COMMITTEE ON STATISTICS TO MEET IN BANGKOK
UN: Statistical capacity building must rank higher on development agenda

Bangkok (United Nations Information Services) -- The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) will convene the thirteenth session of the Committee on Statistics from 27 to 29 November 2002 at the United Nations Conference Centre, Bangkok, Thailand.

H.E. Dr. Surapong Suebwonglee, Minister of Information and Communication Technology, who is responsible for overseeing national statistics in Thailand, will inaugurate the session on Wednesday, 27 November at 0900 hrs.

Approximately 80 leading government statisticians from 30 countries and 20 regional and international agencies, as well as United Nations experts, are expected to attend.

The Committee on Statistics meets at a time when the importance of evidence-based policies is gathering momentum in the region. Participants will discuss ways to measure poverty and development in the region in an effort to answer such elusive questions as how many poor people are there in Asian and the Pacific region. Statisticians will also seek ways to improve and promote standardization of definitions and methodologies.

Other issues include measurement of the new economy, gender statistics and the new round of the International Comparison Programme, which will replace the dated statistics for calculating purchasing power parities.

Also on the agenda is the monitoring of countries' progress towards internationally agreed development goals, especially those contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration. The millennium development goals framework emphasizes the monitoring of efforts to reduce poverty and the wider dimensions of poverty including health, education and sustainable development. The Committee will review needs for statistical capacity building in the region as the compilation of baseline information for the millennium development goals has revealed wide gaps in data availability.

For further information, please contact:
Mr Andrew J Flatt, Chief,
Statistics Division, UNESCAP
Tel: +66-2 288-1611; E-mail: stat.unescap@un.org
URL: www.unescap.org/stat/cos13/

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