Under the patronage of His Excellency the Minister of Economy and Planning, Chairman of the Board of Directors of GASTAT, Faisal bin Fadhil Alibrahim, the Saudi Statistical Forum was launched, organized by GASTAT in the capital, Riyadh, with the participation of a number of HE ministers, heads and representatives of international organizations and statistical offices, as well as local and international experts and decision-makers in the statistical sector. The forum was attended by more than 300 individuals interested in statistical work and will continue over two days, 27–28 April 2025.
His Excellency Minister Faisal Alibrahim delivered a speech in which he emphasized that the forum was inspired by the insightful guidance of HRH the Crown Prince in developing and advancing the Kingdom’s data system, to serve as an example in measuring performance levels and identifying the impact of legislation through data and statistical indicators. He confirmed that the Kingdom has made great strides in enhancing the quality and accuracy of indicators, including economic, social, and environmental statistics. Statistics and data today have become a reliable reference for decision-makers.
His Excellency added that we will continue in the coming phase to develop data platforms, strengthen the digital transformation journey, and benefit from artificial intelligence and modern technologies in developing statistical processes and data analysis, in a way that enhances efficiency, increases the accuracy of indicators, facilitates access to information, and contributes to accelerating the pace of development and maximizing the positive impact locally and globally in statistical work.”
For his part, Dr. Fahad bin Abdullah Aldossari, President of GASTAT, expressed his thanks and appreciation to His Excellency the Minister of Economy and Planning for his sponsorship of the forum, valuing at the same time the presence of HE the ministers, specialists, and experts from inside and outside the Kingdom, which adds qualitative momentum to the forum and reinforces its role as a national platform concerned with the development of statistical work and the support of public policies and knowledge-based decision-making.
Dr. Aldossari clarified that the forum organized by GASTAT stems from its belief in the importance of meeting, integration, and exchange of expertise to build a knowledge-based future founded on reliable data and statistics. He pointed out that GASTAT constantly works to develop its statistical system in a way that enhances the capacities of entities and supports decision-makers in planning and policy-making to achieve national objectives.
The forum's agenda includes five panel sessions. On the first day of the forum, two panel sessions will be held. The first session "The Role of Statistics in Policy Development and Decision Making" will be attended by His Excellency the Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Bandar bin Ibrahim AlKhorayef, and Dr. Fahad bin Abdullah Aldossari , President of GASTAT. The session will highlight the importance of statistical data as a fundamental pillar in the formulation of public policies, decision-making, defining national priorities. It will also emphasize the role of data providers in improving data quality and accuracy, as well as the importance of statistical indicators in measuring the success of policies and their alignment with national objectives, and the impact of cooperation and integration between national statistical offices and governmental and private entities in decision-making and enhancing developmental impact.
The second session "International Statistical Methodologies and Practices" will include the participation of several heads of statistical offices, representatives of international organizations, and local and international experts. The speakers will discuss the importance of globally approved statistical standards and classifications and the unification of methodologies to ensure comparability between countries, the role of modern technologies in developing statistical methodologies, in addition to discussing challenges in statistical practices and ensuring reliability and transparency in official statistics.
Speakers on the second day of the forum will participate in three panel sessions, namely:
Modern Methods of Innovation and Statistical Development,
The Role of the Private Sector in Producing Statistical Data,
Enhancing the Relationship Between Agencies and Data Beneficiaries
The third and fourth sessions will address the importance of remote sensing technologies and satellite imagery in geographic and agricultural statistics, and the use of advanced statistical methods in data analysis and their impact on decision-making, as well as the challenges facing the private sector in data production, and opportunities to enhance the partnership between the public and private sectors to develop sustainable and accurate data sources that support economic and developmental decision-making.
The forum will dedicate the final session to discussing the mechanism for facilitating access to data and statistical indicators in multiple formats that allow data users to access and interact with the data in ways that meet their needs, and to develop the level of relationship and communication with users through the provision of secure and diverse digital platforms for presenting data supported by charts, tables, and illustrative visuals. In addition, it will highlight the importance of providing high-quality data that contributes to supporting the private sector and its future directions.
On the first day, GASTAT signed a number of agreements with several statistical offices and centers in the United Arab Emirates, the State of Qatar, the Republic of Estonia, and the Republic of Finland, aiming to exchange expertise to develop statistical work.
It is worth mentioning that the Saudi Statistical Forum is the first of its kind and aims to discuss important topics at the statistical level and highlight the positive impact of the statistical sector in supporting the course of renaissance and sustainable development in the Kingdom, and in reinforcing the importance of data and statistics in raising awareness among members of society.
