Fifty-third plenary session
of the Conference of European Statisticians
Geneva, 13 -15 June 2005
Opening Statement by Mrs.
Brigita Schmögnerová,
Executive Secretary
Madam Chairman,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In the period since the
last meeting of the Conference of European
Statisticians, the Economic Commission for
Europe and its individual sub-programmes,
one of which is Statistics, have successfully
pursued their programmes of work in the
three core activities: development of standards
and norms, economic analyses and technical
cooperation. The achievements of the UNECE
under the various sub-programmes have contributed
to promoting economic cooperation and facilitating
policy dialogue, to preventing new and reducing
existing dividing lines in the UNECE region,
and to further promoting sustainable development
in the UNECE region.
The historic enlargement
of the European Union in May 2004, and the
prospect of two more countries joining in
2007-2008, have major implications for the
UNECE region. The new Neighbourhood Policy
of the EU will have an inevitable impact
on the other UNECE member States located
at the borders of the enlarged EU. Therefore,
it is a real challenge for all Principal
Subsidiary Bodies of the UNECE, including
the Conference of European Statisticians,
to constantly adapt to a changing environment
and to be open to reforms in order to remain
relevant and to meet the needs of its membership.
The Conference will open
with a discussion on Matters arising from
the February 2005 Session of the Economic
Commission for Europe on the basis of a
short paper prepared by the UNECE secretariat.
In the context of the UNECE
reform, the Commission decided to review
the role and place of the UNECE in the new
European institutional architecture. The
review will also consider the comparative
advantages the UNECE can bring to its members
in the future, as well as identify areas
where greater collaboration with other organizations
can eliminate unnecessary duplication of
effort and fill critical gaps. A team of
external evaluators was selected to undertake
a comprehensive report on the state of the
UNECE. In preparation of the report, members
of the evaluation team visited the capitals
of selected member countries, conducted
consultations with officials from line Ministries
and collected views through a questionnaire
sent to UNECE governments, international
organizations and other stakeholders.
The Principal Subsidiary
Bodies (PSBs), one of which is the Conference
of European Statisticians, have played an
important role in the evaluation process
of the activities of the UNECE. All PSB
Chairmen were consulted on the Terms of
Reference for the comprehensive review.
Members of the evaluation team also met
with Members of the Bureaux of the PSBs.
I take this opportunity to thank the members
of the Conference of European Statisticians
and its Bureau for their collaboration in
this review. It is expected that a first
draft of the evaluation report be delivered
by mid-June this year and the final report
by the end of June 2005.
In February, at its 60th
Session, under the Agenda Item Sustainable
Development in the UNECE region, the Commission
examined major policy options in areas that
were under review in the year 2004, taking
into consideration the results of the Regional
Implementation Meeting held in January 2004.
The importance of integrating
sustainable development into the UNECE’s
work has been repeatedly emphasized by member
States. Already back in 1997, the Plan of
Action stressed the importance of introducing
the outlook for sustainable development
into the programme of work of UNECE. Since
then, the “mainstreaming” of
sustainable development in UNECE programme
of work has been actively pursued. Furthermore,
in addition to its recurrent activities,
the UNECE has been involved in global and
regional processes related to sustainable
development, like the WSSD and the work
of the Commission on Sustainable Development.
I therefore note with great
satisfaction that this year one of the seminars
of the Conference is dedicated to the Measurement
of Sustainable Development.
Sustainable development
was accepted as a priority principle for
future work of the UN at the World Summit
in Johannesburg 2002. As countries have
started drafting and implementing the Sustainable
Development Strategies, the need for measurement
of Sustainable Development and for Sustainable
Development Indicators has become apparent.
It is well known that the appropriate use
of indicators and the availability of high
quality data depends a great deal on professionally
sound definitions of indicators. For these
reasons, the role of the national statistical
offices is important.
I am also pleased that
the second major topic on the agenda of
the Conference is Improved Data Reporting.
This topic is in line with the discussion
on “Towards an E-strategy for the
UNECE” that took place at the Commission
Session in February.
The 1990s witnessed the
emergence of a real “information revolution”.
ICT increasingly affects sectors of the
economy, government and civil society. Official
statistics has been among the government
activities to make systematic use of new
ICT developments for collection, processing
and dissemination of data.
Yet the uptake of the new
technologies over the last fifteen years
has been uneven across the UNECE region.
It was most pronounced in developed market
economy countries. The emergence and initial
spread of ICT in countries with economies
in transition was delayed and was much slower
because of the transition process to a market
economy and the difficult social and economic
problems that these countries had to deal
with during this period.
However, the digital gaps
and divides across the UNECE region and
within member countries are not irreversible.
Several countries in Central and Eastern
Europe, emerging from transition, have taken
advantage of new ICTs. But there are a number
of economies in transition where a special
effort will be required to ensure that these
countries do not fall further behind.
I would also like to draw
your attention to the activities undertaken
by the Economic Commission for Europe in
achieving the internationally agreed development
goals, including those contained in the
Millenium Declaration, as well as implementing
the outcomes of the major UN conferences
and summits. In September 2005, the General
Assembly will meet at the level of Heads
of State for a review of the goals contained
in the Millenium Declaration. Like the other
regional commissions, the UNECE is providing
a regional contribution to this process.
In this context, the quality of data on
MDG indicators is important. It has been
a real challenge for statisticians to meet
the demand for a wide range of indicators
formulated by policymakers. It is evident
that it will not be possible to measure
the achievement of the MDGs without statistical
capacity building. It is therefore important
that different opportunities be used to
bring this message to the attention of the
policy people at national and international
levels.
Lastly, I would like to
mention the importance that the Commission
attaches to the technical cooperation activities
of the UNECE. It is essential that the technical
cooperation activities be demand-driven
and result-oriented. Assistance to low-income
countries in the region must be increased
in a targeted and systematic manner. The
efforts of the UNECE secretariat to strengthen
its support to economic cooperation and
development in Central Asia, carried out
in close cooperation with UNESCAP, have
been welcomed by the Commission. The Commission
also encourages the development of joint
technical cooperation projects in cooperation
with other organizations.
Madam Chairman,
I would like to wish you
all success in your deliberations.
Thank you for your attention
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