The First Arab Statistical Conference concludes its activities by issuing The Amman Declaration of Statistics 

Under the Royal patronage, the Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics has convened the First Arab Statistical Conference in cooperation with the Jordanian Department of Statistics (DoS)during the period 12-13 November 2007. The conference was held under the slogan (No development without census). H.E. the Prime Minister, Dr. Ma’ruf Al Bakhit inaugurated the conference on behalf of His Majesty The King.

 
  More than 300 statisticians, researchers, experts and specialists from 19 Arab countries and a number of Arab and foreign experts in addition to representatives of international organizations have participated in the activities of this conference.

 
   The conference addressed four main themes, through which 50 working papers and researches that included most important topics were presented. The most important topics were: statistics and its role in development, strengthening of Arab statistical capacity, the current status and prospects of the Arab statistical system, relationship between the academic and applied statistics in addition to the role of universities and research centers in the development of statistical work.

 
   At the end of the deliberations and discussion sessions of the Conference, the participants issued the (Amman Declaration of Statistics), which included the following recommendations:

 
1-Asserting the importance of convening the Arab Statistical conference regularly at least once every two years.

2-Emphasizing the importance of autonomous statistical work and adherence to its ethics and best practices of the statisticians.

 
3-Emphasizing the importance of the Statistics quality as a basic standard for the production of official statistics including commitment to international standards and classifications.

4-Calling upon Arab states to support statistics and to enhance the statistical capacity as a strategic option in order to realize the goals of economic and social development.

 
5-Asserting the importance of building professional national statistical systems oriented towards the needs of users and keep abreast of developments in the use of modern technology.

6-Stregthening the relationship between the Statistical agencies, universities and academic institutions for the advancement of statistical work and for providing qualified statistical cadres for the labor market.

 
7-Measuring of progress in the societies and horizontal expansion in the new statistical aspects including the crime statistics, statistics of good governance and others.

 
8-Calling for stronger interaction between the Arab statistical agencies and Arab statisticians with international forums and organizations. They stressed upon the importance of having effect in the international statistical system for reflecting Arab points of view.

 
9-Activating the work of the Al Khawarizmi Committee in the International Statistical Institute (ISI) for developing the Arab statistical capacity and for expanding the international statistical activities in the region.

 
10-Follow -up of procedural steps concerning the Union of Arab statisticians, which was founded in the Declaration on the Conference. There was a call to consider the 12^th of November of each year the day of Arab Statisticians.

 
  At the end of the conference, the participants have sent a cable of thanks and appreciation to His Majesty King Abdullah II Bin Al-Hussein (may God preserve Him) for his royal sponsoring of the Conference. The participants also thanked the Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics, the Department of Statistics (DoS), the Preparatory Committee of the Conference and other organizing committees for the proper planning and organization.

 
In his turn, Dr. Hilal Al-Bayati, Chairman of the Preparatory Committee of the Conference, expressed thanks and gratitude to the Jordanian government for the good cooperation, hospitality and facilities provided to the participants. This assistance was one of the most important factors that lead to the success of this conference.

 
The Director General of Statistics in Jordan, Dr. Gazi Shbaikat, said that the importance of this conference, which convened for the first time in Amman, was clear through the royal sponsorship and attendance of the Prime Minister Dr. Ma’ruf Al Bakhit. They have welcomed all participants on behalf of the Jordanian government and expressed their thanks for holding this conference in Jordan and welcomed any future statistical activities.