Assistant Secretary-General for Future Foresight and National Visions Center at the National Planning Council Bassam Issa Al Mannai and President of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies Dr. Abdelwahab El-Affendi during the signing of the MoU.
Doha, Qatar: The National Planning Council and the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen cooperation and exchange expertise across a range of research and training fields.
The MoU aims to enhance cooperation and exchange expertise between the two parties in the fields of data, statistics, demographic analysis, strategic planning, future foresight, management, public policy, and population and social issues, alongside the implementation of joint training programmes for employees and students in these fields.
The MoU was signed by Bassam Issa Al Mannai, Assistant Secretary-General for Future Foresight and National Visions Center at the National Planning Council, and Dr. Abdelwahab El-Affendi, President of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.
Commenting on the signing, Mr. Bassam Issa Al Mannai, Assistant Secretary-General for Future Foresight and National Visions Center at the National Planning Council, said the MoU with the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies represents an important step toward integrating national planning with scientific and academic research in the State of Qatar, contributing to evidence- and data-based decision-making and policymaking.
He affirmed that the National Planning Council places great importance on expanding institutional partnerships with leading academic and research entities, with the aim of benefiting from national expertise in population and social studies, statistical analysis, and future foresight. He noted that this supports efforts to keep pace with development changes and turn challenges into opportunities that contribute to achieving the objectives of Qatar National Vision 2030 and the Third National Development Strategy.
For his part, Dr. Abdelwahab El-Affendi, President of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, said: “We are pleased to sign this MoU with the National Planning Council, whose role is becoming increasingly important in supporting development in today’s information age. The MoU reflects the Institute’s commitment to its national role in generating knowledge and scientific research, and linking the outputs of studies and research to national development priorities through effective partnerships with government institutions concerned with planning and policymaking.”
The MoU includes the preparation of joint research and studies on strategic planning, future foresight, demographic changes, standardized population, social and development indicators, statistical analysis, and modeling. It also enables cooperation to provide secure application programming interfaces (APIs) and applications to integrate the Institute’s research data with the national research database.The signing of the MoU reflects the National Planning Council’s mandate to develop visions, strategies, and development plans, oversee their implementation, and establish a comprehensive national statistical system.
