JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia and Egypt have been recognized by the UN for their work on the international standardization of geographical names. The two countries are the first Arab states to have their Romanization efforts highlighted in the magazine of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN). In the 55th issue of the information bulletin, Saudi Arabia was praised for its continued focus on standardizing geographical names in the Kingdom for inclusion on global databases. The Kingdom’s NCGEGN is headed by the Darah Foundation.  One of its key responsibilities is to prepare a national index for geographical names in Arabic and Latin alphabets (Romanized), which will become a binding reference for all government agencies. Where necessary, King Salman will give his final approval to names. The Darah Foundation adopted the Arab Romanization project in 2017 as one of its initiatives toward helping realize the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 reform plan.