Fifth Session of OIC Statistical Commission (OIC-StatCom)
Date : 12-14 May 2015 Venue : Ankara Turkey

The Fifth Session of the Statistical Commission of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC-StatCom) was co-organised by the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) on 12-14 May 2015 at SESRIC Headquarters in Ankara, Republic of Turkey.

The delegates of the National Statistical Offices (NSOs) from 34 OIC Member Countries including Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Cameroon, Djibouti, Egypt, Gambia, Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey and Uzbekistan attended the Fifth Session of OIC-StatCom. Besides the General Secretariat of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the representatives of 8 international organisations including the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC), Eurostat, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Labour Organization (ILO), Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21), United Nations Economic and Social Council for Western Asia (UNESCWA), and United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) took part in the Fifth Session of OIC-StatCom.

The Centre was represented by Amb. Musa Kulaklıkaya, Director General; Mr. Hüseyin Hakan Eryetli, Director of Statistics and Information Department; Ms. Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk, Senior Researcher; Mr. Atilla Karaman, Senior Researcher; Mr. Syed Tahir Mahmud, Researcher; Mr. Abdulhamit Öztürk, Researcher; Ms. Nenden Shanty and Mr. Orxan Nadirov, Research Assistants.

The Fifth Session of the OIC-StatCom discussed and shared experiences and best practices on issues mainly related to; “Modernisation of National Statistical Systems (NSS) of OIC Member Countries through Innovative Approaches, Alternative Channels in Communicating Official Statistics”, “Monitoring and Evaluation Systems”, and “Transforming the NSSs to Embrace the Post-2015 Development Agenda”. In addition, the Session reviewed the activities of the OIC-StatCom.

After the recitation of verses from the Holy Quran, the Fifth Session of OIC-StatCom commenced on 12 May 2015 with the welcome speech of Amb. Kulaklıkaya followed by a message of Mr. Abdullah Albatil, Director General of the Central Department of Statistics and Information (CDSI), Saudi Arabia. The session continued with the welcome addresses delivered by Mr. Jakhongir Khasanov on behalf of H.E. Iyad Ameen Madani, Secretary General of the OIC, Mr. Abdullateef Bello, Director of Economic Research and Policy Department, IDB. Mr. Mehmet Akif Alanbay delivered the message of the COMCEC Coordination Office.

In his inaugural address, the Director General of SESRIC, Amb. Kulaklıkaya, underlined the key role of NSOs for the success of conducted projects with the sense of ownership by the countries, the commitment of stakeholders to the strategic objectives as defined in the OIC-StatCom Vision 2020, hard-work, and timely and continuous communication and interaction among the members. While concluding his remarks, Amb. Kulaklıkaya emphasized the necessity of the involvement of NSOs in the recent discussions regarding the Post-2015 Development Agenda through determining the strategic priorities for national actions to transform National Statistical Systems (NSSs), and to partake in the “Monitoring and Evaluation Systems (Peer Assessment) for Official Statistics” initiative for the benefit of NSOs of OIC member countries.

An election of the Bureau Members took place afterwards in which the delegates elected Indonesia (Chair), Kuwait (Vice-Chair), Senegal (Vice-Chair) and Palestine (Rapporteur) as bureau members for the biennium 2015 and 2016.

During the session titled “Implemented and Planned Activities of the OIC-StatCom”, the presentation reporting the activities and initiatives which have been implemented based on the resolutions of the Fourth Session of OIC-StatCom and the planned projects and programmes has been delivered by Mr. Hüseyin Hakan Eryetli, Director of Statistics and Information Department, SESRIC.

The Fifth Session of OIC-StatCom continued with the session titled “Modernisation of NSSs of OIC Member Countries through Innovative Approaches and Effective Usage of Alternative Channels in Communicating Official Statistics”. In the first part of the session, Mr. Nyakassi M. B. Sanyang, Statistician General, Gambia Bureau of Statistics, Mr. Mohammad Sadegh Alipour, Deputy Head for Economy and National Accounts, Statistical Centre of Iran, Ms. Mariam Al Aqeel, Director General, Kuwait Central Statistical Bureau, and Mr. Juraj Riecan, Director of Statistics Division, UNESCWA, made presentations on modernisation of NSSs through innovative approaches. Mr. Mustafa Hakkı Özel, Head of Statistical Coordination and Special Topics Unit, ILO, introduced the applications of ILO in collecting and disseminating the data globally.

In the second part of the session, Mr. Harouna Kone, Assistant Director General, National Directorate of Statistics and Informatics, Mali, Ms. Habsah Saleh, Director of Data Coordination Division, Department of Statistics of Malaysia, Ms. Ayisha Hamood Muslem Al-Asmi, Acting Director of Macroeconomic and Sector Statistics Department, National Center for Statistics and Information, Oman, and Mr. Doğan Böncü, Head of Department, Turkish Statistical Institute, Turkey, shared country experiences on the effective usage of alternative channels in communicating official statistics in their respective countries. 

The second day of the Fifth Session of OIC-StatCom, 13 May 2015, started with the session titled “Monitoring and Evaluation Systems (Peer Assessment) for Official Statistics towards a More Efficiently Functioning National Statistical System”. Ms. Claudia Junker, Head of Statistical Cooperation Unit, Eurostat, made a presentation titled “Global Assessment”. Ms. Junker briefed the delegates on peer reviews, sector reviews and a self-assessment based snapshot tool as the modalities of this assessment process. Besides, Mr. Modou Sanda, Senior Executive, National Statistical Institute of Cameroon, Ms. Ghada Mohammed Abdelsalam, Statistician, CAPMAS of Egypt, Ms. Zgoulli Mouna, Central Director of Dissemination System Information and Coordination, National Statistical Institute of Tunisia, and Mr. Gürdal Gedik, Head of International Cooperation and European Union Coordination Group, Turkish Statistical Institute, Turkey, delivered presentations on their country practices in the peer and sector reviews undertaken by national and international stakeholders.

In the last thematic session titled “Strategic Priorities for National Actions to Transform NSSs to Embrace Post-2015 Development Agenda”, Ms. Keiko Osaki Tomita, Chief of Demographic and Social Statistics Branch, UNSD, focused on the development and the implementation of a national indicator framework for the SDGs in collaboration with all stakeholders and data providers. Mr. Pietro Gennari, Chief Statistician and Director of Statistics Division, FAO, Mr. John Hammock, Co-founder, OPHI, and Mr. Thilo Klein, Junior Analyst, PARIS21, contributed to the session by providing valuable insights on SDGs. In this context, Mr. Hamid Zidouni, Deputy Director General, National Statistical Office of Algeria, Mr. Mohammad Abdul Kadir Miah, Joint Director, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, and Mr. Wynandin Imawan, Deputy Chief Statistician for Social Statistics, BPS-Statistics Indonesia, also made presentations mainly highlighting their national statistical activities to support the NSSs in the context of the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

In the final session, Mr.Mahmoud M. A. Abdalrahman Abdalrahman, Director General of Area Statistics Directorate, Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, briefed the delegates about Palestine’s chairmanship in the International Association for Official Statistics (IAOS) Executive Committee for the term 2015 to 2017. Mr. Hussen Elmi Gure, Deputy Director General, National Statistics Directorate, Somalia, highlighted the current state of the national statistical system in Somalia. The Fifth Session of the OIC-StatCom concluded with the adoption of the Resolutions.

The 14th of May was devoted to a social programme allowing participants to discover the city of Konya, the OIC City of Tourism for 2016.

Documents

 

Reports

Implemented and Planned Activities of the OIC-StatCom

  • Enhancing National Capacities of OIC Member Countries in Poverty Statistics (2013-SESRIC-028 & 2014-SESRIC-016) (English) (Arabic) (French) 
  • Improving Statistical Capacities of Tourism Sector in the Mediterranean and Gulf Region of OIC (2013-SESRIC-111) (English) (Arabic) (French)
  • OIC Accreditation and Certification Programme for Official Statisticians (OIC-CPOS) (English) (Arabic) (French)
  • Integration of the "Tobacco Questions for Surveys" (TQS) into the National Surveys in OIC Member Countries (English) (Arabic) (French)
  • Islamic Banking and Finance Statistics (IBFStat) (English) (Arabic) (French)

Opening Session

  • Message of H.E. Iyad Ameen Madani, Secretary General of OIC (English)
  • Welcome Statement of Amb. Musa Kulaklıkaya , Director General, SESRIC (English)
  • Opening Remarks of Dr. Abdullateef Bello, Director, Economic Research and Policy Department, IDB (English)

Presentations 

Implemented and Planned Activities of the OIC-StatCom

  • Overview of Activities of the OIC-StatCom Secretariat since the Fourth Session of OIC-StatCom, SESRIC (English)

Modernisation of NSSs of OIC Member Countries through Innovative Approaches and Effective Usage of  Alternative Channels in Communicating Official Statistics

  • Innovative Approaches to Modernize NSS in Gambia, Gambia (English)
  • Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Programme, Iran (English)
  • The Role of ICT in the Modernization of Methods of Collection and Dissemination of Official Statistics Revolution, Kuwait (Arabic)
  • The Problem of Statistical Surveys in the Context of Resource Inadequacy and Growing User Requirements: The case of Mali, Mali (French)
  • Improving the Communication of Official Statistics in Malaysia, Malaysia (English)
  • Communicating Statistics at the Time of Data Revolution, UNESCWA (English)
  • Statistical Dissemination in ILO, ILO (English)

Monitoring and Evaluation Systems (Peer Assessment) for Official Statistics towards a More Efficiently Functioning National Statistical System

  • Monitoring and Evaluation of Official Statistics System for Better National Statistical System in Cameroon, Cameroon (French)
  • Sectorial Review of Labour Force Survey (LFS) in Egypt, Egypt (English)
  • Evaluation and Future Developments, Tunisia (French)
  • Code of Practice and Peer Reviews: Turkish Experience, Turkey (English)
  • Global Assessments, Eurostat (English)

Strategic Priorities for National Actions to Transform NSSs to Embrace Post-2015 Development Agenda

  • Elements of strategic vision to support the NSIS Algerian Post-2015, Algeria (French)
  • Strategic Vision of BBS for Monitoring the Post 2015 Development Agenda, Bangladesh (English)
  • STATCAB: Modernization in the era of changing world, Indonesia (English)
  • Metrics for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security: Indicators for SDG, FAO (English)
  • Global MPI & New Data for SDGs, OPHI (English)
  • Informing a Development Data Revolution, PARIS21 (English)
  • Strategic Priorities for National Actions to Transform NSSs to Embrace the Post-2015 Development Agenda, UNSD (English)

Open Discussion and Closing Session

  • Introduction about the International Association for Official Statistics (IAOS), Palestine (Arabic)
  • Country Presentation: Directorate of National Statistics (DNS), Somalia (English)

Photos