During the first session of the Committee on Statistics held in February 2009, a side event entitled ‘Forum on Statistics Development: Coordinating Support for Statistics Development in Asia and the Pacific’ took place to galvanize interest and support for launching an informal regional coordination mechanism of all international, regional and sub-regional organizations and bilateral donors concerned with the improvement of statistics in Asia and the Pacific.

At the 40th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission, member States confirmed the need for such a mechanism, calling for the ESCAP secretariat to “establish an informal mechanism for donor coordination for statistical development in the region, taking into account existing mechanisms, roles and responsibilities”.

In response, the ESCAP secretariat organized the ‘First meeting of partners for statistics development in Asia-Pacific’ to define this partnership. The meeting took place on 14 December 2010, at the United Nations Conference Centre, Bangkok.