H.E. Zehra Zümrüt SELÇUK, Director General of SESRIC, participated in the High-Level Roundtable on Partnership, Investment and Trade and addressed the plenary session on “Investing Beyond GDP for Sustainable and Inclusive Progress” on 26 October 2026 in Doha, Qatar, on the margins of the 9th World Investment Forum, organised by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The High-Level Roundtable, co-hosted by the Permanent Mission of Qatar in Geneva, the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) and the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF), in collaboration with UN-OHRLLS and UNCTAD, focused on mobilising development finance, attracting quality investment, strengthening trade and productive capacities, and translating partnerships into concrete action to support least developed countries (LDCs).
In her address, H.E. SELÇUK emphasised the importance of strengthening statistical systems and international cooperation to advance the Beyond GDP agenda as a practical tool for policymaking. She noted that, while GDP remains an essential measure of economic activity, it does not fully capture people's well-being or environmental sustainability. She therefore underscored the need for reliable, timely and internationally comparable data to assess whether economic progress translates into tangible benefits for all segments of society.
In this context, H.E. SELÇUK highlighted SESRIC’s Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, which has delivered more than 600 activities, benefiting nearly 16,000 participants across all 57 OIC Member Countries. She also emphasised SESRIC’s work on multidimensional development metrics, undertaken in cooperation with national and international institutions, to support evidence-based policymaking and provide a broader understanding of socio-economic progress across the OIC region.
Referring to development trends in OIC Member Countries, H.E. SELÇUK noted that real GDP per capita had grown by approximately 1.5% annually since 2015, while the average youth rate of those not in employment, education or training (NEET) had remained around 26%. These trends, she stressed, highlight the importance of ensuring that economic growth and investment generate meaningful opportunities for young people and future generations, particularly through education, skills development and decent employment.
She further underscored that statistical capacity development must be accompanied by political commitment to ensure that evidence informs policy priorities, resource allocation and accountability mechanisms. Her remarks highlighted the importance of complementing conventional economic indicators with broader measures of well-being, sustainability and inclusion to advance more comprehensive and evidence-based approaches to development across the OIC region.