Future response to epidemics discussed in virtual meeting

Muscat: The GCC Statistical Centre organised a virtual seminar to enable official GCC statistics entities to improve response to future epidemics and disasters on Thursday.
The seminar involved the participation of the statistical agencies in GCC countries, the economic and development affairs sector in the GCC Secretariat General, the UN Statistical Commission and EU Statistics Office (Eurostat).
The national statistical agencies in the GCC countries showed presentations in which they reviewed their experiences in producing statistics in light of the difficult circumstances of the outbreak of Covid-19 around the world. They made a number of proposals to statistically deal with similar crises and disasters.
The seminar aimed to enhance the capabilities of employees in the national statistical agencies of the GCC countries, in order to produce reliable official statistics that support decision-makers in their countries to face epidemics and future disasters by improving response, in addition to exchanging experiences among the participating parties, identifying the challenges facing the Gulf statistical system and the most prominent features to the future of official statistics after the Covid-19 pandemic, and the areas of innovation and smart statistics.