The Global Forum should be the start of a gradual change in measuring, compiling and presenting international trade statistics. Follow-up or other related events are posted on this website.
UNSD organized, in close collaboration with the CARICOM Secretariat, a training workshop on compilation issues of Travel and Tourism Statistics for the Caribbean countries from 14 to 17 May 2013 in Roseau, Dominica, which was hosted by the Central Statistical Office of Dominica.
Roseau, Dominica
14-17 May 2013
The Interagency Task Force on Statistics of International Trade in Services (TFSITS) was established at the request of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and UNCTAD to the Statistical Commission in 1994. The objectives of the Task Force are to elaborate the statistical requirements of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). A Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services (MSITS) was published in 2002 and the revised version, the MSITS 2010 was adopted by the UN Statistical Commission at its 41st session in 2010 and published in 2011.
The Task Force is convened by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and consists of Eurostat, International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The main focus of the Task Force is to develop and support the implementation of the Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services (MSITS). The Manual sets out a statistical framework for the collection and dissemination of Trade in Services data.
The Interagency Task Force on Statistics of International Trade in Services (TFSITS) held its first meeting on 7-8 July 1994 in Paris. Since then it has met twice a year.
Links to previous meetings of the TFSITS (including agenda and documentation) can be found below:
An Expert Group on compilation of SITS was created by December 2011 to support the development of the compilers guide. The Expert Group has used the electronic discussion forum as an efficient way to work toward the drafting of the Compilers Guide. There were 3 events:
UNSD has developed a website 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 new website (called Global Forum on International Trade Statistics and Economic Globalization) will go live on Thursday, 28 February 2013.
This website is part of the United Nations Statistics Division’s ongoing efforts to respond to demands for more comprehensive information on international trade and its relation to global value chains, employment and the interdependence of economies. It offers information on various topics and in different ways. Besides explanations on the issues involved in this field, it shows the latest events and projects, the ongoing international and regional processes, the national, regional and international institutes which work in this field and it provides access to a large number of recent publications. Its resources include documents, video and photos.
New York, USA
28 February 2013
New developments in business registers and business statistics, and their relation to trade and other economic and social statistics will be presented by Statistics Netherlands, Statistics Portugal and ISTAT (tbc). The Dutch government recently facilitated the alignment of business ID numbers among various national administrations making it easier to maintain the business register. Because of the micro-data linking of economic and social statistics, Statistics Netherlands gains many insights into the country’s economic make-up, which it publishes in the Internationalisation Monitor. Statistics Portugal has accrued some years of experience with businesses reporting statistics directly with tax information from their accounting systems to the government and will tell about the advantages and disadvantages. In Italy, the national statistical institute (ISTAT) has increased its efforts to develop micro-level economic data around its business register, and make these available to government and research institutes.
New York, USA
27 February 2013
The advent of the Internet, mobile devices and other technologies has caused a fundamental change to the nature of data. Big Data has important, distinct qualities that differentiate it from “traditional” institutional data, in particular the timeliness of the data. If governments wanted to, they could already let Big Data (and the private sector) play a role in providing information on topics that are currently under the purview of national statistical offices. Should these NSOs change their business operations to take on the opportunities of using Big Data for official government purposes?
New York, USA
22 February 2013
UNSD and the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) jointly organized a training workshop on compilation issues of MSITS 2010 for Latin American and Caribbean countries from 11 to 14 December 2012 at DANE Headquarters in Bogota, Columbia.
Bogota, Colombia
11-14 December 2012
The Wiesbaden Group on Business Registers is an international expert group under the umbrella of the UN Statistical Commission engaged in further development of business registers, survey frames and associated topics.
The objective of biannual meetings is to share knowledge and experiences relating to the development and maintenance of statistical business registers, and to identify and promote good practice.
The first international roundtable on Business Survey Frames was hold in Ottawa, May 1986.
Links to recent meetings:
Washington DC, USA
17-20 September 2012
The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), in collaboration with the Department of Statistics of Jordan, the Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics (AITRS) and the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC), are jointly organizing a Regional Seminar on International Trade Statistics.
Amman, Jordan
12 – 14 June 2012
Co-organized by the Kiel Institute and the World Bank, the workshop brought together leading researchers in the area of trade in services and will cover new evidence on the patterns of trade in services, the effects of services trade and services reforms on welfare, jobs, and the manufacturing sector. The workshop also included a session on data on service trade flows and service trade policies. The workshop welcomes the participation of World Bank colleagues from operations as well as researchers.
Washington D.C., USA
23 May 2012
Four international organizations (ECLAC, IDB, OECD and WB) and Colegio de México organized a joint conference on Latin America's Prospects for Upgrading in Global Value Chains. Its main purpose was to take stock and expand the range of empirical and institutional analyses on the participation and upgrading of Latin American firms in global value chains, including policies that promote this goal with researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders.
Mexico City, Mexico
14 – 15 March 2012
The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), in collaboration with the National Bureau of Statistics of China, organized a Regional Seminar on International Trade Statistics. The Seminar aims to enhance the capacity of National Statistical Offices of Asian countries to produce reliable and high quality trade statistics.
Beijing, China
24 – 26 October 2011
As a follow-up to the Global Forum on Trade Statistics in February 2011 in Geneva, UNSD, in cooperation with Eurostat and Statistics Lithuania, organized a seminar for countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. This seminar focused on the implementation of IMTS 2010 with emphasis on linking trade and other economic statistics.
Vilnius, Lithuania
26 – 30 September 2011
Global production has become increasingly fragmented and different stages of production are now regularly performed in different countries. As inputs cross borders multiple times, traditional statistics on trade values - measured in gross terms - do not reflect economic reality in respect of the value-added in any particular country. The aim of this workshop was to bring together experts in this subject to present their ongoing work in an effort to identify the state-of-the-art, as well as existing data gaps, and the direction of future work in this area.
Washington DC, USA
9 - 10 June 2011
The past decades have witnessed a strong trend towards the international dispersion of value chain activities such as design, production, marketing, distribution, etc. Different stages in the production process are increasingly located across different economies and intermediate inputs like parts and components are produced in one country and then exported to other countries for further production and/or assembly in final products. While distribution, sales and production activities were the first to lead the way, R&D and decision-making activities are also increasingly (re-) located internationally. The meeting of the Working Party took place on 19 and 20 May 2011 at the OECD in Paris
Paris, France
19 – 20 May 2011
Political leaders from WTO and UN, as well as leaders in trade analysis, research and statistics gave their views on the most prominent and urgent trade issues and their corresponding data needs at the Global Forum on Trade Statistics, 2-4 February 2011, at the WTO in Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland
2 – 4 February 2011