The 6th Meeting of the Heads of National Statistical Offices of ECO Member States/8th High Level Expert Group Meeting on Statistics was held on June 29, 2022 (in virtual mode) under the chairmanship of the Bureau of National Statistics of Agency of Strategic Planning and Reforms of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The event was attended by delegates from the ECO Member States, including the Republic of Azerbaijan, I.R. Iran, Republic of Kazakhstan (Host Country), Kyrgyz Republic, I. R. Pakistan, Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of Türkiye and Republic of Uzbekistan. Representatives of International Organizations, including UNICEF, SECRIC and UNFPA also participated in the Meeting.
In his opening statement Mr Jasser Zharkinbekov, Deputy Head of Bureau of National Statistics of Agency for Planning and Strategic Reforms of the Republic of Kazakhstan emphasized the importance of strengthening the statistical capacity among the National Statistical Offices (NSO) of ECO Member States through the vibrant exchange of knowledge, expertise and experiences, especially on statistics-related tools and methodologies relating to Artificial Intelligence, Big Data mining, System of National Accounts and, in overall, on sustainable improvements of National Statistical Systems (NSS).
In his introductory remarks, Deputy Secretary General of ECO Ambassador Jandos Asanov highlighted a need for stronger cooperation in statistics in the ECO area given the priorities of the ECO Member States that were highlighted at the XV Ashgabat Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the ECO Member States.
Presentations by the participants were focused on visible developments in member countries as attained in the framework of implementation of ECO Five Year Strategic Plan 2021-2026. Advancement in this field by TurkStat of the Republic of Türkiye, SCI of the I.R. Iran and PBS of the I.R. Pakistan have been acknowledged while, at the same time, highlighting essential capacity among the NSOs of the ECO Region.
The Meeting considered and approved the ECO-FAO project proposal designed to strengthen the capacities of the NSOs in the member countries in the area of crop growth observation statistics.
To give greater impetus to data exchange operations, the Meeting decided that the High Level Expert Group Meetings on Statistics will, from now onward, be convened 1-2 months prior to the Meeting of the Heads of NSOs – for wider coverage of matters relating to the ECO regional statistics.
