The first issue of the MEDSTAT III Newsletter, is available now in English, French and Arabic. The 3rd Phase of MEDSTAT Euro-Meditteranean Statistical Cooperation was launched in Spring 2010 for a duration of 2 years during which this newsletter will reach you every 2-3 months to highlight project activities and to give you news about statistics in the Euro-Mediterranean region. This first issue is focused on the presentation of MEDSTAT III main objectives as well as on the first activities. Also, you will find the actual project team contacts and useful links to the European Commission's official information on this programme, and to the website dedicated to the results of the previous phase (MEDSTAT II). The MEDSTAT III Euro-Mediterranean Statistical Cooperationprogramme was officially launched the 28th of April 2010 for a totalduration of two years. Granted a four million euros budget, the programme aims at strengthening the capacity of the relevantauthorities in the Mediterranean Partner Countries (Algeria, Egypt,Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, occupied Palestinian territory,Syria, Tunisia) to collect updated, timely and relevant statistics,which ensure reliability and coherence of available information.