Opening
Statement by Ms. Danuta Hübner,
United Nations Under-Secretary-General,
Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe
at the 49th Session of the Conference of European Statisticians
Geneva, 11 June
2001
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
Colleagues,
I
welcome you all to the 49th Plenary Session of the Conference of
European Statisticians.
This
session takes place at a significant time in the life of our organization.
Just three weeks ago, we concluded the Annual Session of the ECE which has
confirmed the ECE’s role in policy dialogue and in the implementation of the
strategic directions which we have initiated in 2000.
These
directions firstly call for greater consistency and policy orientation of the
different activities carried out by the Principal Subsidiary Bodies in the
various fields of the organization, particularly through intersectoral and
cross-sectoral approach. Secondly, they also call for more focus on the
“developmental dimension” of the ECE policy agenda, drawing on the most
pressing UN priorities and stimulating the catching-up process in our region,
and thirdly, for improvement of our capacity to attract policy attention, and
correspondingly resources, so that full value and visibility can be given to
the excellent work done by the various intergovernmental bodies and working
groups of the ECE and the Secretariat.
In
the discussion on the strategic orientation, we benefited from the
contribution of your Chairperson, Mr. Sven Longva. I wish to thank him very
much for playing an active and constructive role in the process on behalf of
the Conference.
I
know that the discussion on how the Conference of European Statisticians can
contribute to the ECE reform process figures prominently in the agenda of this
meeting. I would like to encourage you to invest your best energies in
supporting the new orientation, and I look forward to having the outcome of
the discussion.
Statistics
have already contributed significantly to our work, and have a lot to
contribute to support a more effective, visible and result-oriented policy
stance through integrating databases and making them available in a
user-friendly and policy-friendly way and through supporting cross-sectoral
activities by providing comparable databases and indicators, and harmonized
concepts, definitions and classification. You also contribute to
implementation and policy monitoring by providing reliable measurement of
progress made toward targets, and identification of remaining gaps. Monitoring
has become an essential instrument for our result-based approach to policies
and activities. Your contribution is also provided through extending
quantitative analysis to cover areas of priority concern for member countries,
such as poverty, good governance, human rights, conflict resolution, and
through supporting statistical capacity building in transition economies, as
part of institutions building aimed at strengthening democracy and the market
economy.
These
are recognized tasks entrusted by the United Nations member States onto the
statistical community, and increasingly reflected in resolutions,
declarations, conventions and codes. The Conference of European Statisticians,
now approaching its golden anniversary, has a prestigious tradition of
leadership and more achievements in responding to these challenges, but even
more leadership and more achievements will be required in the future to face p
to the new challenges ahead.
Let
me briefly mention a few of these challenges:
First,
intersectoral activities, particularly environment, transport and energy. The
ECE is working at full speed to prepare the crucial appointment of 2002 for
the Johannesburg summit on sustainable development (Rio +10), the Regional
Ministerial Conference to take place on 24-25 September 2001 to which you are
invited. The basic challenge, inherited from Rio, is to bring together into a
consistent analytical and policy framework the distinct, and sometimes
conflicting, perspectives of environmental protection, economic growth and
social progress. We will not make it without good quality statistics and
indicators. They must provide a solid basis and necessary infrastructure for
integrating these analytical and political perspectives. I look forward to the
forthcoming Ottawa meeting on environmental indicators, and to all other
statistical activities contributing to ensuring a strong European leadership
in the Johannesburg process.
The
second challenge is linked to the Millennium Declaration, subscribed by the
United Nations member States last October. The Declaration has set ambitious
objectives and targets for ECE member States, and raised key policy concerns
for our region: environment, peace and security, development and poverty
eradication, human rights, democracy and good governance, protecting the
vulnerable. The Economic Commission for Europe discussed at its annual session
the implications of the Millennium Declaration on the basis of a paper to
which ECE statisticians contributed in a significant way. The real challenge
is the implementation. Assisting member States in setting up effective policy
monitoring and implementation mechanisms, and strengthening statistical
capacity for this process have a fundamental role to play in the follow-up
process (a paper on this issue has been distributed at the Commission session
and is available here). Cooperation with other agencies has proved essential
in this field: with UNDP (I welcome the ongoing project on statistical
capacity building in transition economies); with the World Bank in relation to
poverty reduction strategies; with the IMF, OECD, the Consortium Paris 21 (I
am happy that the steering group of Paris 21 is meeting in Geneva this week).
Only thanks to the excellent cooperation and coordination with all the
partners can we achieve results. Our organization is fully committed to this
cooperation and I thank all other organizations for their collaborative
spirits.
The third challenge is about the subregional dimension
of our work. The ECE is increasingly supportive of statistical cooperation
activities in sub-regions of ECE, particularly in South Eastern Europe (in the
context of SECI and the Stability Pact); and also in Central Asia (in the
context of SPECA), in the Caucasus and the Community of Independent States,
and in the Mediterranean. I welcome the successful outcome of the meeting of
the countries of SECI and the Stability Pact this morning. The subregional
dimension when justified could accelerate the process of statistical capacity
building in transition economies. This fundamental component of the ECE
strategy of operational activities can now benefit from the support of the
re-established Regional Advisor function in statistics. In this field too we
owe a lot to the other international organizations with which we cooperate, in
particular Eurostat whose contribution through Tacis and Phare funds to
facilitating participation of countries with economies in transition in our
activities is particularly appreciated.
In
conclusion, I wish to convey to you that we must have high expectations on the
contribution of the Conference of European Statisticians, and on the outcome
of this meeting because we face formidable challenges. We have the European
Union enlargement process which is becoming increasingly important not only
for the countries directly involved but for the ECE as a whole. We have the
outstanding challenge of the stabilization and development in South Eastern
Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. We face the challenge of the
integration of the ECE economy, involving the EU, North America, Russia, and
the CIS, and the launching of new initiatives for trade liberalization and
social cohesion. We must work for Europe contributing to peace, security and
development in the world.
All
these ambitious goals require an important contribution from statisticians.
The Secretary-General, in implementing the mandate for UN reform entrusted on
him by the member States, has indicated the ambitious objective of shifting
the system from a culture of reaction to a culture of prevention, thus
breaking-down the conventional compartmentalisation between the economic,
developmental side and the political security of the United Nations’
mission. For this change of culture we need strong statistical foundations in
member States, in international organizations and in the UN system.
I
wish you a good and fruitful debate and I thank you for your attention.