The Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics and ExxonMobil Qatar officially launched the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics and ExxonMobil Capacity Building Course on National Development Strategy 2011-2016 (NDS) in Doha today.   His Excellency Dr. Saleh bin Mohammad Al Nabit, Minister of Development Planning and Statistics and Bart Cahir, President and General Manager of ExxonMobil Qatar Inc. attended the opening ceremony and addressed the public sector officials set to participate in the week-long workshop, welcoming them, and also providing insights on the importance of evidence-based analyses for supporting Qatar’s national labor strategies. The course will provide public sector officials from the Ministry of Labor, the Supreme Education Council and other relevant ministries and agencies with a better understanding of labor concepts and methodologies. More importantly, it will teach participants how to apply these concepts and methodologies for policymaking, policy analysis, and monitoring, ultimately contributing to the development and implementation of national labor strategies towards achieving the objectives of the Human Development Pillar of the Qatar National Vision 2030. “The Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics and ExxonMobil Capacity Building Course on National Development Strategy 2011-2016 (NDS) responds to requests from ministries and agencies for capacity building in best practice techniques to support labor market analysis and policy making for implementation of Qatar’s National Development Strategy 2011-2016,” said His Excellency Dr. Saleh-Al Nabit, Minister of Development Planning and Statistics. “It is extremely important that our colleagues receive first-class training on assessing important statistical information to help accurately describe our economy and build a labor market outlook. I would like to thank ExxonMobil Qatar for its support for this course, and look forward to continuing to work with them on future programs for the good of Qatar, its citizens and its workforce.” “We are proud and honored at ExxonMobil Qatar to be part of this initiative and to be the only private sector corporation to support the Ministry of Planning and Statistics with this endeavor,” said Bart Cahir, President and General Manager of ExxonMobil Qatar Inc. “This course provides lasting knowledge and skills to national labor market experts and supports the development of a framework to increase their participation– both men and women - in technical and vocational positions, which is critical to successful industry operations across all sectors of Qatar’s economy. With a Qatarization headcount of 53% as of January 2014 – an increase of 5% from 2013 - we continuously strive to meet the objectives of the Qatar National Vision’s Human Development Pillar within our own walls, by recruiting and developing Qatari Nationals to handle key industry-specific responsibilities.”