Statistics Centre-Abu Dhabi signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Economy on Sunday the 13th of March that aims at enhancing cooperation and coordination between the Centre and the Ministry with regard to exchanging statistical data in the field of prices. Under this memorandum, the Centre is to provide the Ministry periodically with the latest price developments of basic commodities and foodstuffs in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. This is meant to help the Ministry of Economy to perform its role in monitoring price developments at the federal level and to ensure both market stability and consumer protection.
The MOU was signed at the headquarters of the Statistics Centre-Abu Dhabi, by H. E. Butti Ahmed Mohammed Bin Butti Al Qubaisi, Director General of the Centre and H.E. Mohammed Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz Al-Shehhi, General Manager of the Ministry of Economy, in the presence of a number of heads of departments and concerned officials from both parties.
The MOU allows the Ministry of Economy to benefit from commodity price data that the Statistics Centre-Abu Dhabi regularly collects from the local market and the indicators extracted from them, using the internationally adopted methodologies. The signing of the memorandum will also help the Ministry of Economy to provide policy makers and analysts with the most updated information on various aspects of food prices in the local market in order to take appropriate decisions.
Signing this memorandum, the two parties assert their keenness on strengthening cooperation and coordination and on providing the data that support the Ministry of Economy’s role in monitoring price developments and in preparing plans to control the local market. Furthermore, the Ministry aims to support consumer protection, to reinforce consumer rights and to prepare the necessary programs to prevent any possible food crises. The memorandum is also expected to have a positive effect on controlling the local markets all over the United Arab Emirates through obtaining the latest statistics and official data made accessible by the Statistics Centre-Abu Dhabi as the official authority responsible for the collection and dissemination of statistical data in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
In pursuit of making the most of electronic means for exchanging data, the memorandum emphasizes the importance of establishing an electronic link between the Statistics Centre-Abu Dhabi and the Ministry of Economy in the future to ensure the rapid flow of information between the parties.
Engineer Mohammed Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz Al-Shehhi assured that the importance of this MOU stems from the fact that the Centre is the official authority responsible for electronically providing the Ministry with the local prices of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, thus limiting the duplication of data collection. He added that this step will directly save time, effort and cost, and provide accurate, transparent and credible information.
The memorandum, he added, allows the Ministry of Economy to benefit from the price data for goods collected regularly by the Statistics Centre - Abu Dhabi from the local market and the indicators extracted from them, following the most updated international methodologies. Al-Shehhi further pointed out that one of the objectives of the Ministry is to ensure the stability of the prices, to sustain the continuous flow of consumer goods within the UAE and to have the ability to forecast local crises that may occur in the commodity markets at either the local or the global levels. This MOU would help the ministry to supply policy makers and analysts with the latest available information on the deficiencies in commodities, the required commodities and the prices of basic commodities so that they would take decisions accordingly.
He stressed the ministry insistence on implementing all the measures and procedures needed to allow it to monitor the public policy for consumer protection and the movement of prices, to establish fair competition and to fight monopoly. The ministry also aims to support consumer rights and to protect consumers against illegal practices.
Al Qubaisi, in his turn, noted that the MOU contributes to the monitoring of prices and the plans aiming at controlling the market and warning against any prospective food crises through the use of various electronic tools including the software and the specialized databases of the Center.
He stressed the important role of this memorandum in supporting the efforts undertaken by the Ministry of Economy in terms of price controls, pointing out that the purpose of establishing the Center is the production of statistical information in line with emirate’s orientation towards sustainable development and strategic plans under the supervision and with full support of the Executive Council of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Al Qubaisi maintained that the Center is the official entity responsible for collecting statistical data in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Therefore, it is responsible for the preparation of statistical plans and programs conducting statistical surveys that serve the development programs in the emirate. The Centre is also concerned with the collection, classification, storage, analysis and dissemination of official statistics, as well as announcing the results of social, demographic, economic, environmental and cultural surveys.
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