Esri Enters Memorandum of Understanding with UAE

Esri, a global leader in location intelligence, has announced it has entered a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority (FCSA), the national statistics body for the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Under the agreement, FCSA and Esri will work together to geo-enable its vital work.

The resultant collaboration between the two will include the creation of an innovative road map to further enhance the geospatial capabilities of FCSA, further integrate location intelligence technology with statistics data, and provide subject and technical expertise to the UAE.

"FCSA has already shown its commitment to the United Nations' (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the launch of its national portal, and this agreement will build on that and broaden support of all FCSA's functions." said Sohail El-Abd, Esri Global Business Development general manager, Middle East and Africa.

FCSA's commitment to further the integration of geospatial and statistical data is in line with and guided by the Global Statistical Geospatial Framework, as agreed by UN Global Geospatial Information Management Expert Group on the Integration of Geospatial and Statistical information (GGIM EG-IGSI), as well as the United Nations Statistics Division project on the Federated Information System for the SDGs (FISSDG). The FISSDG goal is to enable a system-of-systems approach to collect, manage, and communicate policy-relevant, actionable SDG data and information at the global, national, and subnational levels in an integrated, standardised, and consistent manner.

"This agreement with Esri will allow FCSA to maximise the benefits of utilising geospatial information in our important work,” said Mohammad Hassan, FCSA Executive Director, The National Statistics and Data Sector. “Our innovation to date and planned road map for the future will help us deliver our vision with the help of technology and new ways of thinking. It will anchor and sustain the valuable effort in place to ensure its success and viability.”

The MOU between Esri and FCSA was signed on the opening day of the United Nations World Data Forum, hosted by FCSA in Dubai. The event focuses on global efforts in supporting and reaching the Sustainable Development Goals. FCSA also used the event to announce the release of the FCSA SDG Open Data Hub. Esri is supporting the World Data Forum with demonstrations on the integration of geospatial and statistical data and its benefits, along with presentations from other member states that have stood up SDG hubs.

To learn more visit Esri's websites on Statistics and SDGs.