High level expert meeting to develop the Near East action plan aimed at implementing the global strategy for the improvement of Agricultural and Rural development statistics in the Near East and North Africa Region

The FAO Regional Office for the Near East (FAORNE) is organizing a high level expert meeting for the implementation of the global strategy aimed at improving Agricultural and rural development statistics in the Near East and North Africa Region in collaboration with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) on the 17-19 September 2012 in Cairo.

Policy makers and development practitioners are increasingly facing challenges as a result of the multi functional role assumed by the agricultural sector in the 21st century and which goes beyond food security. Considering the importance of the agricultural sector in the Near East region, decision making in the region needs to be based on quality data and information. The global strategy to improve agricultural statistics provides a framework for national and regional agricultural and rural statistics systems to generate and make available such timely and quality data and information.

The FAO Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa (FAORNE) is taking the lead in implementing the regional strategy within the framework of the global strategy and is in particular kicking off this process with a high level experts’ meeting.

The specific objectives of the meeting are the following:

• To deliberate on and establish a governance framework to guide the regional and national level implementation of the global strategy
• To develop a regional action plan with clearly defined technical components
• To deliberate on and develop a draft implementation plan of the global strategy in the region, and
• To establish a steering committee to spearhead and coordinate the regional action plan.

As for the expected outcomes, they are as follows:

• A clear governance framework within which the regional action plan and the global strategy on agricultural and rural; development statistics will be implemented,
• A regional action plan with clearly defined structural components,
• A draft regional implementation plan for the global strategy on improvement of agricultural statistics in the region,
• A steering committee formed to spearhead and coordinate the regional action plan, and
• Finally, a detailed meeting report highlighting the conclusions and the way forward.