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The Second Workshop on the International Comparison
Program for Western Asia was held in Cairo at the Central
Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS)
during the period 26-30 June 2004. Thirty-five specialized
statisticians from 11 ESCWA member states participated in
the workshop.
During ten sessions, ten papers/presentations were made
covering various topics, which included work progress on
the global as well as the regional fronts; objectives,
developments and challenges facing the construction of
Product Lists; progress of the furniture and utilities
group; brief overview of PPP concepts, process and methods
of data processing; sampling and survey framework for
price collection; expenditure classification system in ICP;
sources of data for obtaining detailed breakdown of
expenditure; introduction to the ICP ToolPack;
institutional and organizational arrangements guiding
national coordinators through their managerial
responsibilities in ICP. Parallel to the workshop, a
Second Meeting for National Coordinators took place. The
discussions involved many technical and administrative
issues, including: The differences between National
Products Lists used for computing the Consumer Price Index
(CPI), and the Regional Products List of the ICP program;
how ready the countries are to start the price survey; and
the importance of having a resident consultant to help
prepare this survey with each country. Issues that require
decisions to be made were referred to the meeting of the
ICP Executive Board.
The workshop also included a round table discussion of the
specifications of products to be included in the Regional
List for Food, Beverages, Tobacco, Clothing and Footwear
group for conducting the price survey in member countries
during 2005. Experts from the World Bank provided
participants with practical training on the ICP ToolPack
software to be used in the collection of data and
administration of price survey. They also provided focused
training for a selected team from the participating
countries in order for them to provide technical
assistance on the Tool-Pack software, whenever needed, to
national teams throughout the price survey.
Sessions were characterized by important interventions and
discussions from the participants. The ToolPack training
session was highly interactive and instructive, as various
technical difficulties were directly dealt with through
the help of World Bank staff and ICP Regional Office team
members.
Agenda
List of Participants
Papers Presented
Meeting Report
ESCWA Weekly Newsletter
Workshop Photos
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