GCC statistics forum to kick-off on Monday

Muscat: Sessions of the GCC second statistics forum, to be organised by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), will begin here on Monday under the slogan “Smart Data”.
The two-day forum sheds light on new methodologies on utilising technical advances in developing statistics and information tasks in a manner that serves decision-making and explores speculations for economic and social sectors.
The event will bring together representatives of GCC statistics and information entities, regional and international organisations specialised in the fields of statistics and information and interested private sector establishments, researchers, academicians and students.
Dr Khalifa bin Abdullah Al-Barwani, CEO of National Centre for Statistics and Information, said that the convening of this forum in the Sultanate reflects the progress being made, regionally, in the official statistics and information sector.
The forum reviews the most important experiences of participating countries, international organisations and companies specialised in the domains of data processing and analysis, including data of social networks, mobile phone network, The Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, data of geographic information systems. It looks into how to utilise techniques of the 4th Industrial Revolution in producing official data and the role of this revolution in shaping the policies of states.
Meanwhile, Sabir bin Said Al-Harbi, Director-General of the GCC Statistics Centre, said that the holding of the first and second forums is testimony to the GCC leaders’ keenness in statistics and statisticians and their conviction in statistical information’ role in taking highly accurate decisions for achieving top accuracy and promoting the welfare of GCC states and peoples.
Sulaiman bin Abdulrahim Al-Zadjali, NCSI’s Director-General of Information Technology, said in another comment that the forum seeks to tap the 4th Industrial Revolution’s technologies to upgrade action in the field of statistics and information, build local cadres and enhance their skills in Oman’s different government research departments, as well as GCC statistics centres.
The forum will witness an interactive dialogue session for heads of GCC statistics departments, who will elaborate on future trends of statistics centres. It will touch on several issues, including bulk data and the Internet of Things and how to optimize the use of these sources.
The forum will discuss data from social networks and websites due to their huge flow of information from which primary statistics and information indicators can be derived and forwarded to statistics and information centres in a course of action known as ‘early warning’.