ULAANBAATAR GROUP ON STATISTICS FOR ECONOMIES BASED ON NATURAL RESOURCES

Purpose:

The group intends to:

(a) play a leading role in developing methodological and practical guidelines and recommendations by pooling best theoretical and methodological practices, in order to rationally track mining industry activities and accurately measure the industry’s contribution to the economy and its impact on other social sectors and the environment;

(b) serve as a forum for sharing the expertise of national and international statistical organizations and other interested parties;

(c) collaborate with the United Nations and the specialized agencies on developing and improving statistical methodologies and standards for statistics on natural resources and provide support in this area;

(d) develop practical manuals and recommendations based on best practices that ensure coverage, reliability, accuracy and relevance of statistical data to support the efforts made by countries with large mining sectors to implement the System of National Accounts 2008, the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting and the revised Framework for the Development of Environmental Statistics.

Year organized

2012

Participants:

Representatives of national statistical offices, governmental organizations and international organizations have participated in the first meeting.

Current country representatives include: Australia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mexico, Mongolia, Russian Federation and Vietnam.

Current governmental organizations include: Parliament of Mongolia, Ministry of Finance of Mongolia, Bank of Mongolia, National Development and Innovation Committee of Mongolia

Current international organizations include: UNIDO, UNDP and CISSTAT

Meetings

First Meeting of the Ulaanbaatar Group, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 20-22 August, 2012.

Objectives of the meeting:

Discuss the terms of reference and topics for the work programme. Establish a Steering Committee as well as Expert Group to manage and conduct the work programme. Decide the UB Group would hold face-to-face meetings and an electronic discussion forum to advance the work programme.

Expanded meeting of Ulaanbaatar City Group was organized as side event of the 44th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission on Monday the 25 of February, 2013, 06:15-07:00 pm at the Temporary North Lawn Building, United Nations, New York.

Objectives of the meeting:

The purpose of this event is to present the goals, work streams, structure and composition of the Ulaanbaatar Group to national statistical offices and international organizations and to discuss its work plan for 2013 and collect comments, inputs, and support from the participants.

Next meeting will be organized in the third quarter of 2013 in Russian Federation.

Work programme

1. Develop a harmonized system of standard indicators for data collection;
2. Assess the impact of the mining industry on economies and develop methodological and practical recommendations on how to demonstrate the impact through official statistics;
3. Develop methodologies and indicators for assessing the impact of mining industry on the social sector; and
4. Develop practical recommendations for measuring the impact of the mining industry on the environment.

Reporting to the UN Statistical Commission

• Report of 2013