© Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC)
GOIC and UNIDO celebrate the launch of International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics
16 May 2013-02 June 2013


GOIC and UNIDO celebrate the launch of International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics
Dr. Al-Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry: “Listing Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE among the industrial countries is a big achievement.”
 
The Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) hosted in its headquarters in Doha today the launch of the International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics 2013 published by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). This event was under the patronage of HE Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, Qatari Minister of Energy and Industry. It was attended by HE Sheikh Hamad Bin Jabor, President of Qatar Statistics Authority (QSA), several GCC ambassadors and heads of governmental agencies, chief executives and directors of a number of important companies operating in Qatar.
 
Dr. Al-Sada
Addressing the opening ceremony, HE Dr. Al-Sada commended “listing Qatar among States in which the ratio of the added value of manufacturing is more than 2500 USD per capita.” Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are also on this list. Mr. Al-Sada said: “Qatar recognizes the importance of the manufacturing industry based on the vision and parameters set forth by His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar for a better future to our country and people.”
HE Dr. Al-Sada, mentioned that “the Government of Qatar endeavours to build a wide industrial production pool in order to diversify the sources of income through a clear economic policy. It also aims at reducing hydrocarbon dependence by having other sources of income. He added: “We want to optimize the use of our natural resources by developing our industrial and manufacturing sector. We want this sector to be integrated into the international economic system, mainly in the areas of petrochemicals and specialty chemicals.”
Dr. Al-Sada highlighted that “the decreasing dependence of Qatar’s economy on the hydrocarbon sector and the efficient projects in non-oil sectors reflect a strong performance, competitiveness and potential to achieve sustainable development.”
In the area of industrial data and statistics, the Qatari Minister of Energy and Industry considered that “the worldwide industrial sector is evermore relying on information, statistics and main indicators in order to achieve additional economic growth. It is undoubted that enlarging and strengthening the industrial and manufacturing foundation in any country is a full function of accurate and reliable databases and statistics.” He stressed the importance of the International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics which “publishes industrial statistics from all over the world and provides main industrial statistics indicators and detailed information about the structure and growth of the manufacturing industry in the world.”
HE Dr. Al-Sada concluded: “The Yearbook that we are launching today here in Doha concurs with a remarkable increase in the cooperation between GCC countries and the UNIDO in the area of industrial statistics. In this context, the valuable contribution of Qatar Statistics Authority (QAS) and other ministries in Qatar and GCC countries is worth being mentioned. This cooperation will hopefully continue in the future to promote national and regional statistical capabilities in GCC countries.”
 
Al-Ageel
In his speech, GOIC Secretary General Mr. Abdulaziz Bin Hamad Al-Ageel stressed the “increasing importance of industrial statistics in GCC countries that failed to give a particular attention to this area. These statistics are of utmost importance in terms of backing big economic and investment decisions. Furthermore, previous studies showed that several regional countries lack detailed reliable databases regarding industrial activities and relevant indicators because of the absence of adequate systematic approaches to collect, analyse and publish data in a timely fashion. In fact, failing to provide updated industrial statistics has a negative repercussion on decision makers in public and private sectors in the areas of industries and investments.”
Mr. Al-Ageel further added: “GOIC recognized the necessity of developing this important sector in the area of statistics. In fact, the Organization deployed joint efforts with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the United Nations Statistics Division in New York and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in order to put together several training workshops on industrial statistics and classifications in GCC countries. In fact, in response to requests put forward by different States, another workshop will take place in some Gulf countries this year.”
GOIC Secretary General mentioned “the pressing need to broaden activities aiming at building capacities in the region in order to make quality industrial statistics more available and implement international classifications and recommendations related to industrial statistics.” Al-Ageel said “GOIC hopes that these workshops will help boost staff knowledge and skills within statistics bodies and industry ministries in the region. This will allow them to better collect, process and publish statistics concerning industrial activities in the region. It will also help solve any discrepancies and inconsistencies within the currently available data by unifying the classifications and parameters based on international standards.” Al-Ageel added that “this process will help UNIDO experts update the international database of industrial statistics based on the constant feed of data coming from national statistics authorities and ministries in GCC countries. These databases allow comparisons between different countries and group of countries for every development stage.”   
 
International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics
Last but not least, Mr. Shyam Upadhyaya, UNIDO Chief Statistician, delivered a presentation about the International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics 2013; it is a systematic guidebook displaying statistics that aims at elaborating international conceptions and facilitating comparison between countries. It is also a manual for businessmen, decision makers and data users to identify the average growth and structure of manufacturing industries all over the globe.
Regarding the classification of Gulf countries based on GCC industrial databases, Mr. Upadhyaya said that four GCC countries are listed among industrial countries and two countries have emerging industrial economies. He added that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is responsible for almost half of GCC industrial production, while the economy of Qatar is the most developed between GCC countries.
As to the annual growth rate, Mr. Upadhyaya said that according to the Yearbook, Oman ranked first (7.6%), followed by KSA (5.7%), Kuwait (5.6%), UAE (5.2%), Qatar (5.1%) and Bahrain (4.o %).
Concerning the data of the manufacturing industry added
value per capita, the UNIDO expert said Qatar ranked first (4122 USD), followed by UAE (3087 USD), Kuwait (2323 USD), Bahrain (1884 USD), KSA (1405 USD) and Oman (1362 USD).
Mr. Upadhyaya concluded by mentioning means of cooperation between the UNIDO and GOIC, particularly the training program in the area of industrial statistics in the Gulf, assessing GOIC’s database, the technical assistance project that will soon be launched in Oman, listing GCC countries on the UNIDO database of the Yearbook of Industrial Statistics and exchanging statistical databases and expertise.
At the end, HE Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry received an honorary award from GOIC Secretary General Mr. Abdulaziz Bin Hamad Al-Ageel. Mr. Upadhyaya also received an appreciation award. 
 
 


Image Gallery
RELATED TAGS
© Copyrights GOIC PO Box 5114, Doha, Qatar Tel: (+974) 44858888 working hours are 7:00am to 2:30pm 2014. All rights reserved.