At the most recent session of the Statistical Commission in 2013, the United Nations Statistics Division presented an overview report International Trade Statistics (Report of the Secretary-General, E/CN.3/2013/7) of the work undertaken in the field of international trade statistics on topics such as integrated economic statistics, linking trade and business statistics, trade and global production, trade in value added, statistics of multinational enterprises and foreign direct investment. The report described the policy questions regarding international trade in a world in which production processes are spread among many countries creating not only economic and financial interdependencies but also social and environmental ones. The report then highlighted the growing concerns regarding the limitations of current trade statistics to inform the policy debate. Some phenomena, which are difficult to measure and for which adequate data are lacking, include intra-firm trade, foreign control, manufacturing services performed on inputs owned by others, and transfers of intellectual property products.
While there are many international task teams working on these measurement problems in various areas of international trade and economic globalization (see annex 3), an overarching framework and systematic coordination are lacking. The Commission recognized See Decision 44/106 in E/2013/24 the need for such framework and coordination and agreed to the creation of a “friends of the chair” group tasked with preparing a concept paper on the scope and content of the framework, and on the appropriate mechanism for coordination.
International Recommendations documents added to Background Documents section.
Presentations for agenda items are now available for download.
Event page launched with agenda and downloadable background documents.