Description: As part of the project, UNSD organized a meeting for project focal points as a side event to the 62nd ISI World Statistics Congress (WSC) on 24 August 2019. Participants discussed project progress and exchanged national experiences related to SDG data platforms and dissemination of disaggregated SDG data. In the meeting, representatives from Malaysia's National Statistical Office and from Unicef also shared their experiences and contributed their expertise. The project focal points were also invited to attend the final three days of the ISI WSC (21-23 August 2019, https://www.isi2019.org/), providing an opportunity to obtain a better overview of the global best practices presented at the ISI WSC.
Description: On 20 August 2019, UNCTAD organized a session on Multinational Profit Shifting and Illicit Flows? Can We Measure Them? The session discussed how official statistics should respond to the urgent need to measure multinational profit shifting and related financial flows in the context of the 2030 Agenda.The large impact of financial flows related to tax and profit optimization raises the question if GDP and other key economic statistics are still valid as measures of domestic production. The increasing use of intellectual property as capital assets has had a notable impact on the measurement and interpretation of national accounts and balance of payments statistics. Relocation of intellectual property can change the location where exports and income are recorded. The question is then if economic statistics can still be used correctly for designing monetary policy and directing economic policy.There is a pressing need for better and more information on multinational enterprises and their activities. While we lack statistics to analyse the full picture, several useful indicators of profit shifting have been developed, such as the ratio of profits to compensation of employees and estimates that reallocate multinationals’ profits based on economic activity (production or employment) rather than reported profits. The session discussed ways to make statistics more informative in this regard. * Organiser: Steve Macfeely * Chair: Fernando Cantu * Discussant: Anu Peltola
Description: Includes meetings of the Bernoulli Society, the International Association for Statistical Computing, the International Association of Survey Statisticians, the International Association for Official Statistics, the International Association for Statistics Education, the International Society for Business and Industrial Statistics, and The International Environmetrics Society.
Description: Big Data is by definition different from traditional data sources currently used by national statistical systems (NSSs) requiring the development of new methodologies together with upgrading of quality assurance framework, technology, security, privacy and legal matters. This means that new skill sets and competencies are necessary. Some of which could be hired temporarily, others will need to become an integral part of the institution. Data science is one of those new competencies. It is likely that the staffing table of statistical institutions will show quite a few data scientists and data engineers in the near future. This symposium offers insights into activities on the nexus of Data Science and Official Statistics and corresponding training opportunities. It will consist of lectures, project presentations and hands-on demonstrations.
Description: In conjunction with the fourth expert consultation and meeting on the development of the Implementation Guide of the United Nations Integrated Geospatial Information Framework, the UN Secretariat for Global Geospatial Information Management, the Department of Survey and Mapping, Ministry of Water, Lands and Natural Resources Malaysia and the Royal Institution of Surveyors Malaysia organized this one-day International Seminar to share knowledge and raise awareness on the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework and it's the Implementation Guide as a basis, a reference and a mechanism for country-level activities to establish, strengthen and organize geospatial information management arrangements nationally or sub-nationally. There were approximately 460 national, regional and international participants at this one-day international seminar that delivered considerable awareness and understanding of the importance of reliable, timely and quality information coupled with positional and temporal context for evidence-based policies and programmes nationally and sub-nationally including at the project and community level. The international seminar reinforced the discussions at the expert consultation and meeting - that advocacy and raising awareness, communicating the value and significance of geospatial information management is crucial. Of particular note was recognition of the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework as a mechanism to elevate the message, the perspectives, the value proposition for growing political knowledge and understanding in integrated geospatial information management.
