative of Lebanon (and Chair of the Third Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names) with preparing for the Fourth Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names to be held during the first half of 2008.
The objectives of the conference were to discuss the difficulties arising from the implementation of the Unified Arab System and to make appropriate amendments to it in order to:
• Overcome the difficulties encountered by institutions working in the field of geographical names in some Arab countries during the implementation of the system.
• Resolve issues arising from the pronunciation of certain Arabic letters differently from their original pronunciation in some Arab countries, such as the letter “j” in Egypt, the letter “q” in various Arab countries, and the letter “y” at the end of a word, etc.
• The pronunciation of certain Arabic names in local dialects used in some Arab countries by different ethnic groups.
• Introducing the necessary amendments to the system and approving it in its final form.
• The conference also aimed to activate joint Arab action in the following areas:
– Standardizing Arabic geographical names.
– Compiling a unified Arabic dictionary of Arabic geographical names.
– Preserving Arabic geographical names as part of the Arab cultural heritage and preventing their alteration and disappearance.
– Organizing educational workshops and exchanges of expertise in the field of geographical names and information.
– Implementing Arab and international resolutions related to the collection, standardization, and preservation of geographical names.
| Findings and Recommendations |
