The Fifth Astana Economic Forum (AEF) is an international platform that annually brings together over 5,000 delegates from 80 countries, including CEOs, leading politicians, journalists, representatives of business elite, famous scientists and Nobel Prize laureates.
The agenda of the V Forum, consisting of more than 30 sessions, will cover the most relevant issues of reforming the world monetary system, integration processes development, socio-economical policy of states, tourism development, alternative energy, implementation of innovation and attraction of investment.
The main organizer of the Forum is the Eurasian Economic Club of Scientists and the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
As a part of the forum's agenda, UNECE Statistical Division and Agency of Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan will hold a panel session “Impact of globalization on socioeconomic development and regional integration: do we have the right numbers?” The session is designed to be a productive dialogue platform among producers and users of official statistics, allowing an exchange of views and experiences on issues related to measurement and globalization.
Globalization refers to the increasing connectivity across countries and the growing global and regional interdependence in the economic and social spheres. Globalization is not a recent phenomenon, but in the last decades, with the stunning development of the information and communication technologies, the process has gained a new momentum. Globalization can result in a more efficient allocation of resources across countries, greater competition and, in the long run, increased incomes and welfare. At the same time, the process of globalization also raises concerns in many countries, and needs to be well managed to ensure its benefits are widely distributed. The worldwide contagion of the recent financial turmoil has illustrated the vulnerability of the global economic system.
The panel session is organized in two modules. The first module "Measuring globalization - do we have the right numbers?" will tackle the measurement of globalization itself, and discuss whether we have the right figures to capture the growing interdependence of national economies and its contribution to welfare and other social and environmental developments in a given country. The second module "Globalization and official statistics: global and regional challenges" will deal with the impact of globalization on the compilation of traditional indicators. It will debate approaches and guidance on how to tackle these distortions in the production of official statistics, and in particular in the compilation of national accounts aggregates and related primary data sources.
The Panel Session will focus on the further development of official statistics in Kazakhstan and the mutual benefits for countries in the region, of strengthening the international statistical cooperation in all matters related to measurement of socio-economic interdependences. The main conclusions of the panel session will be available online.
Additional information:
AEF website: http://www.aef.kz/en/
AEF program: http://www.aef.kz/en/program/
AEF Virtual forum: http://www.aef.kz/en/virtualforum/forum/index.php
