DOHA:The Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) has launched the second edition of the Qatar Open Data Portal (www.data.gov.qa), which is a national platform for open data and information, built in accordance with international standards.
The portal's first edition was prepared in 2019 by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT). Since the beginning of 2023, the responsibility for operating and managing this portal has been transferred to PSA, where the PSA team is currently working on building an open data platform that includes many topics, through a national partnership with the relevant ministries and government agencies to provide data according to various topics, which are easily displayed in different forms to commensurate with the nature of the materials posted and the needs of users.
In this context, PSA President Dr. Saleh bin Mohammed Al Nabit praised the efforts exerted during the past period by all stakeholders in MCIT and the PSA team so as to reach this important moment to publicize the updated edition of the portal.
He noted that, at its 54th session held in March 2023, the United Nations Statistical Commission stressed that open data provides a basis for ensuring access to data for all, for use and reuse. It is more than mere technical definitions that determine how data is produced and disseminated. Rather, it intersects across a value chain of socio-economic and environmental data that is transparent and made available periodically in the portal for the public to benefit from and to increase knowledge.
The Director of the Information Systems Department and Advisor to the Office of PSA President Dr. Khalid Ali Al Quradaghi explained that the success of the Qatar Open Data Portal depends on the extent of commitment by partners to provide this portal with information on an ongoing basis.
The portal consists of a host of topics such as population, price indices, trade, environment, energy, economy, and others. At this stage, PSA has started posting the 'Qatar:Monthly Statistics'bulletin on this platform, which contains data from 2018 until 2023. PSA will continue to periodically update the contents of the statistical aspect with more data, graphs, and others. The portal currently contains detailed data, including data from the past five years, classified by several topics related to national development.