The First Meeting of the Bureau of the ESCAP Committee on Statistics

Date: 13 November 2020

Today, on November 13, the first meeting of the Bureau of Committee on Statistics of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) was held.

The meeting of the renewed bureau was held via video conference. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Gogita Todradze, Executive Director of the National Statistics Office of Georgia. At the opening of the meeting, he discussed the challenges facing our country and the world statistics during the pandemic, the role of modern technologies and the importance of alternative methods of data collection.

The meeting was attended by the members of the Bureau, Heads of National Statistical Services, Ms. Gemma Van Halderen, Director of the Statistics Division at UNESCAP, and Mr. Ashish Kumar, Head of the United Nations Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP).

The purpose of the Bureau’s today’s meeting was to discuss the results of the 7th session of the Committee on Statistics and the preparatory issues for the 52nd session of the UN Statistical Commission as well.

During the meeting, Mr. Gogita Todradze presented the decisions made at the committee meeting to the bureau members. He discussed the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, gender issues, the introduction of big data and the strengthening the national statistical services.

It should be mentioned, that the Bureau is an advisory and coordinating body of the ESCAP Committee on Statistics, which assists the committee in performing its functions. The renewed Bureau consists of 6 members, which together with Georgia, brings together the heads of the Statistical Services of India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Mongolia, and Fiji. 

Mr. Gogita Todradze, Executive Director of the National Statistics Office of Georgia, was elected as a Chairman of the Bureau of the UN ESCAP Committee on Statistics for a two-year term on August 26 of this year.