On 26-30 August 2013, Hong Kong witnessed an important event: the 59th International Statistical Institute World Statistics Congress. Represented by its Statistics Division, ESCWA contributed to the scientific sessions and participated in a technical panel.
Majed Skaini, an economic statistician and the Regional Coordinator of the International Comparison Program (ICP), contributed to more than one session of the Congress, including the World Bank organized session on 'Measuring the Real Size of the World Economy', in which he presented a paper entitled "Quality Assurance Framework and Enhanced Data Validation Procedures for ICP Price Surveys". The presentation gave an overview of the efforts made by ESCWA under the umbrella of the ICP to improve quality of price data and harmonize and standardize methods and practices across countries and regions. An illustration of the data validation process was fully presented and examples were drawn from the ESCWA region reflecting commitment and coordination maintained with member countries to reach reliable price data, and the frequent activities conducted to ensure high quality price data and transparency of the ICP validation processes and methodologies.
In the session on "Official Statistics in the Arab Region: Challenges and the Way forward" Skaini acted as a discussant for the session and presented a paper pinpointing the several challenges and obstacles facing the implementation of the fundamental principles of official statistics in the Arab region based on various practices and experiences shared by Arab countries and the organization's knowledge in that regard. He proposed several recommendation points that need to be treated in order to pave the way towards a better future of official statistics. The ESCWA presentation was handled with a direct link and reference to the recommendations of the latest report launched by the United Nations Secretary-General on the post-2015 development agenda, which calls for data revolution for sustainable development and improved statistical data quality.
ESCWA also contributed to the special session entitled 'Khawarezmi Committee of the Arab Region' where Skaini gave an overview of the many capacity-building activities which ESCWA offers to its member countries in the area of statistics and the different types of assistance and support provided under its regular and non-regular work programs.
