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  • Joint GCC-STAT/UNSD Regional Workshop on International Merchandise Trade Statistics

Joint GCC-STAT/UNSD Regional Workshop on International Merchandise Trade Statistics
Organized by GCC-STAT and UNSD

  • Muscat, Oman
  • 7-10 February 2016

The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) and the Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Countries of the Gulf (GCC-Stat) are jointly organizing a Regional Workshop on International Merchandise Trade Statistics in Muscat, Oman from 7 to 10 February, 2016.

The objective of the workshop is to improve the understanding of international recommendations on international merchandise trade statistics and to share hands-on experiences in data acquisition, data compilation strategies (including data standardization and checking), data quality framework and data analysis and dissemination among trade statistics compilers. Furthermore, the discussion will be touching upon the improvement of data access and flow within national statistical systems with better coordination and cooperation among data providers and compilers. The ultimate goal is to produce the highest quality of international merchandise trade statistics, which are relevant for the policy makers at home and which are also comparable at the regional and international levels. The seminar would be attended by official statisticians from national statistical offices as well as from customs departments. One of the goals of workshop is to bring the communities of statisticians closer together both nationally and internationally.

Day 1: Sunday, 7 February 2016

08:00 - 08:30
Registration
08:30 - 09:15
Inaugural Programme
  1. Welcome address by GCC-Stat
  2. Opening remarks by –UNSD
09:15 - 09:30
Group Photo
09:30 - 10:30
Pre-session - Setting the Stage
  1. Adoption of draft agenda and administrative matters (UNSD)
  2. Progress report on the measurement on trade and economic globalization (presentation by UNSD)
  3. Linkage of IMTS to other economic statistics (presentation by GCC-Stat)
10:45 - 12:30
13:30 - 14:15
Session I - Data Quality Framework & Assessment
  1. Overview of data quality framework (presentation by GCC-Stat)
  2. Indicators of quality (developed by GCCSTAT for GCC countries) (presentation by GCC-Stat)
  3. Presentation on country practices country experiences– result of pre-workshop questionnaire (moderated by GCC-Stat)
14:15 - 14:45
15:00 - 16:00
Session II - Scope, Valuation & Time of Recording
  1. Introduction by UNSD
  2. Presentation on country practices – result of pre-workshop questionnaire
  3. Roundtable discussion on compilation challenges related to scope, valuation and time of recording (moderated by UNSD)

Day 2: Monday, 8 February 2016

08:00 - 9:30
Session III - Data Compilation in the Case of a Customs Union
  1. Introduction by UNSD
  2. Data compilation in the case of a GCC Customs Union (presentation by GCC-Stat)
  3. Compilation practices in other customs union (presentation by SACU) TBC
9:30 - 10:30
10:45 - 11:15
Session IV - Trade System & Movement of Goods
  1. Introduction by UNSD
  2. Customs Procedure Codes (CPC) & Trade System: Inclusion of free zones (presentation by UNSD)
  3. Presentation on country practices – result of pre-workshop questionnaire
  4. Roundtable discussion on compilation challenges related to trade system and movement of goods (moderated by UNSD)
  5. Harmonization of Customs Procedure Codes (CPC) in GCC (presentation by GCC Customs Department) TBC
11:15 - 12:30
13:30 – 14:45
Session V - Commodity Classification and Quantity Information
  1. Introduction by UNSD
  2. Understanding Harmonised System & HS 2017 (presentation by WCO)
  3. Importance of quantity information & method to check unit values (presentation by WCO)
  4. Progress made on revision of BEC-Broad Economic Categories (presentation by UNSD)
  5. Correspondence tables between editions of HS and other classifications (presentation by UNSD)
  6. Presentation on country practices – result of pre-workshop questionnaire
  7. Roundtable discussion on compilation challenges related to commodity classification and quantity information (moderated by UNSD)
15:00 - 16:00
Group Discussion 1: Moving Towards IMTS 2010

Day 3: Tuesday, 9 February 2016

08:00 - 11:00
Technical Visit to Customs Department
Visit to Customs Office in Oman – Customs System and Data Validation (TBC)
11:00 - 12:30
13:30 - 14:15
Session VI - Data Compilation Strategies
  1. Introduction by UNSD
  2. Data acquisition & Institutional Arrangement (presentation by GCC-Stat)
  3. Standardizing raw data to comply with IMTS 2010 (presentation by ECOWAS) TBC
  4. Presentation on country practices – result of pre-workshop questionnaire
  5. Roundtable discussion on compilation challenges related to data compilation strategies: checking and cleansing raw data, tools and techniques (moderated by UNSD)
14:15 - 14:45
15:00 - 16:00
Session VII - Recording Oil & Gas Exports, Partner Country & Other Issues
  1. Introduction by UNSD
  2. Compilation of oil & gas exports: use of non-customs record, confidentiality issues (presentation by UNSD)
  3. Presentation on country practices – result of pre-workshop questionnaire
  4. Roundtable discussion on compilation challenges related to oil & gas exports, country of consignment, mode of transport, recording of trading enterprise, etc. (moderated by UNSD)

Day 4: Wednesday, 10 February 2016

08:00 - 10:30
Session VIII - Data Analysis & Dissemination
  1. Introduction by UNSD
  2. Bilateral Asymmetry in IMTS; How to reduce it? (presentation by UNSD)
  3. Exploring trade data using advanced data visualization (presentation by UNSD)
  4. Global SDMX-IMTS Data Structure Definition (presentation by UNSD)
  5. Presentation on country practices – result of pre-workshop questionnaire
  6. Roundtable discussion on compilation challenges related to data analysis and dissemination (moderated by UNSD)
10:45 - 12:30
Session IX - Linking Trade and Business Statistics & External Trade Indices
  1. Introduction by UNSD
  2. Result of 2015 Global Survey on Linking Trade And Business Statistics (presentation by UNSD)
  3. Result of 2015 Global Survey on External Trade Indices (presentation by UNSD)
  4. Presentation on country practices – result of pre-workshop questionnaire
  5. Roundtable discussion on compilation challenges related to linking trade/business statistics and external trade indices (moderated by UNSD)
13:30 - 16:00
Closing Session
  1. Roundtable discussion: implementation of IMTS 2010 and identification of the important issues for the participating countries (moderated by GCC-Stat)
  2. Conclusion and recommendations of the Regional Workshop

Programme Annex

Days 1 – 4: 7 – 10 February 2016

10:30 - 10:45
Coffee Break - Morning
12:30 - 13:30
Lunch
14:45 - 15:00
Coffee Break - Afternoon

Documents

Map

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