1. Country Report of the Islamic Republic of Iran By: Zabiollah Ghaemi Deputy Head for Statistical Survey and Administrative Registers Statistical Centre of Iran www.amar.org.ir 3 rd Meeting of the ECO Heads of National Statistical Offices 24-25 May 2011 Kabul, Afghanistan www.amar.org.ir

2. The first meeting of the Heads of the ECO National Statistical Offices was held during 28-29 January 2008 in Tehran, hosted by the Statistical Centre of Iran (SCI). The Second Meeting was held in Kazakhstan on 27- 28 May 2010. One of the main focuses of the meeting was on launching of ECO Statistical Network developed by the Statistical Centre of Iran. Introduction

3. Establishment of the ECOSTAT The establishment of the ECO Statistical Network dates back to the First High Level Expert Gathering Meeting held on 26-28 October 2008 in Tehran. The ECOSTAT was launched in February 2011. All member states can now upload their data to the Network.

4. Establishment of the ECOSTAT Following the training course, the SCI launched the ECOSTAT in February 2011 and the network is now ready for uploading data and report-taking. More information on its application is presented in (Annex).

5. Compendium, key indicators: The SCI completed the questionnaire related to compendium 2010, ECO key statistical Indicators 2010 and sent it back to the Secretariat on 23 April 2011.

6. Contribution to ECOSTAT Regarding contribution of the NSO to ECOSTAT, the SCI has tried to paste the latest news on the network and will also try to have more contributions.

7. ECOSTAT This Network should be developed in collaboration with member states. We can make this network a virtual environment for exchange and sharing of views. It can be a training site too. ECOSTAT can be accessed at: www.ECOSN.orgwww.ECOSN.org.

8. ECOSTAT According to the report obtained from the ECOSTAT site since the launching of the ECOSTAT network (from 1th February to 20 May 2011), a number of 2118 people visited the site, out of whom, 1545 were unique visitors. A number of 22285 pages have been visited.The visitors from Pakistan rank the first among the visitors. Turkey follows Pakistan in this regard..

9. Regional harmonized statistical Methodology A regional harmonized Statistical Methodology is highly required. Without such a methodology, the comparability of statistics is not applicable and we cannot be aware of the developments in the countries. The Committee on Regional harmonized statistical Methodology should convene and discuss on a system of harmonized concepts, definitions, standards and methodologies. We suggest that the ECO Secretariat draft a framework and distribute it among member states for comment. The SCI tries to have an active contribution to the Framework.

10. Contribution of the Statistical Centre of Iran to the regional Statistical Capacity building. During the recent years, the Statistical Center of Iran organized and hosted a number of workshops and training courses for ECO member states including three following major professional workshops. Workshop on Geographic Information System (GIS) Workshop on National Accounts First Workshop ECOSTAT

11. Contribution of the Statistical Centre of Iran to the regional Statistical Capacity building. During the recent years, the Statistical Center of Iran organized and hosted a number of workshops and training courses for ECO member states including three following major professional workshops. Workshop on Geographic Information System (GIS) Workshop on National Accounts First Workshop ECOSTAT

12. The workshop was held at both user and administrator levels. Unfortunately, representatives from Pakistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan were absent. These countries are requested to upload their Statistics to the ECO Statistical Network as well.

13. ECOSTAT In cases that the NSOs of the member states require more information regarding uploading data, they can send an e – mail to the related section (int@sci.org.ir) and raise their problems and issues. We will do our best to answer your queries as soon as possible. Here, we would like to reiterate our readiness for providing technical assistance to Member States regarding application of ECOSTAT upon their demand.

14. Development of International Cooperation is one of the SCI’s aims. The Statistical Centre of Iran welcomes cooperation with international organizations and would like to thank the ECO Secretariat for its active endeavors on joint cooperation with regional and International Organizations and expects that this cooperation be expanded more and more. International and regional cooperation

15. The SCI tries to have close cooperation with international organization such as SESRIC, FAO UNFPA, UNSD, SIAP, and UNESCAP. The ECO Secretariat can act as a communication bridge between NSOs and international Organizations. In order to strengthen regional and bilateral cooperation, an MOU can be signed between ECO member countries. We have such MOUs with some countries. International and regional cooperation

16. Thank you