Statistics Centre - Abu Dhabi (SCAD) and the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD) have signed a service level agreement (SLA) governing joint cooperation, data exchange between the two sides and reproduction of EAD’s data. The agreement will help obviate the duplication of statistical work at the level of Abu Dhabi Emirate and to promote the use of high quality and consistent statistics by policy-makers and the general public, without prejudice to the respective competencies of the parties as outlined in their respective establishing laws. These competencies include, for instance, the right of SCAD to conduct statistical surveys or to run other statistical work within the Emirate of Abu Dhabi at its own discretion.

The SLA was signed at the premises of the Centre by Butti Ahmed Mohammed Bin Butti Al Qubaisi, Director of Statistics Centre - Abu Dhabi, and Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, Secretary General of the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi.

Statistics Centre - Abu Dhabi’s reiterated its keenness to cooperate with the EAD on improving data collection mechanisms, proper recording of metadata related to EAD’s scope, noting that the metadata for any given class of information can help in any search, interpretation, or processing the data itself, such as metadata pertaining to population statistics, geographic coverage, sampling, classifications, reference time, methodologies, questionnaires, backgrounds and the scope of work and other topics.

Seeking to put this cooperation into effect, each party will provide the other with its available statistics on the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. In addition, SCAD will provide the EAD with templates that will facilitate data collection and metadata recording. The templates provided by SCAD will enable the DED to establish, maintain and make available to SCAD a registry of all its data collections, together with the metadata pertaining to each class of the data collected.

The two sides also agreed to review and adopt a common set of standards for the data to be exchanged, such as data format standards, semantic standards, statistical concepts and data structure definitions.

SCAD and the EAD also stressed the need on the part of both sides to take best advantage of electronic data transmission, renewing their commitment to protect the confidentiality of exchanged data and coordinate with each other to produce such data as to support the Emirate’s development efforts.

SCAD’s Director General asserted that Statistics Centre - Abu Dhabi is committed to working in close cooperation with its strategic partners, including government and non-government agencies, universities and research centres and all parties concerned with statistical work in the emirate, to maximize the usefulness of the of statistical resources of Abu Dhabi Emirate and build a strong statistical system that is based on sound scientific principles and conforms to the best statistical practices, with the aim of placing Abu Dhabi statistical system by 2013 among the world’s top rated statistical systems in terms of the quality, relevance, accuracy and timeliness of the statistics compiled.

Al Qubaisi remarked that SCAD took strong interest in signing this SLA, given the vast experience of the EAD in this field, as the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi is one of the government institutions that are committed to achieving environmental sustainability and protection of the environment and wildlife in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Al Qubaisi commended the efforts of the EAD in achieving economic vision for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in a way that preserves our natural heritage for a better life for all in the present and future. He also praised the efforts of the EAD in the sustainable management of water resources, ensuring the quality of the air, mitigating the impact of climate change, preserving biodiversity in terrestrial and marine habitats and protecting wildlife. Statistics Centre - Abu Dhabi therefore fully supports the efforts of the EAD and is ready to provide any expertise that might help ensure the success of the Authority’s Environment Strategy, especially given that SCAD has a whole department specialized in environmental and agricultural statistics.

Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, Secretary General of EAD, said that this agreement reaffirms EAD’s commitment to establishing sustainable partnerships with various institutions and government bodies, in line with its strategy and contribution to the implementation of the vision of the Abu Dhabi government. She added that the Agency constantly pursues cooperation with organisations to share its expertise, experience and the latest technologies to support common objectives.

Al Mubarak said: "SCAD’s efforts in the field of statistics contribute to supporting all government departments in Abu Dhabi with the latest and most accurate information across different areas. The statistical plans and surveys all serve the key development programmes in the emirate. SCAD plays a successful role by acting as the official body for data collection, classification, storage, analysis and dissemination of official statistics. The Emirate of Abu Dhabi benefits from SCAD’s social, demographic, economic, environmental and cultural surveys." It is worth mentioning that the Statistics Centre - Abu Dhabi plans to sign 43 SLA’s that are set to support decision- and policy makers and the business sector to shape their strategic plans on the basis of accurate figures and reliable statistics.

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