National Day/ PSA President to QNA: National Day Holds Great Importance Where Founder Laid Foundations for Modern Qatar

Doha, December 16 (QNA) - HE President of the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) Dr. Saleh bin Mohammad Al Nabit said that National Day occupies an important place in the people of Qatar's hearts, expressing their pride in this country, in which the founder, Sheikh Jassim bin Mohammed bin Thani laid down the foundations for the modern state in Qatar to preserve its cohesion, sovereignty, and dignity of its people. In a statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA), HE added that this occasion represents a station to promote the values ​​of loyalty and unity established by the founder. This year's National Day slogan "Our Unity Source of Our Strength," has been excerpted from a speech by HH the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, which emphasizes the importance of belonging to the country, transcending various affiliations and loyalties, and affirms the Islamic values inherent in the founder’s approach based on the principles of sincerity, solidarity, and cohesion between the people of Qatar with their leadership, HE noted. Today it has become evident, not only in Qatar, but also worldwide, that the State of Qatar has achieved, with this leaping national spirit, major gains in national development reflected in the standard of living and quality of life of individuals in Qatar, under the insightful vision of the wise leadership and its wise policies aimed at building a better future for Qatar by investing more in human capital, diversifying economic structures and sources of income, reducing dependence on hydrocarbons, and encouraging the role of the private sector in economic activity in driving development, HE continued. This year's National Day celebration coincides with two major occasions. Firstly, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 finals carry double strategic value for the country and its people by presenting a message to the world that reflects the honorable civilized image of the country and secondly, an indication of Qatar's commitment to reducing the carbon footprint to face climate changes, noting Qatar's reliance on renewable energy sources in its development projects that have received wide international praise, such as advanced sports stadiums that outperform their global counterparts, smart transportation, and advanced infrastructure, HE PSA President pointed out. The celebration of these two occasions will highlight to the world the authentic Qatari identity and the well-established Islamic and Arab values, enhancing cultural integration with other civilizations in a way that does not contradict the aforementioned values, HE added. In terms of the PSA achievements and future, HE Dr. Saleh Mohammad Al Nabit affirmed that the authority, based on its objectives in implementing the comprehensive vision of the country and establishing an integrated statistical system, has accomplished a number of achievements that support the Qatar National Vision 2030. In the development planning field, the authority is currently completing its national efforts toward charting paths for comprehensive national development. Work has already begun to prepare the third national development strategy in response to the urgent national development needs, on one hand, and the development priorities imposed by international developments, on the other hand. On a related note, and in conjunction, HE stressed the continuous efforts in following up the implementation of the second national development strategy 2018-2022 to monitor the challenges facing government agencies and others in the implementation of their development projects and propose solutions. The authority is also carrying out its national role towards achieving Qatar National Vision 2030 by supporting the competent authorities in implementing their plans and development projects to achieve the results and objectives of the third national development strategy currently being prepared. As for the statistics sector, the programs and activities of this sector go hand in hand with the authority's efforts in the field of planning aiming to provide a reliable information base upon which qualitative reports and analysis are used for the preparation of national strategies. In this regard, the authority issued the Official Statistics Dissemination Policy, which includes the determinants, controls, and basic concepts for communicating statistics through various means of dissemination. This policy guarantees the quality of statistical products published by PSA. A first-of-its-kind in the region statistical communication strategy has also been prepared, based on international standards, to achieve effective and required communication between the device and all statistical work partners inside and outside the country, HE explained. The authority has resumed its efforts to support the achievement of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals by producing national indicators for these goals and their objectives, in cooperation with the concerned authorities, striving simultaneously towards building a modern and integrated statistical system that enhances monitoring, follow-up, and evaluation of national development and sustainable development goals, HE noted. The authority will continue the process of completing the electronic linking of administrative records data at ministries and governmental and non-governmental agencies, redoubling its efforts to improve the processes of collecting, analyzing, and disseminating national statistics in line with international standards, and providing continuous economic and social forecasts that take into account the accelerating global challenges and potential international influences on the path of development, so that all these statistical efforts reflect reliable data and information that are indispensable to achieve comprehensive and sustainable development, HE said. In his concluding remarks to QNA, HE PSA President expressed hopes that these two occasions will contribute to strengthening national unity among the people of Qatar, enhance the spirit of responsibility towards the country, and motivate them to hard work to complete the national development with more cooperation and dedication. (QNA)