8th Regional Workshop on the International Comparison Program in Western Asia
May 26-28, 2007, Cairo, Egypt

The objective of the 8th ICP Workshop was to bring together the ICP national teams with the ICP regional office and the World Bank to review preliminary estimates of Consumption PPPs for 2005 and agree on all data inputs used for its calculation.

The meeting was set out in the purpose of tackling the following topics as per the agenda attached as Annex I:

1. Discussion of detailed results for Household Consumption;

2. National Accounts GDP expenditures: Compilation, challenges, and country experiences;

3. Housing: Methodology, discussion of preliminary PPPs, and related issues to be addressed;

4. Construction: Data validation;

5. Equipment: Data validation;

6. Government: Methodology, challenges and data validation;

Attendants:

1. Thirty-four representatives from eleven ESCWA member States including National Coordinators; Price Experts and National Account Experts;

2. ICP-Deputy Global Manager, the World Bank;

3. Two ICP Consultants, the World Bank;

4. ICP-Regional Coordinator for Western Asia, ESCWA;

5. Two ESCWA staff members from the ICP Regional team for Western Asia.

Attachments:

• Agenda

• List of Participants

• Meeting Report

• Papers presented:
  
  Global Status Report
  Mr. Yonas Biru, Deputy Global Manager, ICP, World Bank
  
  Regional Progress Report
  Mr. Tarik Alami, ICP Regional Coordinator for Western Asia, ESCWA
  
  Detailed Results for Household Consumption
  Ms. Nada Hamadeh, Consultant, ICP, World Bank
  Mr. Majed Skaini, Economics Associate, ICP, ESCWA
  
  Housing: Computation Methodology and Challenges
  Ms. Nada Hamadeh, Consultant, ICP, World Bank
  
  Nonconsumption data validation reports
  Mr. Yonas Biru, Deputy Global Manager, ICP, World Bank
  Mr. Majed Skaini, Economics Associate, ICP, ESCWA