The week-long Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics and ExxonMobil Capacity Building Course on National Development Strategy 2011-2016 (NDS) concluded in Doha on May 29 with a Graduation Ceremony for attendees.   The course was designed to provide public sector officials from the Ministry of Labor, the Supreme Education Council, Ministry of Administrative Development, Ministry of Interior and other relevant ministries and agencies with a better understanding of labor concepts and methodologies    More than 25 public sector officials benefited from the course, which chiefly demonstrated the ways in which labor concepts and methodologies can be applied to policymaking, policy analysis, and monitoring, including through the use of best practice analytical techniques. The course also focused on the importance of collecting and analysing accurate labor market information to evaluate an economy and build a labor market outlook, which will assist with the progression of Qatar’s National Development Strategy.    Placeholder quotes: “As a public official working at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, I need to have a sound understanding of the local economy and labor market, and to understand the factors that influence the labor force and labor force participation,” said Dr Aziz Shaviq from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. Echoing his fellow graduate’s sentiments, Mr. Abdul Aziz Haidoos, from the Strategic Planning Department at Qatar Foundation said: "I would like to mention the importance of data collection and analysis of the labor market for implementing the National Development Strategy 2011-2016. I also appreciate the labour market analysis tools that I acquired from the course. In addition I liked the focus on Qataris' participation in the labour force instead of talking about the unemployment rate that is markedly low in Qatar, and I am grateful to the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics and ExxonMobil Qatar for this opportunity, I thoroughly enjoyed this experience.”    His Excellency Dr. Saleh bin Mohammad Al Nabit, Minister of Development Planning and Statistics and Bart Cahir, President and General Manager of ExxonMobil Qatar jointly inaugurated the course on May 25th, both emphasising the importance of its subject matter towards achieving the objectives of the Human Development Pillar of the Qatar National Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy 2011-2016.    About the Ministry of Development Planning & Statistics :    The Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS) is a result of a merger of the former General Secretariat for Development Planning (GSDP) and Qatar Statistics Authority (QSA). MDPS is responsible for preparing medium-term national development strategies that will help achieve the goals of the QNV 2030. MDPS also provides targeted support to other ministries and agencies, both as they prepare their own strategies that are aligned to national development objectives and as they execute the National Development Strategy. MDPS monitors, reviews and evaluates national progress on achieving strategy goals. Also, MDPS is also responsible for, producing, analyzing and disseminating official demographic, social, economic and environmental statistics among other statistics related to the Qatar. To learn more, visit : our website  About ExxonMobil :  ExxonMobil, the largest publicly traded international oil and gas company, uses technology and innovation to help meet the world’s growing energy needs. ExxonMobil holds an industry-leading inventory of resources, is the largest refiner and marketer of petroleum products, and its chemical company is one of the largest in the world.    ExxonMobil Qatar Inc. is a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation and is the interface point within Qatar for all ExxonMobil affiliated activities. To learn more, visit: website or website on Arabic Domain.