19 September 2016
Latin America Conference Takes Stock of Statistics for 2030 Agenda
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A Latin America regional conference on official statistics in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development took stock of international, regional, sub-regional and national initiatives to integrate and modernize statistical systems, and shape the 2030 Agenda within a Latin American context.

Participants also considered how the region can implement a sustainable economy, including within the context of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

1280784375ECLAC_logo16 September 2016: A Latin America regional conference on official statistics in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development took stock of international, regional, sub-regional and national initiatives to integrate and modernize statistical systems, and shape the 2030 Agenda within a Latin American context. Participants also considered how the region can implement a sustainable economy, including within the context of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The gathering, titled ‘Latin American Conference on a Transformative Agenda for Official Statistics in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,’ took place in Santiago, Chile, from 14-16 September 2016, organized by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the UN Statistics Division (UNSD), and with support from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Eurostat.

It followed a conference focused on the same topic for the Caribbean region, held from 7-9 September 2016, in Barbados. Conclusions from the two conferences will be part of a report to the 48th session of the UN Statistical Commission (UNSC 48), in March 2017.

Sessions took place on: coordinating global and regional statistical systems; innovation and modernization through standards-based statistical business architecture; data collection, processing and dissemination of integrated statistics; training and capacity building; and the way forward. ECLAC Executive Secretary Alicia Bárcena underscored the role of environmental innovation and a transition towards a low-carbon growth path in helping the region achieve sustainable economic growth.

Participants also discussed the role of national statistics systems in advancing measurement processes and producing Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators, and considered opportunities for innovation and modernization through standards-based statistical business architecture. Fernando Montenegro, IDB, shared the Tool for Assessing Statistical Capacity (TASC), which can be used to evaluate and measure countries’ statistical capacity.

Bárcena highlighted the the ‘Statistical Conference of the Americas,’ an ECLAC subsidiary body, as essential for the “regionalization of measurement of the 2030 Agenda in the region.” She called for statistical institutions to be “independent of political circumstances,” with the same degree of autonomy as central banks, saying this will help them respond to demands for more and better information, transparency and open data. [ECLAC Press Release] [Event Website] [Event Concept Note]

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