<FONT SIZE="+1"><H1><CENTER><B>Welcoming Address</B></CENTER></H1></FONT></FONT>

Welcoming Address

This workshop has been organized as part of the project on statistical cooperation
between the European and Mediterranean countries (MEDSTAT). The primary goal
of the workshop is to share with the member countries the experience acquired by
the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics in conducting the 1995 Israeli Census of
Population and Housing.

Extensive use of new technological developments was made during the 1995 Census.
The Israeli Census planning team built on the developments and ideas accumulated by
other national statistical agencies during the 1990s round of censuses as well as
taking advantage of recent technological advances.

The following three main issues have been identified as germane in the planning of
the 2000 round of censuses:


1.	the creation and extensive use of a Geographic Information System from the initial stages of planning;
2.	the development and use of an Optical Data Entry system to capture the census data; and
3.	the increased and extensive application of computerization during the census field operations.

We focused on these issues since some of the member countries are considering
the use of similar technologies and approaches in the 2000 round of censuses.
From our experience in planning the 1995 Israeli Census, we know how significant
it is for planners to have evidence of the successful application of new
technological developments in a national census.

The Workshop presentations have been prepared by the ICBS staff responsible for
planning and conducting the Census, by representatives of other public agencies
and by representatives of private firms who assisted the ICBS in developing and
implementing the new tools.

I would like to use this opportunity to thank all the people, from EUROSTAT and
from Israel, who have been involved in organizing this Workshop and in making the
presentations. I would also like to thank all the delegates who honored us and came
to attend this workshop.

Professor Joseph A. Yahav

Chief Statistician

Israel Central Bureau of Statistics

Welcoming Address

On November 28th, 1995, the European Union and the Mediterranean countries
adopted a Declaration (the so-called Barcelona Declaration) which established a
comprehensive partnership among the participants through strengthened political
dialogue on a regular basis, the development of economic and financial cooperation
and greater emphasis on the social, cultural and human dimension.

In order to foster the dialogue and exchanges among the European Union and its
Mediterranean partners, it was deemed necessary to promote cooperation among
statistics organizations with a view to providing reliable data on a harmonized basis.

The European Commission has therefore set up a regional programme of statistical
cooperation with Mediterranean countries (called MEDSTAT) which aims at
consolidating the statistical information systems of the countries of the Southern and
Eastern rim of the Mediterranean, so as to provide relevant, reliable and timely
data.

The MEDSTAT project foresees, amongst other, the organization of seminars on
subject of common interest, as they favour interpersonal contacts among statisticians
from different Mediterranean countries and they are a excellent tool to address
both general and specific issues of interest for Mediterranean statistical offices.

During the second Euro-Mediterranean Conference on Statistical Cooperation (which
took place in Naples in June 1996), a proposal was presented to hold a jointly
organized EUROSTAT/ICBS workshop on "New Technologies for the 2000 Round
of Censuses: Sharing the Israeli Experience from the 1995 Population and Housing
Census".

EUROSTAT is extremely pleased to co-sponsor this seminar in view of the
relevance of the subject and of the important technological advances that the ICBS
was able to achieve in this field.

Yves Franchet