Shanghai Mayor meets WMO President to discuss meteorological cooperation

Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng met with Abdulla Al Mandous, the president of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the director of the National Meteorological Bureau of the United Arab Emirates, and his delegation on Saturday.

Gong expressed his gratitude to the WMO for its long-term support to Shanghai, affirming that the organization has played a key role in promoting global meteorological cooperation and advancing global meteorological observation and application.

The mayor noted that the WMO has maintained extensive and close cooperation with Shanghai and has supported the city in undertaking six international demonstration projects, including early warning systems for various disasters and urban weather and climate services, and in establishing the Asia Pacific Typhoon Research Center in 2021.

Shanghai attaches great importance to the high-quality development of the meteorological industry and is accelerating the modernization of meteorological science and technology capabilities and meteorological society services under the guidance of the China Meteorological Administration, with the aim to integrate meteorology further into economic, social and urban governance.

Cooperation with the WMO is expected to be strengthened to support Shanghai in playing a greater role in global meteorological governance, exploring market-oriented meteorological services, guiding optimization of urban disaster warnings and mitigation work, and promoting the development of meteorological undertakings and the meteorological economy.

Al Mandous expressed his gratitude to China for its substantial participation in and support for the work of the WMO. During their first visit to Shanghai, he praised the city's impressive city management and landscape, and was particularly impressed by the orderly system and professional staff of the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau.

He said that meteorological work is a microcosm of a city, and that he believes that Shanghai has the potential to become a global meteorological center. Greater cooperation with Shanghai is expected to be promoted to achieve more fruitful results.