Economic Statistics
FOCG on Economic Statistics
Friends of the Chair Group on Economic Statistics
Purpose
The Friends of the Chair Group on Economic Statistics was created by the 50th Session of the United Nations Statistical Commission. The Commission:
- Requested the Friends of the Chair Group be established for a period of not more than two years to undertake an assessment on the efficiency, effectiveness and responsiveness of the governance of the current system of economic statistics, without creating more bureaucracy or adding undue burden on NSOs and international organisations;
- Requested the Friends of the Chair Group to take stock of existing initiatives and make a recommendation to take these forwards in an update of the system of economic statistics through a broad user consultation;
- Requested the Friends of Chair Group take forward issues of the statistical update that have already reached a high level of maturity;
- Requested the Friends of the Chair Group to report back to the Statistical Commission in its 51st Session (2020) with a clear plan how to move forward.
Year organized
2019
Participants
Senior statisticians from NSOs and international organisations. The NSOs are from the following countries: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and USA. The international organisations include: African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, Eurostat, Inter-American Development Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Islamic Development Bank, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, World Bank, and United Nations Secretariat.
Meetings
Asia-Pacific High-Level Seminar on the Future of Economic Statistics, Shanghai, 3 - 5 June 2019
Second Meeting of the Friends of the Chair Group on Economic Statistics: New York, 2 - 4 December 2019
ECLAC High-Level Seminar on the Future of Economic Statistics, Santiago, Chile, 18 - 19 November 2019
High-Level Seminar on the Future of Economic Statistics for the Arab region, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 21 - 22 January 2020
Third Meeting of the Friends of the Chair Group on Economic Statistics: New York, 1st March 2020
Fourth Meeting of the Friends of the Chair Group on Economic Statistics: virtual meeting, 29 - 30 June 2020
Fifth Meeting of the Friends of the Chair Group on Economic Statistics: virtual meeting, 3 November 2020
Planned activities:
Global user consultation
Groups invited for the global user consultation by the Friends of the Chair Group on Economic Statistics
Reporting to the UN Statistical Commission
The Group presented its first report to the fifty-first session of the Statistical Commission in 2020 and its second report to the fifty-second session of the Statistical Commission in 2021.
The fifty-second session of the Statistical Commission approved the recommendations to dissolve the Friends of the Chair group on economic statistics and form a new network of economic statisticians to facilitate networking, coordination and communication on new innovations, experiments and best practices for the purpose of making progress on priorities to keep economic statistics relevant.