Page 177 - Special Topic Session (STS) - Volume 2

STS479 Belkacem A.
the program, etc. The High Commission for Planning developed a good
experience in this context and played a key role in the MEDSTAT programs
which have gone through 4 important phases.
 MEDSTAT-I (1996-2003): during this first phase Morocco was only a
beneficiary of the support offered by the program
 MEDSTAT-II (2006-2009): this phase focused on the improvement of
statistical services quality. Morocco was deeply involved in these
activities.
 MEDSTAT-III (2010-2013): a third phase which pushed forward and
promoted evidence-based policymaking. Moroccan experts
contributed by 36% to the total working days of short term experts.
Besides, the High Commission for Planning was an active member of
the MEDSTAT-III Consortium in charge of the program management.
 Transition phase (2013-2016): Morocco led 3 working groups, namely,
Energy, Transport, Trade and Balance of Payments.
 MEDSTAT IV (2016-2019): Morocco shared the lead coordination of
Energy working group with Tunisia and Egypt, and led the External
Trade and Balance of Payments working group as well.
Finally, let us mention the technical assistances provided by Morocco to
Palestine in the fields of external trade statistics to build online dynamic
tabulation software for external trade statistics data, and to Libya to produce
freight trade statistics that comply with the international standards. Several
francophone African countries have benefited from technical assistance of
Morocco’s statistical expertise as well: Benin, Cameroun, Comoros, Côte
d'Ivoire, Gabon, Mali, Senegal, Togo, etc.

References
1. Dimitri Della Faille, Valérie La France-Moreau (2013). Current and
Upcoming Challenges in South-South Cooperation in the field of Social
Statistics. 2013. hal-02046911 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-
02046911
2. Isaline Bergamaschi, Phoebe Moore and Arlene B. Tickner (2017).
South-South Cooperation Beyond the Myths, International Political
Economy Series, DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-53969-4_13.
3. General Assembly Resolution 64/222 of 21 December 2009,
(https://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/64/222)
4. MEDSTAT Program, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-
explained/index.php/MEDSTAT_programme
5. Lehohla, P. (2008). ‘Statistical Development in Africa in the Context of
the Global Statistical System’. Paper prepared for the 39th Session of
United Nations Statistical Commission
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/doc08/BG-AfricaStatDev.pdf

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