At UN-backed meeting, Asia-Pacific statisticians agree to boost regional capacity

Statistics experts from Asia and the Pacific, meeting under the auspices of the United Nations, today agreed to implement a strategic plan designed to strengthen the capacities of countries in the region to develop statistical records on population, social-economic issues and the environment by 2020.

At a meeting of the Committee on Statistics of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in the Thai capital, Bangkok, the experts said reliable national statistical systems would make available the information required to guide long-term development planning.

Thailand’s Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Chuti Krairiksh, welcomed the Committee’s strategic plan, which he said would focus on “capacity-building for national statistical offices in our region to produce, disseminate and analyze data in accordance with internationally agreed standards and good practices.”

The Committee’s two-day session that ended today also endorsed a strategy of regional statistics development that focuses on modernizing statistical information systems in response to the changing information management tools.

First convened in February last year, the Committee on Statistics is a unique forum for leaders of national statistical systems in the Asia-Pacific region to discuss matters of strategic importance, exchange views and formulate regional positions on major statistical issues to influence decision-making at national and global levels.

This week’s second session was attended by 142 delegates from ESCAP member States and associate members and 31 officials from intergovernmental and international agencies.