The Council of Ministers on its weekly session (Monday 22/8/2022):

·        Expressed its confidence and trust in the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).

·        Extended its gratitude and appreciation to PCBS staff for their commendable efforts.

Ramallah – 22/8/2022 - The Council of Ministers expressed, on its weekly session on Monday 22/8/2022, its confidences and trust in the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) and its high professionalism and extended its gratitude and appreciation to PCBS staff for their commendable efforts.

This came during the Council's host of H.E. Dr. Ola Awad, President of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. H.E. Dr. Ola Awad presented a detailed explanation on the importance of PCBS work in providing the statistical figure; that documents various aspects of Palestinian life covering social, economic and environmental dimensions through data it provides and collects from different sources such as household surveys, censuses, administrative records. The Council of Ministers was also briefed on the most important challenges facing the work of PCBS and the interventions required to sustain its work in providing updated data, on continuous basis, that observe and monitor the Palestinian people's realities in various areas.

H.E. Dr. Ola Awad informed the Council of Ministers on the latest data that monitor the Palestinian reality in all areas and aspects, and pointed out that Palestine ranks the twentieth in the field of data accessibility and openness. H.E. Dr. Awad emphasized on and clarified the importance of integration of work with all components of the National Statistical System (NSS) where PCBS plays a great role, but yet not the only player, as Dr. Awad considered work integration with partner institutions is important.

During this session, the Council of Ministers discussed the importance of data in facilitating strategy-building, policy and decision-making in the public and private sectors and the role of researchers, universities, civil society and international institutions in analyzing and utilizing data. Also, it addressed the actions required of the government to support and develop the NSS, including the adoption of the revised General Statistics Law 2000, the inclusion of administrative records as a strategic objective in the work-plans of ministries and the use of data that are made available by PCBS.

Moreover, H.E. Dr. Ola Awad, President of PCBS, answered all inquiries put forward by the Council of Ministers and provided a detailed explanation of the methodologies for the work of PCBS in various sectors.

Furthermore, the Council of Ministers is to issue a number of resolutions and procedures to assist PCBS to further develop the Palestinian NSS. The Council of Ministers has also decided to establish an institutional mechanism to analyze statistical data, extract sectoral and national development indicators and standardize databases in line with the international standards.