In a symposium held in Sana’a Private sector benefits from census and contributes to its success [Archives:2004/721/Business & Economy]

The general census, including houses, population and installations, that the government intends to hold this year acquires special importance for the private sector within context of the scientific concept of the free market economy. It is supposed that the census will provide companies and businessmen with statements and information about the population, their density, places of their residence and the degree of their needs for development and services projects in all governorates of Yemen.
Participants in the first symposium held in Sana'a on the 'Importance of the Census for the Private Sector' stressed the significance of the partnership between the government and businessmen to join forces to promote statistical work in Yemen. The participants have diagnosed the form of cooperation between the government and the private sector and the research roles to be carried out by each side for the achievement of a statement system characterized by high quality and the optimal use of the system.
The private sector has frequently expressed complaints about the absence of a database to inform its work. Cooperation for founding that database through the census would make it easy for the private sector to access the data on various economic and social issues, whether regarding consumption or drawing up national and trade and investment calculations.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Ahmed Mohammed Soufan, has made it clear that statements and information the private sector demands to be made available by the census have been contained within the framework of questions and questionnaires fixed in the census form and that would open the opportunity for the private sector to expand its choices of trade and investment. Mr Soufan also has called on the General Federation of Chambers of Commerce and its branches in the governorates to take part in supporting the census and to motivate the commercial sector in Yemen to provide correct and accurate information about the existing installations.
This is why the private sector comprehends the significance of the census for economic, investment and trade activity. For this purpose the participants in the symposium have affirmed the importance of correct information and data for the private sector in taking its decisions soundly and accurately.
Chairman of the Federation of the Chambers of Commerce, Mohammed Abdeh Saed, promised that the Federation would activate the process of participation in the census by motivating the economic sectors to contribute to publicizing the importance of the census and to provide correct statements.
Resident Representative of the United Nations Fund for Population praised the dialogue between the government and the private sector that took place in the symposium and emphasised that it would contribute to the enhancement the trust between users and producers of the data.
Information concluded from the census that is of significance and interest for the state is also interesting for the private sector, which seeks to know the formation of the population, its size and age, gender and geographical distribution: a matter that helps them plan production and other such activities.
The symposium stressed that the census creates a link of cooperation and integration in the field of planning statistical operations and their management and the technical and material support for their field operations.
In the free market economic environment, permitting producers to obtain accurate market information has been revealed as the primary motivation of the census. The symposium concluded by confirming the importance of the private sector's participation in the success of the census through its participation in the process of awareness-raising and providing accurate information.
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