Ms. Saqi Safi of AIMS briefing Minister Sangin

May 4, 2006, Kabul Afghanistan : As yet another step in the process of capacity building, Afghan Ministry of Telecommunications will be able to design and print any type of maps of the country thanks to the inauguration of a Geographical Information System (GIS) center within its premises.

This is the first time that Afghan experts are designing and printing maps of cities, villages, high ways and those featuring other national data, based on inputs provided via satellite. Most of such maps until now have been printed by private companies, and often not without mistakes.

Speaking at the ceremony of inauguration, Amirzai Sangin, Minister of Telecommunication said: “The project that we inaugurated today is a very important one and I thank AIMS for providing computers, printer and other equipment and for conducting English language, computer and GIS training for our staff”.

Currently, Over 120 trainees in Basic English and Computer courses, 7 trainees in Geographic Information System (GIS), 20 field survey staff in Global Positioning System (GPS), 2 staff in advance Arc GIS 9.x (the most advanced GIS software) and 10 staff in database management are taking courses at the AIMS training center and at the Ministry, in addition to another group of 80 staff-members of Ministry who will be provided with advanced training in these fields at a later stage.

This scheme is part of project for Building Information Management Capacity at Afghan government institutions. The total cost of this project, which started some 18 months ago, is $800,000 with UNDP, European Union and USAID contributing to the funding.

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