Note prepared by the secretariat
1. All activities of the UN Statistical Commission are of potential interest to the Conference of European Statisticians, its members and other participants. The Conference is, formally, a subsidiary body of the UN Statistical Commission as well as of the UN Economic Commission for Europe. The purpose of this paper is to draw the attention of the Conference to outcomes of the Statistical Commission 1995 session which refer directly to regional commissions and which may have a direct bearing on the Conference's work.
2. The Commission's draft report was agreed before the session adjourned, but the final edited version was not available when this present paper was prepared. The text could therefore be subject to minor changes.
3. At the 1995 Statistical Commission session there were two agenda items in which the decisions of the commission had direct reference to regional commissions. They were: Agenda item 4 on National Accounts and Agenda item 15 on Coordination and Integration of International Statistical Programmes.
The only official document was the report of the Task Force (E/CN.3/1995/3). The Commission decided a number of actions, including some with direct reference to Regional Commissions as follows:
Action (b): Agreed that the tables included in the new SNA questionnaire should define the target framework for the implementation of the 1993
SNA. As those tables could also be approximately identified in the current SNA questionnaire, both questionnaires could be used as a check-list for monitoring the implementation. That would enable the regional commissions to define sub-targets for different groups of countries, according to their national accounts development. A regional pilot project approach could be used by the regional commission to respond to the needs of these subregional groups of countries;
Action (c): Reiterated that the regional commissions had a key role to play in promoting and monitoring implementation;
Action (f): Recommended strengthening the capabilities of the regional commissions, and noted the need for mobilization of bilateral and multilateral resources, both at the global and regional levels, in recognition of the fact that organizational support for implementation depended critically on the availability of human and financial resources. In particular, the Commission requested a consolidated, country-by-country report of the needs for assistance and financing. In that context, it reiterated the need for training to expand the technical resource base for SNA implementation and for technical assistance. It noted with appreciation the offer of some countries to expand their support for the implementation of the 1993 SNA by providing technical and financial resources.
5. The Conference may wish to take these decisions into account when considering its work programme in respect of national accounts.
6. Coordination and Integration of International Statistical Programmes
Discussion of agenda item 15 was based on the report of the Commission's Working Group on International Statistical Programmes and Coordination (E/CN.3/1995/2) and of the ACC Sub-Committee on Statistical Activities (E/CN.3/1995/11). It was decided that the agenda of the next meeting of the Working Group will include the "Role of the Regional Commissions". The Conference may wish to consider what contribution, if any, it might wish to make to the discussion at the Working Group. The next meeting of the Working Group will be in New York 14-17 November 1995. The Conference secretariat and some members will be represented at the meeting.
7. Next Meeting of the Statistical Commission and of its Working Group
The Working Group will meet in New York from 14-17 November 1995. The UN Statistical Commission will meet in New York 10-14 February 1997.