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Based on ministry of justice registry data GaStat launches real estate index indicator On Monday 18 Rabe'a second 1438 H corresponding 16 January 2017, GaStat launched the Saudi real estate index indicator. This indicator is based on available registry data of the ministry of justice that is about real estate transactions in 2015 and 2016. GaStat described this indicator as an essential tool that supports entities which make economic and statistical decisions  associated with real estate price movements and future expectations during different periods of time. The indicator includes three main sectors composed of many real estate classes: residential sector ( piece of land, building, villa, apartment, and house) , commercial sector (piece of land, building, shop, and commercial center), and agricultural sector ( agricultural lands).  Real estate price index indicator showed a decrease in the Saudi real estate prices in 2016 compared to 2015 and 2014. The indicator registered a decrease of (6.1%) compared to 2015. Whereas it registered a decrease of (8.5%) compared to 2014. During the fourth quarter of 2016, this indicator recorded a decrease of ( 3.5%) compared to the previous quarter. However, it recorded a decrease of (8.7%) compared to the same quarter of 2015.  The report attributed the decrease in the fourth quarter of 2016 (compared to the previous quarter) to the decrease in all composing sectors: commercial sector (4.1%), residential sector (3.4%), and agricultural sector (0.3%).  On the other hand,  the decrease in the fourth quarter of 2016 (compared to the same quarter of 2015) to the decrease in all composing sectors: commercial sector (12.3%), residential sector (7.4%), and agricultural sector (1.1%).  GaStat indicated in a workshop ,held in " Restatex " exhibition in Dhahran city, that : as an official  reference of statistics and an organizer of statistical sector in Saudi Arabia, one of Gastat tasks is follow up the price movement of real estate composing units and record the values of their transactions all over Saudi Arabia. In addition to monitoring their changes from time to time through the new statistical product " real estate price index" which relies on the data provided by ministry of justice. This represents the integration and cooperation between the different government entities which aim at moving sustainable development forward.  GaStat also stated that the new statistical product aims at founding distinct real estate statistical indicators that measure the Saudi real estate market performance and fill the gap of data in this sector. It is considered an essential tool that supports entities which make economic decisions in this field. This product's data benefit those who are interested in the economic and statistical analysis of real estate prices and the future expectations during different periods of time. GaStat has issued a complete bulletin about this index and its details on its website. It is worth mentioning that GaStat has announced 45 new statistical products as a first stage of the new products  which included economic, social, demographic, Umrah , and labor market statistics.  In addition to energy, knowledge, environment, culture, sport, entertainment, safety, and security statistics. Download: Real Estate Price Index Q4 2016 (PDF)

As the Chairman of the Saudi Delegation in the ESCWA Ministrial Session Dr. Altekhaifi: the transition towards a knowledge-based society promotes sustainable development in the Kingdom H.E. Dr. Fahad Sulaiman Altekhaifi, GaStat President, assured that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has completed remarkable steps towards achieving the millennium goals of sustainable development and has developed a strategy for total development under the framework of its 2030 Vision. This came during the 29th ministerial session of ESCWA entitled "Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals of 2030 in Arab countries", held in Doha,Qatar. HE GaStat President chaired the Saudi delegation participating in this session. He clarified that the Kingdom has made deliberate steps towards achieving the goals of sustainable development, where all conditions are prepared to achieve its goals of growth rates, average income increasing, promote the transition towards a knowledge-based society. This can be made through multiple strategies such as those based on economic diversification, sovereign investment funds, support the private investment initiatives, invest in quality education, research and development, health facilities, public services, and international and regional agreements. He added that the entire government systems in the Kingdom works on increasing the development of national and regional institutions, and enhance coordination efforts, enhance the flexibility of public institutions in developing governance strategies. On Tuesday, The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA) held its 29th session for senior officials, in the presence of representatives from member states and non-member states in international and regional organizations and committees. ESCWA is one of the five United Nations' regional commissions, and is a part of its general secretariat. It works under the supervision of economic and social council in order to support the economic and social cooperation between the region countries and promotes the development process in order to achieve regional integration. Its membership compromises of 17 member states which are: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Sudan, Syria, UAE, Tunisia and Yemen.  The ESCWA ministerial session is held every two years with the participation of the commission member states representatives on the mistrial level and representatives from United Nations' organizations and programs in addition to United Nation member states who are not member of ESCWA.

Within the new bundle of cultural indicators  GaStat: 5,382 photographers work in 2,415 photography studios in Saudi Arabia On Sunday, 12 Rabī‘ al-awwal 1438 corresponding to December 11, 2016, GaStat issued its indicator about the number of photography studios and its workers from 2011 to 2015 in all administrative regions of the Kingdom which has reached 2415 studios with 5382 photographer and workers. The indicator issued by GaStat showed that Makkah region is in the lead by number of photography studios and its workers for the last five years. The number of studios in Makkah region has reached more than 802 in 2015, while Riyadh region is the second largest area after Makkah in the number of operators and photography studios which has reached more than 640 studios with more than 1400 worker in 2015. GaStat's spokesman Taiseer Almofarrej explained that the photography indicator is considered one of the most important cultural indicators, and it measures the changes in number of shops that photograph people, number of photographers, and number of workers annually. The indicator reflects the development in photography activity in different regions of the Kingdom. Almofarrej stressed that GaStat was keen to launch its indicator today to cope with the events of "colors of Saudi Arabia forum" to shed light on this activity. He also added that after the launch of any indicator, GaStat begin its assessment in order to develop the indicator with the collaboration of relevant entities. One of these indicators is the photography as one of the most important cultural indicators, in addition to the fact that photography field is one of the attractive fields to work in especially with the development of photography tools and the increasing demand on photographers, and the impact of images on media, art and culture particularly with the spread of social media. Knowing that the indicator does not include amateur photographers or who works independently as the indicator relies on record data from relevant entities.

Within the activities of the first GCC statistical forum 40 speakers from the gulf and other regions discuss enhancing statistical collaborations to support economic policies and development, next March GCC statistical forum, which will be held in Riyadh from 21st to 23rd of Jumada 2nd corresponding to 20th to 22nd of March 2017, is receiving 40 speakers from the gulf and other regions of the world, in addition to several people who are interested in statistics. They all will be gathering in a forum held for the first time under the theme "   enhancing statistical collaborations to support economic policies and sustainable development in the GCC region" under the patronage of the two holly mosques king Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and organized by the general authority for statistics and GCC statistical center.  The forum will gather many people who deal with statistics such as: data producers, data users, and the academic sector. They will discuss many main axes like: the request of statistical data and information that results from the national- developmental tracks, sustainable development agenda, and international economic issues. They will also discuss the provision of statistical data and services to support the national- developmental tracks and sustainable development in the GCC region. In addition to discussing the main theme which is enhancing statistical collaboration between data users and producers to support economic policies and sustainable development in the GCC region.  In details, the opening of this forum will be on the first day. Many politicians will attend such as ministers, GCC secretariat leaders, ambassadors, statistical organizations presidents, national and international organizations representatives, statisticians, media specialists, and other participants.  On the next day, the sessions will start with discussing the first axe which is about statistical data and information request: the request from an international prospective and focusing on the international issues and their impact on policies and reforms all over the world in general and in the gulf region in particular. In addition to data needs and gaps. The session will be headed by Mr. Abdulaziz Alfuraih, vice governorate of the Saudi Arabian monetary fund. Prof. many speakers will start on that day such as: Enrico Guvannini, economic statistics professor in Roma university, Italy, Mr. Paul Schreyer, vice director of statistics in OECD, Mr. Jose Roberto Rosales, deputy director of statistics department in IMF, and dr. Khalfan bin Mohammed Albarwani, vice executive president of banking operations, research, and statistics in Oman central bank.  As for the second session, it will be headed by dr. Johannes Jütting, director of Paris secretariat in the OECD. They will discuss request from a national and regional perspective. The participants in this session include: de. Salem bin Nasser Alqudhai'e, vice minister of economy and planning, Mrs. Faridah Abdulrahim Khanji, director of analysis and assessment department in the office of his highness the president of ministers' cabinet in Bahrain, ambassador. Ashok Nigam, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mr. Khalifah bin Saeed Alabri, assistant general secretary of economic and developmental affairs in the GCC general secretariat. On the third day, the forum works continue with a session titles" producing and publishing statistics: the strategic motives of the national statistical entities' works". This session will be headed by ambassador. Mossa Kolaklikaya, general director of statistical, economic, and social research and training in the Islamic countries (Ankara center). The participants also include: Mr. Taiseer bin Mohammed Almofarrij, from the general authority for statistics in Saudi Arabia, Mr. Mohammed Hassan ahli, executive director of statistics and national data sector in the federal competitiveness and statistics authority, UAE, Mrs. Sawsan Dawood Allawati, general director of the information directory in the national statistics and information center, Oman, and dr. Rashoud bin Mohammed Alkhuraiyef, supervisor of demographic studies center in king Saud university.  After that, a general session about the third axe which is associated with collaborations will begin " next steps: towards sustainable mechanisms and framework for cooperation between users and producers" headed by Mr. Saber bin Saeed Alharbi, the general director of GCC statistical center, with the participation of the forum workshops heads to discuss the workshops results and recommendations according to the forum three axes: data request, producing and publishing data, and collaborations between statistics users and producers. At last, a final session will start to announce the forum recommendations.  Along with the forum activities, 6 workshops will be held: the first will discuss measuring the progress in achieving sustainable development goals, the second is about enhancing statistical knowledge. As for the third, it will be about the statistical media. In the fourth workshop, the participants will get to know the mechanisms of statistics development by using information and communication technologies. However, the fifth will discuss data revolution which will present cooperation between Arab countries to get benefited from data revolution in enhancing the production and publishing of statistics. After that, two presentations will be presented by one of the GCC countries and the GCC statistical center about the preparations and challenges. Regarding the last workshop, it will discuss the collaborations between the public and private sectors in the field of statistics.  At the end of the forum works, a session will be held and headed by dr. Fahad bin Sulaiman Altekhaifi, GaStat president. In this session, the forum recommendations will be announced regarding enhancing collaborations between statistical data and information producers and users on the national and regional levels. Then, a concluding speech will be delivered by GCC statistical center and the general authority for statistics.