The Permanent Population Committee Organized an event on the occasion of Qatar Population Day which is celebrated on October every year. His Excellency Dr. Saleh Bin Mohammed Al Nabit, Secretary General of General Secretariat for Development Planning, opened the event with a speech welcoming guests and participants, wishing that the workshop will succeed in achieving its ultimate objectives. In his speech, he explored the impact of labor market changes in the previous years on the demographic status of the country, which will undoubtedly witness great changes in the future in light of the projects comprised in National Development Strategy 2012-2016, as well as Qatar World Cup 2022.
HE Dr. Saleh appraised the experience of the Permanent Population Committee in preparing and implementing the Population Policy, which is considered among the most successful Arab experiences. In the same way, He extended his gratitude to heads, members of working groups of population policy, ministries, agencies and authorities involved in the implementation process and for their cooperation in contributing to the success of the PPC work. He also expressed his deep acknowledgments to HE Sheikh Hamad Bin Jabor Al Thani, Chairman of Qatar Statistics Authority and the former Chairman of the PPC for his efforts in advancing its work. Likewise, He also thanked HE Dr. Hassan Ibrahim Al-Mohannadi, Vice President of the PPC and former director of the Technical Bureau for his efforts in the success of the PPC and Technical Bureau.
After that, HE Undersecretary of the Ministry of Labour, delivered his speech that dealt with the broad outlines of Labor Market Strategy 2011-2016 in terms of its current and future prospects for the labor market and in relation to the aspiring development projects implemented by the country. He also tackled the outcomes that the strategy aims to achieve, as well as the role of all stakeholders in making these goals a reality within the previously defined schedule.
For his part, Dr. Abdellah Al Zouabi, regional adviser of United Nations Population Fund, commended the prominent role of the Permanent Population Committee on the local, regional and international levels along with its active contribution to the international and regional conferences on population and development. Furthermore, he stressed the importance of experts exchange and cooperation between the UNFPA and population councils and committees in the Arab countries, as well as the special importance of cooperation and coordination between the PPC and UNFPA in several areas.
In the second session, Mr. Yousef Mubarak Al Dosari, Acting Director of PPC Technical Bureau, briefed out “Qatar Population Status 2012: Three Years after Launching the Population Policy", in which he explained the steps of preparing the report, sources, and findings.
The third session was dedicated for panel discussions between the working groups in charge of the implementation follow-up of population policy that included groups of: population and labor force, urban growth, housing and environment, education, training and youth, public and reproductive health, woman and child, elderly and disabled people. Each of these groups had discussed the population reality and issues that concern each group to identify their priorities in the fourth phase implementation of the Program of Action, for the period October 2012 until October 2013.
In the fourth and final session, heads of groups presented the achieved outcomes before making a general discussion about the priorities suggested for each axis of the population policy