The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics attended the Medstat Seminar that took place in Lugano - Switzerland & Cernobbio - Italy on April 26-29/1999. All the countries that are part of the MEDSTAT were present.

The Seminar aimed to discuss methods of exchanging statistical data and how to present statistics to the public users. They highlighted the role of media in presenting the statistical data to the public, and how to deal with television and press.

The Palestinian presence was very significant, as the second session was headed by Dr. Hasan Abu - Libdeh. Two papers were presented: The first paper was on "Statistics as Public Affair": How do we satisfy the expectations of the press?. The second paper highlighted the Palestinian experience in releasing the statistical data to public users.

The Palestinian delegation had separate meetings with Algerian, Jordanian, Turkish, Portuguese and many other delegations and discussed possibilities of future cooperation in Statistics Dissemination and ways of communications

A seminar on tourism Statistics took place in Malta - Spain on April 12-14, 1999.Presentatives of countries that are part of the MEDSTAT attended the Conference.

Four intensive and long sessions were prepared by participants presented and deeply discussed. The Palestinian presence was active, as the first session was held by the Palestinian Delegation in addition to participation with a discussion paper in the third session. We had long discussions with the president of Spanish Bureau of Statistics to intense the coordination conducive to forwarding the EUROSTAT and DG1B to support the Palestinian Statistical Program.

Many issues were also discussed, such as: the importance of data dissemination in a more comprehensive way, the need for data base specialized in the economic impacts on tourism, producing a system of harmonized output and also empowering the cooperation and experience exchange in the field of Tourism.

The first monitoring meeting for GTZ-3 Project was arranged at PCBS Headquarters on the 10th of May 1999.
The main purpose of the meeting was to come up with an agreed list of indicators and milestones to formulate a base for monitoring the project in the remaining period of its life. There were discussions on different aspects of the project such as; the capacity and capability building in ESD, ESD technical sustainability, capacity and capability building for MIS and its technical sustainability, and finally the financial sustainability.

Then, according to discussions, both parties agreed to carryout some changes in the documents to be considered as baseline for the next monitoring session to be arranged in the 3rd week of August 1999.

Mr. Nazmi Harb, Director General of the Information System and Computer Directorate at PCBS, participated in the course organized by TES Institute and held in Sevilla (Spain) on 3-7/05/1999. Fifteen countries, from all over the world, participated in the course and Palestine was the only Arab country.

Several experiences related to Electronic Data Dissemination and new programs were presented. Documents are to be studied carefully in order to develop and implement much more effective policy in Electronic Data Dissemination.

Mr. Nazmi Harb, Director General of the Information System and Computer Directorate at PCBS participated in the Expert Meeting organized by the Arab Institute for Training and Statistical Research on 17-18/05/1999.

There were 38 participants from Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Tunis, Sudan, Jordan and Lebanon. Each country participated in presenting a discussion paper. The lack of experience was realized concerning the Science and Technology Statistics. And therefore, a meeting was recommended to prepare and approve a list of statistical terminology to be used in all the Arab Countries.

ISD General Director visited our office in Damascus, which started to conduct a comprehensive survey covering the Palestinian in Syria. A coordination in this matter, is important in order to make use of the data being collected.

The second annual workshop was conducted in Gaza on 27/05/1999. Governmental Sectors, the Swedish Consulate, NGOs, researchers, the Higher Council for Maternity and Childhood, and other interested organizations were the main Participants.

The workshop aimed to present Statistically, the real status of the Palestinian Children, and to present the results and recommendations of the Second Annual Report, " Palestinian Children - Issues and Statistics ".

Participants expressed their high interests in this matter and several issues were raised and discussed. PCBS encouraged Ministries and organizations to held similar workshops in order to improve their ability in using the statistical reports in the process of decisions making. PCBS promised to provide all the possible help.

The importance of improving the administrative records and the periodic data collection was also highlighted. Similar workshops are to be held in Nablus and Hebron on July 1999.

• PCBS organized a workshop on 8/6/1999 at the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics office in Ramallah. The workshop aimed enhance the awareness of the Y2K threats, and to discuss several expereinces and status of the Palestinian organizations. Five papers were presented concerning PCBS experience in this matter, results of field work surveys conducted by PCBS, plans and programs of the Governmental Information System in dealing with Y2K problem, and finally the experience and status of the banking and financial sector and the Electricity Authority. Governmental and NGOs organizations were the main target.
• PCBS circulated a brief through the fax to all the Palestinian organizations defining the Y2K problem; threats and impacts, and PCBS experience and plans regarding this problem.
• PCBS conducted a field work survey to study how far Palestinian organizations are ready to face the Y2K problem.

• The Aid Management Department and the Population and Establishment Census Directorate has finalized in cooperation with the UNFPA the project document of the Analysis and Dissemination of the Census Findings, and the document was submitted to DFID.
• An agreement was reached with DFID to cover the printing costs of the Census Findings.
• A proposal for a bilateral statistical program was revised and updated in cooperation with CES Communautaire, and has been submitted to the EU.