1 Statistics and Cooperation Istat, 24 November 2005 UNECE Strategy For Statistical Capacity Building In the European Countries Jean-Etienne Chapron Regional Adviser for Statistics UNECE Statistical Division

2 UNECE Strategy For Statistical Capacity Building UNECE: Regional Commission of United Nations for Europe and North America 55 member countries USA, Canada, European Union, EFTA, Israel Southeast Europe Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)

3 UNECE Strategy For Statistical Capacity Building Two different groups of countries Advanced market economies Transition economies This divide is reflected in the state of development of statistics It is the duty of UNECE to reduce this divide between its member countries

4 UNECE Strategy for Statistical Capacity Building Target Countries Target countries for UNECE technical cooperation in statistics are those with economy in transition Two main targets Southeast Europe CIS

5 UNECE Strategy for Statistical Capacity Building Target Countries Southeast Europe Western Balkans Turkey Bulgaria and Romania

6 UNECE Strategy for Statistical Capacity Building Target Countries CIS Western CIS South Caucasus Central Asia

7 UNECE Strategy for Statistical Capacity Building Target Areas Target areas for technical cooperation in statistics: Making use of existing expertise Coordinating with other donors of technical cooperation

8 UNECE Strategy for Statistical Capacity Building Target Areas Institutional issues Implementation of Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics Statistical legislation General organisation and development of the statistical system

9 UNECE Strategy for Statistical Capacity Building Target Areas Technical areas Economic Statistics National accounts: Non-Observed Economy Compilation of Industrial Production Indices Demographic Statistics Population and Housing Census

10 UNECE Strategy for Statistical Capacity Building Target Areas Technical areas (cont.) Social statistics Gender statistics Health status statistics MDG indicators: building capacity and statistical literacy for MDG monitoring

11 UNECE Strategy For Statistical Capacity Building Human resources: regional adviser and staff of the Statistical Division Financial resources: Regular budget UN Development Account Extra-budgetary funding: World Bank, UNDP, UNFPA, etc. Partnerships: Eurostat, Council of Europe, UNDP, PARIS21

12 UNECE Strategy for Statistical Capacity Building Coordination Coordination of technical cooperation in the UNECE region: A critical issue Worldwide, regional, and national donors Different priorities defined at the political level within each donor Risk of duplication and overlaps Take account of beneficiary countries’ priorities

13 UNECE Strategy for Statistical Capacity Building Coordination Need for coordination widely recognised Past efforts have not been successful New process launched under the auspices of the Conference of European Statisticians: UNECE with Eurostat and the CIS Statistical Committee. First deadline: June 2006 First step: improvement of information on projects and achievements