First Meeting of the Friends of the Chair Group on Economic Statistics

  • New York, USA
  • 28-30 May 2019

The 50st session of the United Nations Statistical Commission established a Friends of the Chair Group (FOCG) on Economic Statistics. The Commission requested that the Friends of the Chair Group convene meetings over the next year to discuss whether the current planned updates meet the future state of the system of economic statistics and whether gaps exist.

The Commission also asked the Friends of the Chair Group to examine whether the current governance and infrastructure supporting the system of economic statistics is sufficient to meet the need for an increasingly responsive and comprehensive system of economic statistics. The Friends of the Chair Group has been asked to report back at the 51st session of the United Nations Statistical Commission. This first meeting will be used take stock of the current systemof economic statistics and identify a possible future state, discuss whether the governance and infrastructure currently in place is sufficient to address future priority needs. The expected output of the meeting will include a stock take of priorities, infrastructure and governance which in turn can be shared in various regional fora throughout the year for additional input and vetting.

Tuesday, 28 May: 1 - 5pm
Venue: Room 1523 in the United Nations Secretariat Building

1:00 - 1:30 pm
1. Welcome and Introductions

Anil Arora, Statistics Canada, Chair of the Friends of the Chair Group
Stefan Schweinfest, United Nations Statistics Division

1:30 - 5:00 pm
2. The future system of economic statistics

Moderator Konrad Pesendorfer, Statistics Austria

This session will take stock of the current system of economic statistics and initiate discussions about a possible future state. The discussion will focus on the characteristics of a future system such as expected timeliness of, detail, and access to data as well as the type of data and services expected from a national and international statistical system.

  1. The future design of a system of economic statistics within the Sustainable Development Goals and other Results frameworks. (UN network of economists provide discussion document related to emerging policy issues and SDGs and Italy, Mexico and Canada will look at how performance and results frameworks are impacting data requirements.)

    2.    UN Network of economists: Ms. Dawn Holland, UNDESA and Mr. Hamid Rashid, UNDESA Read

       Italy: Mr. Federico Giammusso, Ministry of Economy and Finance Read

       Mexico: Mr. Enrique Ordaz, INEGI Read

       Canada: Mr. Anil Arora, Statistics Canada Read

  2. The future design of a system of economic statistics from the perspective of international agencies. (IMF, OECD and Eurostat to provide their organisational priorities.)

    3.    IMF: Mr. Louis-Marc Ducharme Read

       OECD: Mr. Paul Schreyer – via video Read

       Eurostat: Ms. Mariana Kotzeva Read

  3. The future design of a system of economic statistics from the regional and NSO perspective. (African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, Mexico and Canada provide discussion document on priority setting for their region/nation.)

    4.    African Development Bank: Mr. Tabo Symphorien Read

       Asian Development Bank Read

       Islamic Development Bank: Mr. Ousmane Seck

       Mexico: Mr. Enrique Ordaz Read

       Canada: Mr. James Tebrake Read

  4. Potential mechanisms to ensure priority areas for development are identified and acted upon. (Australia and UNECA to provide discussion document on institutionalizing collaboration between economists and statisticians.)

    5.    Australia: Mr. David Kalish, ABS Read

       UNECA: Mr. Oliver Chinganya

Wednesday, 29 May: 9am - 5pm
Venue: Room 1523 in the United Nations Secretariat Building

9:00 - 10:30 am
3. A responsive and relevant system of economic statistics
Moderator: Konrad Pesendorfer, Statistics Austria
Plenary: Final reflections on and summary of Session 2
10:30am - 1:00 pm
4. Towards an infrastructure to develop and maintain a responsive and relevant system of economic statistics

Moderator James Tebrake, Statistics Canada

This session will explore the current global and national infrastructure that is in place to produce and disseminate economic statistics and initiate discussion to determine if this system is sufficient. The intended outcome of this session is to identify if there are any parts of the national and international statistical infrastructure that require updating or development. This session will also examine the current practices used to update and implement statistical standards and discuss ways the current process might be streamlined and improved to allow for a more responsive and relevant system of economic statistics.

  1. Status report on updates to statistical manuals and frameworks. (UNSD to provide stock-take which covers: domain, organization, status of guidance, etc.)

    2.    UNSD: Mr. Ivo Havinga Read

  2. Stock-take of statistical developments from a national and regional perspective. (Canada, Denmark, USA, and African Development Bank to provide a stock-take of current national and regional initiatives.)

    3.    Canada: Mr. André Loranger, Statistics Canada Read

       Denmark: Mr. Jorgen Elmeskov, Statistics Denmark Read

       USA: Mr. Erich Strassner, BEA Read

       African Development Bank: Mr. Tabo Symphorien Read

  3. Plenary on statistical Infrastructure. (Discussion on the current set of statistical infrastructure and how the process might be streamlined and improved.)
1:00 - 3:00 pm
Lunch
3:00 - 5:00 pm
5. The institutional transformation of NSOs New methods, services and roles

Moderator Mariana Kotzeva, Eurostat

This session will explore the new ways that NSOs are producing estimates, disseminating data and providing access to their users. The discussion will focus on whether the existing frameworks are properly leveraging these new data sources and methods and if not, what steps need to be taken to ensure these new methods, services and roles are incorporated into our national and international infrastructures.

  1. New data sources and methods including big data, AI, and machine learning. (Saudi Arabia, Brazil, and UNSD to provide discussion document from Global/National perspectives.)

    2.    Saudi Arabia: Mr. Fahad S. Altekhaifi Read

       Brazil: Roberto Olinto Ramos, IBGE Read

       UNSD: Ivo Havinga Read

  2. New services including microdata access and linking. (Eurostat and Australia to provide reflection on new services from global and national perspectives.)

    3.    Eurostat: Ms. Mariana Kotzeva Read

       Australia: Mr. David Kalish Read

  3. New roles as data stewards. (Austria and Canada to address role on roles as data stewards.)

    4.    Mr. Konrad Pesendorfer, Statistics Austria and Mr. Anil Arora, Statistics Canada Read

  4. Staff skills and capabilities. (Indonesia to address skills and capabilities required to support the transformation and approaches for building them.)

    5.    Indonesia: Mr. Kecuc Suhariyanto, BPS Indonesia Read

Thursday, 30 May: 9am - 3pm
Venue: Conference Room E in the United Nations Conference Building

9:00am - 12:30 pm
6. A governance structure that ensures a responsive and relevant system of economic statistics

Moderator David Kalisch, Australian Bureau of Statistics

This session will outline the current governance framework related to standard setting, data reporting arrangements, priority setting and identify areas of duplication, overlap, and burden that can be addressed to help make the development and updating of the system of economic statistics more responsive and relevant.

  1. Current governance inventory. (UNSD to reflect on current governance arrangements for economic statistics standards.)

    2.    UNSD: Ivo Havinga Read

  2. Governance from the viewpoint of NSOs. (Canada and Denmark to reflect on potential principles to guide governance setting.)

    3.    Canada: Mr. James Tebrake, Statistics Canada Read

       Denmark: Jorgen Elmeskov, Statistics Denmark Read

  3. Future state discussion. (Discussion item, no supporting material required.)
12:30 - 1:30 pm
Lunch
1:30 - 3:00 pm
7. Friends of Chair Group Work Program

Moderator Andre Loranger, Statistics Canada

Based on the discussions from the various sessions, this session will be used to develop the work-plan of the Friends of the Chair over the next year.

  1. Workplan and Broad Timetable (UNSD Secretariat and Statistics Canada to provide reflection on workplan and timetable)

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