SESRIC, in its capacity as the Secretariat of the OIC Statistical Commission (OIC-StatCom), organised, in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group, the 12^th Session of the OIC-StatCom in a hybrid format in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with warm welcoming of General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Session brought together 64 participants from the National Statistical Offices (NSOs) of 39 OIC countries.

The Session has also been attended by representatives of 5 international and regional organisations, namely the Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics (AITRS), International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Economic Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD).

The 12^th Session of OIC-StatCom commenced with the addresses of H.E. Dr. Fahad ALDOSSARI, President of GASTAT, as the host of the 12^th Session of OIC-StatCom; H.E. Dr. Naeem Uz ZAFAR, Chief Statistician of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) and Chairman of the 11^th Session of OIC-StatCom; Dr. Areef Suleman, Director of Economic Research and Statistics, Representative of the IsDB Group; H.E. Mrs. Zehra Zümrüt SELÇUK, Director General of SESRIC; and H.E. Amb. Musa KULAKLIKAYA, Assistant Secretary General of the OIC General Secretariat.

In his welcoming remarks, H.E. Dr. Fahad ALDOSSARI touched upon the significance of the data and the need for adoption of new technologies for the sustainable and inclusive development. Being the Chair of the 11^th Session, H.E. Dr. Naeem Uz ZAFAR stressed upon the improvement of data collection using digitalization and the statistical cooperation in this sense. H.E. Dr. ZAFAR thanked all the OIC countries for their trust, support and collaboration extended during his tenure as the Chair. Dr. Areef SULEMAN focused in his speech on the developmental challenges of OIC countries which requires the quality data to address. Dr. SULEMAN further underlined the readiness and support of the IsDB Group to facilitate the strengthening the capacities of the OIC countries to provide high quality statistics for evidence-based policy making for SDGs.

H.E. Mrs. Zehra Zümrüt SELÇUK addressed the Commission highlighting the importance of OIC-StatCom as a unique statistical cooperation platform. She underlined the solidarity and synergy established through the Commission among the NSOs of the OIC countries since 2011 in the field of statistical cooperation. H.E. Mrs. SELÇUK also highlighted the crucial role of the NSOs of the OIC countries in tracking and assessing development plans by ensuring the specific, measurable, assignable, realistic and time-related data production in the ever-changing world.

On behalf of H.E. Mr. Hissein Brahim TAHA, SG of the OIC, H.E. Amb. Musa KULAKLIKAYA, Assistant Secretary General of the OIC, delivered the opening remarks stressing on the challenges of NSOs of OIC countries with regards to the monitoring and evaluation of the OIC-2025 Programme of Action as well as the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda. The message of the Secretary General also indicated the full support of the OIC General Secretariat for the work of the Commission to further strengthen and enhance intra-OIC cooperation in the development, production, dissemination and communication of statistics.

Following-up the welcoming remarks, the composition of the Bureau Members of the 12^th Session of OIC-StatCom, as agreed on during the Follow-up Meeting of the 11^th Session of the OIC Statistical Commission organised on 2 March 2023, was announced by H.E. Mrs. Zehra Zümrüt SELÇUK, Director General of SESRIC.

The Director General of SESRIC informed the participants that the Chairmanship of OIC-StatCom is on a rotational basis among the 3 official groups of the OIC; namely, OIC-Africa, OIC-Arab, and OIC Asia. Accordingly, Mrs. SELÇUK thanked the members of Bureau of the 11th Session of OIC-StatCom composed of Pakistan (as Chair – OIC-Asia); Cameroon (OIC-Africa), Qatar (OIC-Arab), and Palestine (permanent) as Vice Chairs for their efficient management.

For the 12^th Session, Cameroon (OIC-Africa) is the Chair; Saudi Arabia (OIC-Arab), Malaysia (OIC-Asia), and Palestine (permanent) are the Vice Chairs, and SESRIC, in its capacity as the Secretariat of the Commission, is the Rapporteur.

After the announcement of the composition of the Bureau, H.E. Mr. Joseph TEDOU, Director General of the National Institute of Statistics (INS) of Cameroon and Chairman of the 12^th Session of OIC-StatCom, delivered his opening remarks. In his speech, Mr. TEDOU stressed the INS plays a vital role in shaping national policies and evaluating their effectiveness. He praised the role of OIC institutions in supporting the national statistical system of Cameroon.

After the adoption of the agenda, the working sessions started with the two presentations made by SESRIC, in its capacity as the Secretariat of the Commission, on: (1) the implementation of the Resolutions of the 11^th Session of the OIC-StatCom; and (2) the implementation of the OIC-StatCom Programme of Action for 2021-2025.

During the working sessions, the participants discussed and deliberated on presentations made by the member countries and relevant international organisations on the following technical agenda topics:

• Usage of Geospatial Technologies in Support of Census Activities;
• Monitoring and Reporting SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) Indicators; and
• Good Practices for Better E-Learning Programmes in Official Statistics

During the Closing Session, the Commission considered the resolutions concerning its future work under each agenda item.

All the documents, reports, and other related materials of the 12^th Session of OIC-StatCom are available at this link.

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