The 5 th High Level Expert Meeting of National Statistical Offices of ECO Member States

1. The 5th High Level Expert Meeting of National Statistical Offices of ECO Member States 4-5 December 2012, Ankara, Turkey Prepared by B. Adilbekova Director for Projects, Economic Research, Statistics

2. In implementation of provision 5.4 of the Implementation Mechanism of the Plan of Action which states that “the Member States shall submit annual national progress reports to MHNSO, and its Expert Group”, - the 5th HLEGM is prepared to consider the country presentations in the light of the aforementioned. • In the meantime, the Follow-Up Report of the PERS Department is presented for your consideration.

3. Table of Contents ECO Framework of Cooperation and Plan of Action on Statistics – ECO-FCS “Regional Statistics Harmonization” - RSH Statistical Capacity Building - SCB International Cooperation

4. Objectives of ECO Framework of Cooperation and Plan of Action on Statics • To enhance and intensify statistical cooperation among ECO National Statistical Offices (NSOs). • To harmonize the definitions, classifications and measurements of statistics in ECO region. • To promote the production of comparable statistics and the development of regional statistical indicators. • To promote adherence to the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission. • To support ECO policy-making bodies (e.g. COM, RPC, CPR) through the provision of comparable, updated and timely statistics and to coordinate and promote ECO Secretariat positions on statistical issues in relevant international fora. • To enhance the technical and management capabilities of ECO NSOs. • To promote statistical professionalism. • To advocate greater governmental support and commitment to the priority statistical programs, projects and activities of the member ECO countries. • To promote improvements in the official statistics generated by the member countries.

5. Transport Energy ECO-SN PERS Trade HRSD Role of Statistics in the ECO Region ECO decision making Agriculture

6. ECO Framework and Plan of Action-Implementation MHNSO- Decisions MNFP- Consultations HLGM-Implementation ECO-SN ECO-SN Focal Points Group Committee on RHSM- Harmonization Suggested Implementation structure

7. Structure of Use of Statistical Output

8. Implementation of ECO Framework of Cooperation and Plan of Action on Statistics • 1st HLEGM – 27-28 October 2008, Tehran. • 2nd HLEGM – 25-26 September 2009, Dushanbe. • 3rd HLEGM – 5-6 October 2010, Kabul. • 4th HLEGM – 7-8 April 2011, Islamabad. • 5th HLEGM – 4-5 December 2012, Ankara.

9. Implementation Milestones • 1st HLEGM – ECO Statistical Network. Training. • 2nd HLEGM – Regional Harmonized Statistical Methodology. • 3rd HLEGM – Capacity Building/Project Based Approach. • 4th HLEGM – International cooperation. Proposals for the Agenda of the 3rd MHNSO.

10. Objectives of ECO Statistical Network • Providing common access to ECO Member States for economic, statistical, and financial data on economic development of the ECO region. • Effective and efficient compilation and process of statistics data to provide output data & information for ECO decision making bodies. • Integrated and automated processing of regional data. • Display and dissemination of internationally and regionally harmonized credible and informed data to a wide regional user.

11. The title has to be endorsed by 5th HLEGM: three options - “ECO-SN”, “ECO Data Base”, “ECOStat” The primary definition of the ECO Statistical Network is providing an automated access to the ECO- NSO for statistical data production.

12. ECO Statistical Network (ECO-SN)(Preamble) In the first meeting of the Heads of the ECO National Statistical Offices (MHNSO) on 28-29 January 2008 in Tehran, the idea of establishment of the ECO Statistical Network was proposed by the Statistical Centre of Iran as an institutional mechanism for implementation of the ECO Framework of Cooperation and Plan of Action on Statistics. Following the meeting, proposal of the SCI was circulated among member states by the ECO Secretariat for their comments and views.       The 1st High Level Group Meeting of National Statistical Offices (HLEGM) held on 26-28 October 2008 in Tehranconsidered the establishment of the ECO Statistical Network proposed by the Statistical Center of Iran and requested the member states to convey their comments and views regarding the proposal to the Secretariat by the end of December 2008. The SCI consolidated the proposals, views, recommendations of the Member States pertaining to the design of the Network and presented these to the 6th Meeting of ECO National Focal Points on Economic Research and Statistics (NFPM) held on 17-18 November 2008 in Ankara. The NFP Meeting decided to submit the proposal on ECO Statistical Network for recommendations of the 19th RPC meeting scheduled for January 2009 in Tehran. The 19th Regional Planning Council of ECO (RPC) recommended putting the Network into operation. Subsequently, the meeting of the Council of Permanent Representatives of ECO (CPR), at its 149th Meeting on June 7 2009, considered the Network and approved the establishment of the ECO Statistical Network with a view to seek the approval of the CPR for any financial implication. Process of the ECO Statistical Network: Concept design: Dushanbe, Tajikistan, 2nd HLEGM on 24-25 September 2009. Feedback of Member States on the design: Ankara, Turkey, 6th NFPM, 17-18 November 2008. Recommendations: 19th RPC, 11-15 January 2009, Tehran, Iran. Approval: 7 June 2009, Secretariat. Approval of Initial Training for Network: Astana, Kazakhstan, MHNSO, 27-28 June 2010. Endorsement of training themes for Network: Kabul, Afghanistan, 3rd HMNSO, 5-6 October 2010. Appreciation by 10th ECO Summit, 23 December 2010, Istanbul, Turkey. Acknowledgment by 11th ECO Summit, 15 October 2012, Baku, Azerbaijan. Training: 19-22 April 2009, “1st Training Course of Experts of National Statistical Offices of ECO Member States” based on the Network. 17-20 May 2009, “Workshop on the System of National Accounts for ECO Member States” based on the Network. 28 November – 1 December 2010, “1st Training Workshop on ECO Statistical Network”

13. ‌NSO Information Base Applications Monitor & Integrator Lateral Databases Other Sources Design, Data Mining, Reporting, Query Service ETL NSIB Data Marts Data Sources OLAP High-Level Tools SIB

14. DB1 DB2 Integrated ECO Statistical Network DB3 Reporting Tools ETL DB4 DB5 OLAP DB6 DB7 SCI’s Data Warehouse DB8 DB9 Development & Design Tools DB10

15. Current Challenges • Diverse Data Bases • Data Inconsistency • Varied physical frameworks and formats of NSO-IB • Analyses hurdles • Growth in data volumes • Need for automated data entry and process. • Need to assess NSO-IS capabilities. • Need for improved Data Management. • Need for Improved Data Quality. • Need for integrated approach, policy, guidelines for operation of ECO-SN.

16. Response to Challenges Technical specifications and the design have been continuously upgraded throughout 2009-2010 with generous assistance of the SCI. All Member States have been fully consulted on the design of the Network. Their feedback was incorporated in presentations of the Network to the 2nd MHNSO, the 19th RPC side event - 7th NFPM, and commentated by the 21st COM on 21-22 December 2010, in Istanbul, and appreciated by the Istanbul Declaration - 2010. • Definition: ECO-SN should be automated as per its definition. • Operator: SCI • Mode of cooperation with the ECO: MoU Need for the region-specific core set of indicators - to narrow down the data spread (PoA, provisions 1.1., and 1.4.) Main Strategic Focus of ECO-SN shall be on the Priority Areas of ECO: • Trade Statistics – Intra-regional Trade Indicators . • Transport – Services/Connectivity/Infrastructure. • Energy – Energy Trade/Power Grids Inter-Connectivity. • Agriculture – Water and Drainage Water Management/Irrigation. • Industries – SME development, PPP, Industrial Innovation. • MDGs – Sustainable development indicators (Education, Health, Employment.)

17. Matters requiring Actions of ECO-NSOs.Work done by the Secretariat as per provision 1.2. of the PoA (Identifying the Gaps and Missing Indicators, provision 1.2. of PoA) • Trade – Kazakhstan, Iran (delayed submission of trade statistics); Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan – trade data non-availability. • Sector-generated statistics is based on secondary data and uses of other relevant sources . It is sourced by ECO Trade-Net, which provides a useful interlink b/w the Secretariat and Member States via TPO, using the electronic forum tools. • Transport Statistics – transport services indicators shall enhance services sector. Sector-generated data is derived from Feasibility Studies and Road Projects conducted under the ECO-TTFA. • Energy Statistics– sourced from the Project on Harmonization of Measurements on Energy. Need is for the assistance in compilation of Energy Balance Sheets. Sector generated statistics has led to the establishment of the Geological Information System, featuring maps and location of mineral deposits in ECO region. • Agriculture Statistics – FAO-ECO project on CountryStat on agriculture. Involvement of the ECO at post-country-level project stage by PERS. Sector generated statistics is sourced from the ECO-RPFS conducted by the Agriculture Department. • MDGs- HRSD Department focuses on issues of Child Mortality/TB/Blood Transfusion. • Crime Statistics is sourced from the regional project conducted by the DOCCU Unit and sector generated data focuses on Drugs Statistics. All the above have been concurrently fulfilled by the Secretariat in implementation of Objective (e) of ECO-FCS and PoA.

18. Concluding remarks on next steps in implementing Objective (a): Strengthening Statistical Systems • Modernizing Statistical Production through: • (i) automation of ECO-SN, (ii) Integration and centralization of ECO-SN in its modernized link to NSOs; (iii) Development of training policy and scheduling of multi-year training exercises for ECO-SN with focus on Information Technologies (IT); (iv) Establishment of connection (inter-face) to regional users of statistics output , media, other recipients of ECO region’s statistics information, such as regional institutions of ECO, ECO partner organizations, etc. • Development and improvement of Display and Dissemination Technologies, including PC-Axis, by sharing good IT statistics governance tools used by ECO-NSO. • Development of National Quality Assurance Frameworks. • Regional Self-Assessment Activities in cooperation with UNSD. • For implementation of the above milestones for year 2013, the 5th HLEGM needs to adopt them as an Implementation Plan on Strengthening Statistical Systems,based on suggestions/proposals of ECO-NSO, and initiate the meeting of the Technical Advisory Group of Focal Points for ECO-SN, to oversee the issues pertaining to modernization. At the same time, the issues of overall capacity building and harmonization could be handled by other designated entities, namely, Committee for RHSM, Partners’ Working Group on Statistics Capacity Building.

19. Set up a Technical Advisory Group of Focal Points for the ECO-SN. Develop the Practical Guidelines for the Operation of the ECO-SN. Develop an Integrated Implementation Plan (IIP) for the Automation of the ECO-SN Processes. Organize Training on Data Quality and Data Management. Suggested Solutions on Objectives (a),(f) Objective: (a) “To enhance and intensify statistical cooperation among ECO National Statistical Offices (NSO).” Objective (f): “To enhance technical and management capabilities of ECO NSO.”

20. Training Programs target the following: • Objective (a): as mentioned earlier in the presentation: “To enhance and intensify statistical cooperation among ECO National Statistical Offices ”, and • Objective (g): “To promote statistical professionalism in ECO NSOs.”

21. 1st Training Course of Experts of National Statistical Offices of ECO Member States” based on the Network The theme, date, and venue (19-22 April 2009, Tehran) – were proposed in 1st HLEGM and approved by 2nd HLEGM. The objective: to conduct 1st hands-on-training exercise in the framework of the ECO Statistical Network on integration of geospatial and statistical systems.

22. Objectives Providing knowledge on the software that facilitates: All data compiled in one system Easy retrieval of data from different censuses Comparison of different attributes of all censuses Providing location based statistical information Spatial Data and Statistics Database

23. Workshop on the System of National Accounts for ECO Member States, based on the Network The theme, date, venue - 17-20 May 2009, Tehran, were proposed in 1st HLEGM and approved by 2nd HLEGM. • The objective: to provide the in-depth knowledge on the System of National Accounts to ECO-NSO in the light of the recent revisions. Duration – 4 days. • Resource persons from regional partners as well as the ECO Roster: Representatives of ECO-TDB (Chief Economist), ESCAP (FP for ECO) and ECO Leading Expert/Economist Dr.Prof. Mr. F.Rasteh.

24. 1st Training Workshop on ECO Statistical Network • The theme, date, venue, were approved by 3rd HLEGM for 28 November – 1st December 2010, Tehran. • The objective: to introduce ECO-NSO to the portal of the ECO-SN. Utilization of knowledge obtained through practical training by potentially future Focal Points at their work stations. Follow up with formalizing the appointment of Focal Points by their respective Member States. The 4-days’ training was conducted by the professional team of the Statistical Training and Research Center of Iran.

25. Regional Harmonized Statistical Methodology (RHSM) • The 2nd HLEGM adopted the Framework for the Development of the RHSM. • 1st Meeting of Committee for RHSM was scheduled for June 2010 in Turkmenistan. • The composition of the Committee is available (List-H.No.2.1.). • The immediate step is to adopt the Terms of Reference and Work Plan of the Committee.

26. Suggested Draft Terms of Reference of the Committee for HRSM • The Document outlines the basic principles of the process of harmonization of regional statistical indicators which are specific for economic development of the ECO region. • The main focus of the work of the Committee will be to select a set of regional statistical indicators based on ECO-KSI. Such set shall directly meet the statistical requirements in the core activity areas of the ECO. • The Committee shall arrange the review of the selected set of regional indicators against the new international classifications, definitions, concepts, uses, and methodologies. • In fulfilling its objectives, the Committee shall ensure compliance of the regional harmonization process with best practiced principles and the proper linkage with international classifications. • The Committee shall be the focal point of the High Level Expert Group (HLEGM) for statistics and shall function effectively in periods between the meetings of the HLEGM to provide more flexibility in reacting to developments on international and regional processes of harmonization of classifications, definitions, conceptions, uses, methodologies. • A meeting of the Committee shall be in Member States. These shall be initiated upon formal announcement by any Member State during HLEGM about its willingness to host such a meeting. Organizational aspects of a meeting shall comply with ECO Rules of procedure. • The Members of the Committee shall be permanent, subject to re-nomination by their respective Member States. The Members shall elect the Chair of the Committee. • The Committee may be enlarged in its membership to consider a wider set of regionally harmonized indicators, shall the scope of economic activity of the ECO or its membership expand. • The mandate includes periodic reporting to the HLEGM on the outcomes of Committee work and development and review of the set of ECO regional indicators for compliance to new international standards. The enlargement of the Committee’s mandate, if any, shall be subject for approval of the HLEGM. • In its work, the Committee may avail of advice of Experts from ECO Roaster of Statisticians. It may also consult on issues pertaining to regional and international statistics harmonization with regional partners, including, SESRIC, EroStat, and project partner organizations.

27. Suggested Outline of Work Plan of the Committee for HRSM • Establish the Committee for RHSM with work location at Secretariat premises. • Set up a Unit in the PERS Directorate to carry out the following tasks of the Work Plan of the Committee: • Match implementation of ECO-KSIs with standards for comparable international data. • Identify, through circulation of the Questionnaire, the missing gaps in NSOs regarding the regional content of the RSM with focus on: Definitions, Classifications, Concepts, Methodologies used for Manufacturing, Occupational, and Trade statistics. • Collect Meta Data from NSOs and measures to harmonize ISIC, HS, SIEC, ISCED, CPC, ISCO, SEEA, and other revised international classifications as relevant for the ECO. • Follow up on the Member States’ request on compilation of Meta Data which was posted in 1999. • Compile the Meta Data and prepare a compilation and present these to the 1st Meeting of the Committee on RHSM. • In the process of identifying the “missing gaps” for harmonization of regional content, constantly consult with NSO through their designated Member in the Committee on harmonizing the classifications. • Harmonization should be on specific set of definitions to address the interests of the ECO region. • Prepare and consult electronically the 1st draft of the Work Plan of the Committee for views, and submit the completed version to the 1st meeting of the Committee on RHSM.

28. Capacity Building on Statistics: Project Approach The 3rd HLEGM proposed the following: • Develop a Comprehensive Regional Statistics Capacity Building Prorgamme(as 1st step towards the present task – the 3rd HLEGM approved the ECO-FAO technical cooperation project on agriculture statistics.) • Involve regional partners for the programme. • Integrate sectoral statistics into the programme, to meet the objectives of the core activity areas of the ECO, ie Energy, Industries, Trade, Transport, Agriculture, HRSD.

29. Implementation steps undertaken: • Industrial Statistics(1st MHNSO, 6th NFPM) – proposal developed jointly with UNIDO. • Agriculture Statistics(1st MHNSO, 6th NFPM (R.para.12) – proposal developed by FAO for ECO. • Energy Statistics (2nd HLEGM, 6th NFPM) – the research proposal developed by ECO for joint cooperation with SESRIC (to comply with the Member-States’ request for use of the methodology of “Research-based Learning.”

30. The structure of Regional Statistics Capacity Building (RSCB) • Training Component - Sharing expertise and knowledge. • IT Component - Improvement of technical and IST capacities of NSO. • Regional focus, involvement of regional capacity building institutions. • International cooperation.

31. Strategic Framework of the ECO Statistics Capacity Building Programme will focus: • Full integration of regional statistics in ECO decision-making. • Promotion of wide and open access to regional statistics. • Increase of resources for statistical systems. • Realizing the mandate to represent ECO-NSO in the development and implementation of statistics capacity building activities/programmes/projects.

32. Task List for Training Programs • Step 1: Provide fast track hands-on training for the ECO-SN. (Done) • Step 2: Collect NSO’ needs through circulation of a Questionnaire to Member States or share one of the regional partner/s. (Done) • Step 3: Establish a Working Group of regionally recognized Training Centers/Regional Partners, such as TURKSTAT, and FBS, and SESRIC. • Step 4: Develop a Comprehensive Regional Statistics Capacity Building Programme

33. Thematic Content of the Programme Training for use of High Tech IT-based Statistical Software Programmes (through ECO-SN), and enable provision of necessary software tools and equipment on needs basis to ECO-NSO. BoP- based on BPM-6 edition (2nd MHNSO). Energy statistics with focus on compilation of energy balance sheets (2nd HLEGM). Water management/Drainage/Irrigation Statistics (3rd MHNSO). Analysis and Interpretation of Statistics /Analysis of Surveys (3rd MHNSO). MDG Indicators (para X of Tehran Communiqué on Statistics). The mode of e-Learning via cooperation with SIAP (2-3HLEGM,19th RPC). IT-based Compilation Techniques (3rd MHNSO). Data Quality and Data Management (3rd MHNSO). Use of Sources of Administrative Registers in Statistical Data Generation (2nd MHNSO). Research-based Learning (3rd HLEGM). Implementation of Electronic Devices in Surveys and Censuses (2nd HLEGM).

34. Pre-requisites for Working Group of Regional Partners on Statistics Capacity Building (SCB) • The Working Group will support implementation of para VIII of Tehran Communiqué that “Member States with advanced statistical systems and relevant international organizations who have experience and training facilities may extend technical assistance to relevant experts of ECO Member States.” • In this regard, “The proposal of the SCI to carry out a Technical Cooperation Programme for Training had been welcomed by TurkStat and Draft Protocol defining the outline of cooperation was developed and sent to SCI for consideration.” (Turkey’s statement in 2nd HLEGM).

35. Outline of the Working Group Activities of Regional Statistical Partners • Based on the approved thematic plan of training exercises, secure future funding for the programme. • Consider inclusion of the ECO in partners training and capacity building programmes, consult those among the WG, and submit the integrated proposal to the Secretariat. • The above inclusive elements may serve as the participatory framework for the regional programme. • Secretariat will then consolidate all proposals of the WG in the aggregate programme proposal, and submit it to the 4th MHNSO. • The WG may schedule video-conferencing sessions and also its meetings to discuss the matters of the programme.

36. Provisional Agenda of the Working Group Meeting of Regional Statistical Partners • Based on the above Outline take the approved thematic plan of training exercises for action, and discuss the detailed plan of donor commitments for funding the programme. • Consider, adopt, and submit the integrated Proposal on the Partners’ Comprehensive Training Programme on RSCB, inclusive of the ECO, to the 4th MHNSO. • Consider the results of video-conferencing sessions and the WG meeting, to finalize any pending issues of the programme.

37. Regional Expertise-Pooling • Establish Group of Trainers and Experts from Member States. (ECO Roster was compiled, and 1st expert group meeting was organized in premises of ECO Secretariat in 2009, to discuss the GIS). • Regularize Directory of Training Institutions in ECO region. It has been compiled and circulated to Member States in 2009. It was posted on ECO-Web but not updated since then.

38. International Cooperation • (c ) Objective (): “To promote adherence to the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission.” • (d) “To promote the production of comparable statistics and the development of regional statistical indicators.” • (e) “To support ECO policy-making bodies (e.g. COM, RPC, CPR) through the provision of comparable, updated and timely statistics and to coordinate and promote ECO Secretariat positions on statistical issues in relevant international fora.”

39. Interaction • FAO – cooperation proposed by 1st HLEGM and backed up by 6th NFPM, 16-17 November 2009, Ankara. • UNIDO - proposed by 1st HLEGM and supported by 18th RPC, 15-18 February 2010, Antalya. • EuroStat – proposed by 2nd MHNSO, 27-28 June 2010, Astana, supported by 3rd HLEGM. • SESRIC – proposed by 1st HLEGM, supported by 2nd HLEGM. • UIS – proposed by 3rd HLEGM. • SIAP – cooperation on e-Learning proposed by 2nd HLEGM, supported by 19th RPC. • UNSD – proposed by 19th RPC. • IDB – proposed by 1st MHNSO.

40. Activities undertaken: • UIS proposed to hold a regional workshop in ECO Member State for STI training; • Proposal on Development of Poverty Statistics was submitted to World Bank (for MDG/HDI); • Proposal for EuroStat was submitted for joint cooperation (currently under consideration.) • Technical Assistance Proposal for IDB was submitted to Data Base Division (processing of the proposal has been delayed). • UNSD had agreed to provide a technical assistance. 1st step was to organize a regional workshop, to discuss NSOs’ proposals for joint ECO-UNSD TCP cooperation.

41. DISSEMINATION & DISPLAY:non-fulfilled steps: • Dissemination of NSO publications for good statistical governance and exchange of experience (Objective 1.5 of Plan of Action) preparation of Statistical Bulletins (paragraph IV of Tehran Communiqué). • Summary of Country Profiles (1st and 2nd HLEGM), (HMI indicators, MDGs indicators, ECO Statistical Year Book.

42. EXCHANGE OF EXPERIENCES AMONG ECO-NSO Field Studies Activities undertaken: • SCI-practiced pilot population and housing census based Field Study, to be arranged in 2011, on request of Tajikistan was proposed by Iran during 3rd HLEGM. The three countries participated, namely, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan, partook in the field study. • Invitation of FBS to NSOs for the courses supported by GTZ and JICA on Sampling, Demography, Industrial Statistics. • Visit of the operational premises of the SCO of Afghanistan in the framework of the 3rd MHNSO on 24-25 May 2011 (statistics governance).

43. Advocacy for Regional Statistics In implementation of Objective (i) “to advocate greater government support and commitment to the priority statistical programmes, projects and activities of the Member States”– 1st, 2nd, 3rd MHNSO have been organized in Tehran, Astana, and Kabul. The Delegations reported on the results of the work of HNSO meetings to decision makers at level of Vice Presidency, Foreign Ministry, and Vice-President in the host countries. Implementation mechanism of ECO-FSC and PoA is the HLEGM. In this regard, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th HLEGM have been organized in Tehran, Dushanbe, Kabul, Islamabad. Delegations reported on the results of the HLEG meetings to policy makers at level of Vice Presidency-Head of SCI, in presence of ECO-SG, Vice Premier, and Deputy Secretary of State for Budget and Planning. As a result of the above, the Istanbul Declaration-2010 has highlighted importance of statistics cooperation.

44. Calendar of Events 2013-2014

45. Thank you. For references, please, kindly contact at Director.PERS@ecosecretarat.org or registry@ecosecretariat.org