The workshop was a joint activity between ESCWA, Arab Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). The meeting aimed at presenting to the Arab countries a framework in which national statistics on the international supply of services should be produced. The production of statistics on international trade in services would cover the different aspects of data production: data collection, data compilation, quality and dissemination according to the Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services (SITS) adopted in 2010 and the Compilers’ Guide that developed by a multi-national group of experts under the leadership of UNSD.

In a wider context, the workshop aimed at contributing to the development of trade of services statistics in the Arab region and building national capacities in the Arab countries through a tailored training on the newly produced compilation guide for the manual of SITS 2010. A number of topics were covered during the training workshop including the technical aspects of the SITS collection and compilation processes. In particular, participants were trained on: managing the implementation process, the data sources and collection of relevant data, compilation of resident/non-resident SITS based on the extended balance of payments classification of 2010 and tackling down specific sectors like transport, travel and tourism among others. A further topic concerning the modes of services supply was presented and participants were trained on identifying statistics related to the four modes of supply including statistics of foreign affiliates (FATS). Finally, presentations were made on quality frameworks and estimation and modeling of missing data using forecasting and back-casting.

The workshop was held in Abu Dhabi, UAE during 25-28 January 2015 and attended by 43 participants from government entities in 17 Arab countries from national statistics offices, central banks and ministries of economy.