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UN Population Fund helping Afghanistan design first-ever national census

UN Population Fund helping Afghanistan design first-ever national census

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is helping the Government of Afghanistan to organize the country's first-ever national census, a UN spokesman announced today in Kabul.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is helping the Government of Afghanistan to organize the country's first-ever national census, a UN spokesman announced today in Kabul.

The effort, slated for completion by mid-2005, will require over 20,000 staff. As part of the initial phase, computer equipment has already been deployed to Afghanistan's Central Statistic's Office, while extensive staff training programmes have been launched in areas ranging from information technology to field cartography.

Afghanistan has never had a census of its population. The last attempt to conduct one was in 1979 and had to be abandoned due to the country's deteriorating security situation.

Meanwhile, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, today participated in a conference on conflict prevention in Sweden, where he also had meetings scheduled with the country's Foreign Minister, Anna Lindh.

Mr. Brahimi, who met on Wednesday with senior Danish Foreign Ministry officials in Copenhagen, is scheduled to travel to Norway tomorrow for high-level meetings in Oslo.