According to NCC news, Dr. Gholamali Jafarzadeh Imanabadi, the Director General of National Cartographic Center of Iran(NCC), sent a congratulatory message on Spetember 4th, the birth anniversary of Al-Biruni to the presidents of the International Surveying Associations. 

Christian Heipke, President of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing(ISPRS), Ms. Alison Rose, President of the Regional Committee of United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management for Asia and the Pacific (UN-GGIM-AP), Rudolf Staiger, President of the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), and Tim Trainor, President of the International Cartographic Association (ICA), Dr. Mathias JONAS, Secretary-General of International Hydrography Organization (IHO) and Mr. Khusrav NOZIRI, ECO Secretary General were the presidents who received the message of the Director General of NCC.

The message is as follows:It

is my sheer pleasure to inform you that September 4th is Abu Rayhan Al-Biruni’s birth anniversary, the great Iranian scholar and polymath. Among surveying engineers of Iran, this day has been called as the “Surveying Engineering Day”.
 
Abu Rayhan Al-Biruni has made many scientific achievements in the fields of mapping, geodesy, astronomy, geography, and geology, all of which are somehow related to the subject of spatial information, and his name is mentioned in many authoritative historical references (including the book "History of Science" by George Sarton, the famous Belgian-American of the 19th century and the father of the history of science, who called the first half of the 11th century the "outer age").
 
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the role of spatial information and the use of timely and reliable data in this field to measure and track what is happening where, when, and how. Furthermore, the spatial data infrastructure for helping to understand the economic, social, and environmental effects of the global response to the Covid-19 pandemic has been fruitful.
 
In the hope of a world full of health and hope, peace and security for all human beings.
 
Gholamali Jafarzadeh Imanabadi
Director General of
National Cartographic Center of the Islamic Republic of Iran (NCC)