As the Chairman of the Saudi Delegation in the ESCWA Ministrial Session Dr. Altekhaifi: the transition towards a knowledge-based society promotes sustainable development in the Kingdom H.E. Dr. Fahad Sulaiman Altekhaifi, GaStat President, assured that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has completed remarkable steps towards achieving the millennium goals of sustainable development and has developed a strategy for total development under the framework of its 2030 Vision. This came during the 29th ministerial session of ESCWA entitled "Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals of 2030 in Arab countries", held in Doha,Qatar. HE GaStat President chaired the Saudi delegation participating in this session. He clarified that the Kingdom has made deliberate steps towards achieving the goals of sustainable development, where all conditions are prepared to achieve its goals of growth rates, average income increasing, promote the transition towards a knowledge-based society. This can be made through multiple strategies such as those based on economic diversification, sovereign investment funds, support the private investment initiatives, invest in quality education, research and development, health facilities, public services, and international and regional agreements. He added that the entire government systems in the Kingdom works on increasing the development of national and regional institutions, and enhance coordination efforts, enhance the flexibility of public institutions in developing governance strategies. On Tuesday, The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA) held its 29th session for senior officials, in the presence of representatives from member states and non-member states in international and regional organizations and committees. ESCWA is one of the five United Nations' regional commissions, and is a part of its general secretariat. It works under the supervision of economic and social council in order to support the economic and social cooperation between the region countries and promotes the development process in order to achieve regional integration. Its membership compromises of 17 member states which are: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Sudan, Syria, UAE, Tunisia and Yemen.  The ESCWA ministerial session is held every two years with the participation of the commission member states representatives on the mistrial level and representatives from United Nations' organizations and programs in addition to United Nation member states who are not member of ESCWA.

Within the new bundle of cultural indicators  GaStat: 5,382 photographers work in 2,415 photography studios in Saudi Arabia On Sunday, 12 Rabī‘ al-awwal 1438 corresponding to December 11, 2016, GaStat issued its indicator about the number of photography studios and its workers from 2011 to 2015 in all administrative regions of the Kingdom which has reached 2415 studios with 5382 photographer and workers. The indicator issued by GaStat showed that Makkah region is in the lead by number of photography studios and its workers for the last five years. The number of studios in Makkah region has reached more than 802 in 2015, while Riyadh region is the second largest area after Makkah in the number of operators and photography studios which has reached more than 640 studios with more than 1400 worker in 2015. GaStat's spokesman Taiseer Almofarrej explained that the photography indicator is considered one of the most important cultural indicators, and it measures the changes in number of shops that photograph people, number of photographers, and number of workers annually. The indicator reflects the development in photography activity in different regions of the Kingdom. Almofarrej stressed that GaStat was keen to launch its indicator today to cope with the events of "colors of Saudi Arabia forum" to shed light on this activity. He also added that after the launch of any indicator, GaStat begin its assessment in order to develop the indicator with the collaboration of relevant entities. One of these indicators is the photography as one of the most important cultural indicators, in addition to the fact that photography field is one of the attractive fields to work in especially with the development of photography tools and the increasing demand on photographers, and the impact of images on media, art and culture particularly with the spread of social media. Knowing that the indicator does not include amateur photographers or who works independently as the indicator relies on record data from relevant entities.

For its role in raising statistical awareness within the economic survey GaStat honours Tawuniya H.E. Dr.Fahad Altekhaifi, the President of the General Authority for Statistics (GaStat), expressed his thanks to Tawuniya insurance company for supporting the operations of the economic survey of establishments (2016) that aim to support statistical awareness programs.  H.E. GaStat President stressed that giving the opportunity for the private sector to sponsor specialized surveys and research comes within the framework of enabling the support of statistical awareness, in which Gastat aims to raise the awareness of any research or study targeted groups to the importance of the information provided and its role in supporting relevant development decisions. He added that the private sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia realizes its societal role and offers a number of supporting initiatives to achieve the goals of government agencies. Dr. Altekhaifi explained that in this year, GaStat conducted its periodic economic survey through a series of economic research and surveys in order to provide detailed economic data of all establishments in the private and public sector and non-profit organizations to prepare indicators that help in recognizing the economic activities growth rate. More than 650 statistical researchers collected the data of 33,500 establishments in all regions of the Kingdom in order to obtain detailed economic data related to different aspects of the establishment. Mr. Raed bin Abdullah Al-Tamimi, Tawuniya CEO,  expressed pride in the strategic collaboration with GaStat through his visit to GaStat. He clarified that this sponsorship is part of the initiatives of Tawuniya to support the statistical awareness of the Saudi society because of the importance of its results in the development of the private sector. Mr. Al-Tamimi expressed his thanks to Gastat for giving them the opportunity to contribute in achieving the objectives of economic statistical products that supports the economic projects. Mr. Al-Tamimi added that Tawuniya, as the leading insurance industry in the Kingdom, supports the economic projects especially small and medium enterprises and national authorities to complete the initiatives that have a positive impact on the society and insurance sector. He noted that Tawuniya has a great experience in insurance practices and provides a variety of insurance solutions that meet the needs of all business sectors, drawing attention that this approach is in line with the 2030 Saudi Vision. Al-Tamimi asserted the importance of providing economic information about economic establishments to support decision makers in drawing a clear roadmap that contributes in implementing the goals and plans of the national transformation program. This program supports the role of economic establishments especially small and medium establishments in the GDP at a rate of up to 25% in 2020, which will contribute to reduce the dependence on oil and diversify sources of income.

Participating with 40 countries in the International Association for Official Statistics  (IAOS) conference Dr. Altekhaifi: GaStat works on enhancing the national and international collaborations to raise the data quality and support decision and policy makers GaStat participates in IAOS conference 2016 (round 15) Under the Patronage of H.H. Sheikh  Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice chairman of Abu Dhabi executive council. The conference is organized by Statistics Center in Abu Dhabi. The main theme of the IAOS 2016 conference is "The Spirit of Official Statistics: Partnership and Continuous Innovation". The conference activities will conclude on December- 8-2016.  Dr. fahad bin Sulaiman Altekhaifi, GaStat president, said that the authority keeps enhancing its experience and raising the data quality through an integrated program for all local, regional, and international collaborations, in addition to following the best international practices in order to provide comprehensive and high-quality statistical data that support policy and decision maker. He revealed that the strategic collaboration program is an essential part of the statistical sector' strategic transformation program in Saudi Arabia. GaStat worked on preparing a transformation map in the statistical work. This map included a number of projects and initiatives that cope with the 2020 national transformation program and 2030 Saudi vision. The statistical transformation project depended on three main dimensions; quality of statistical products, concentrating on clients, and activating the statistical sector. Using these three dimensions, GaStat went through six main tracks represented in reformulating the authority tendencies in a way that achieves the goals and  reflects the clients tendency, reevaluating the products and services provided by the authority, determining the required operating activities to provide products and services according to clients needs, enhancing the technical part in the authority, modifying culture and developing statistical awareness, in addition to assuring the existence of the organizational structure and the governance to make a transformation. Each track has a group of projects and initiatives that are integrated with each other, so that they can contribute in implementing the strategic transformation program. These projects and initiatives aim at activating the statistical part, evaluating the products and services, and developing methodologies, standards, and classifications. This can be achieved after preparing the authority administratively, financially,  technically, and systematically  to pursue in the transformation process. In addition to raising the statistical awareness and culture among all users of data, information, and statistics.  On the other hand, Dr. Fahad asserted that IAOS conference was held in a time, during which all GCC statistical entities work together to achieve the vision of the custodian of the two holly mosques that enhances integration between GCC countries, improves GCC statistical performance, and meets the leaders expectations. All GCC statistical entities work on supporting the integrated work especially the collaboration between them, so that they can deal with all GCC essential issues.   GaStat participation in this conference represents its belief in collaboration and how it develops the statistical work and raises awareness among all producers and users of data. Moreover, it identifies the importance of official statistics and how they support the developmental resolutions in the region.  Altekhaifi clarified that GaStat along with all GCC statistical entities are trying to enhance and develop the concept of official statistics so that they reach an excellent level of efficiency. Furthermore, they enhance the value of official statistics in the information community. They also enhance collaborations, innovation, and national statistical system update.  H.E. expressed his gratitude for the great hospitality of Abu Dhabi in this conference. It is the first country in the region that organizes an IAOS conference, as this conference is held every two years by one of the IAOS members. So, this assured the GCC statistical entities role in the region.  It is worth mentioning that the 15th round of the conference depends on four main aspects, about which all sessions are conducted. The aspects are: enhancing the value of official statistics in the information community, making collaborations to achieve results, innovation and updating national statistical systems, and following the main principals in the statistical work practice.