14 February 2012

On 2-4 February 2011, approximately 200 policy makers, economists, trade analysts and trade statisticians come together for the Global Forum on Trade Statistics at the World Trade Organization in Geneva. “Measurement of global trade” was the main theme.

The Global Forum was unique in the sense that high-level representatives from the policy, research and statistical side (from both national and international institutes) were jointly discussing the measurement of trade statistics. Remarkably, this meeting of users and producers, of the supply and demand side, came to a general agreed vision, namely to link trade to other economic and social statistics, to improve cooperation among national agencies and to improve trade-related classifications. Statements made then are reflected on this website.

In the past year, many events took place, initiatives and processes were started and publications, studies and articles appeared. This Global Forum website is established to make all that information available in one place. This website is meant as a market place to share the latest information on the measurement and analysis of global trade. This is a meeting place for statisticians, researchers, economists, trade negotiators, trade analysts and everyone else with an interest in trade-related information.

The UN Statistics Division posted a selection of all the work at this moment. We invite you herewith to propose additional material.

Please send your proposals, comments or requests for corrections to jansen1@un.org with copy to tajonc@un.org.