The Regional Office for the Near East of the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO/RNE) is organizing, in collaboration with the Moroccan Association of Agricultural Economics (AMAECO) a training workshop on Agricultural Statistics in Rabat, Morocco between 6 and 10 of April 2009.

In support of global efforts to improve statistics, the training workshop will discuss the problems faced by countries in modernizing their agricultural statistics systems and adapting them to the new requirements that have arisen. The training workshop will focus on in-depth training in : (i) Preparing Food Balance Sheets (FBS) and Supply Utilization Account (SUA); (ii) Collecting & compiling core indicators of Rural Development; and (iii) How to collect and compile consumer prices of major food items at all levels of government. In the mean time countries will be encouraged to provide complete and reliable data on time, and exchange their experiences in collecting, compiling and disseminating quality data.

The Heads of statistical offices from the Ministry of Agriculture, and/or the Central Statistical Office from the following countries in the Near East Region are attending the workshop: Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Yemen, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Syria, Qatar, Kuwait, Algeria, Djibouti, Libya, Mauritania, Tunisia, Palestine, Sudan and Bahrain. In addition, the Islamic Development Bank, the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development and the African Development Bank will attend the workshop to contribute their experiences to support the development of agricultural statistics and information in the region.