A regional conference kicked off in Amman on Tuesday to discuss leveraging technology and data in addressing challenges facing Arab statistical institutions. Organized by the United Nations Statistics Division, the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and the Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics (AITRS), the Arab regional statistical conference: Agility and resilience of national statistical systems, brought numerous heads and representatives of Arab statistical departments and regional organizations under one roof. The purpose of the two-day conference is to improve the development policies by strengthening the statistical systems’ capacities in Arab countries and helping them to effectively carry out their development obligations at both national and regional levels. Hadi Al-Saidi, Director General of AITRS, said the conference seeks to implement the UN’s Handbook of Statistical Organization in the Arab region. Speaking about one of the biggest barriers facing statistical systems, he underlined the need to update statistics-related laws in the Arab region. Haidar Fraihat, Director of the Information and Communication Technology Division at ESCWA, pointed out that some Arab statistical systems are advanced but lack the workforce and national expertise.
Source: Jordan News Agency