The Thirty-eighth Session of the UN Statistical Commission was held at the United Nations headquarters in New York on 27 February-2 March 2007. The Session, which marks the 60th Anniversary of the Committee, was attended by representatives from the 24 Member States of the Commission as well as observers from other Member States of the UN, representatives of organisations of the UN system and observers from inter-governmental, non-governmental and other organisations active in international statistical work. Dr. Sıdıka Başçı, Senior Researcher represented the Centre thereat.
The Session’s agenda included items for discussion and decision and others for information. The items for discussion and decision were: Programme review: education statistics; Population and housing censuses; Disability measurement; Information and communication technology (ICT) statistics; Agricultural statistics; National accounts; Integrated economic statistics; Environmental accounting; International economic and social classifications; Management issues in national statistical offices: access to microdata; Development indicators; Statistical capacity-building; and International Comparison Programme. Items for information included: Migration statistics; Health statistics; Industrial statistics; Distributive-trade statistics; Energy statistics; Finance statistics; Price statistics; Coordination and integration of statistical programmes; Common open standards for the exchange and sharing of data and metadata; and Follow-up to Economic and Social Council policy decisions.
SESRTCIC’s representative informed the Session that the Centre was working on a computer programme which will enable direct data transfer from the National Statistical Offices (NSO) of the OIC member countries to the Centre’s web site which will save much time and effort and enhance the reliability of the data used by the Centre in its statistical work.
Dr.Başçı also attended a seminar on “Dialogue on Statistical Development with International Agencies” which was intended to encourage an exchange between national chief statisticians and international agencies on existing and planned initiatives in statistical capacity building. It also provided an opportunity for international agencies to present an overview of their programmes and for country representatives to provide a feedback based on their needs and experience. In this context, Dr. Başçı pointed out that the SESRTCIC has carried out a survey for matching the needs and capacities of the NSOs in the OIC member countries and that, in light of the responses it receives from the NSOs, it has organized two training programmes in February 2007 and intends to organize 10 more by the end of September 2007.
The delegate of SESRTCIC, Dr. Sıdıka Başçı, Seniour Researcher at the Statistical Department of the Center, made the following two interventions during the meeting:
SESRTCIC’s representative also had discussions with a number of delegates from Palestine, the OECD, World Bank, FAO and the Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics on the possibilities of future cooperation between both sides.
At the end of the Session, the Commission approved the provisional agenda for its thirty-ninth session and recommended that it be held on 26-29 February 2008.