Pacific statisticians to meet in Fiji

SUVA, Fiji—Senior government statisticians and development partners will gather in Lautoka, Fiji, next week for a Pacific Statistics Steering Committee meeting to discuss major statistical projects and collaboration over the next five years.

The meeting will focus on next steps for implementing the Ten Year Pacific Statistics Strategy 2010-2020 which is aimed at strengthening statistical capacity throughout the region.

Committee members from Cook Islands, Fiji, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga and Vanuatu have confirmed their participation at the 12th PSSC meeting, along with the Pacific Community and invited representatives from National Statistics Offices in the Republic of Kiribati and Solomon Islands.

The speakers will include the Chair of the TYPSS process, Simil Johnson, SPC Deputy Director-General, Audrey Aumua, and the TYPSS Implementation Coordinator, Karen Komiti.

“The Pacific’s Ten Year Statistics Strategy and its programmes support informed policy-making and decision-making by governments, underpinning sustainable development,” Johnson said.

“We’ll be looking at national and regional statistics projects and other major events on the Pacific statistics calendar over the remaining five years of TYPSS, including population censuses, demographic health surveys, household income and expenditure surveys and national statistics development strategies,” he added.

Senior representatives of partner organizations, such as Australia’s Bureau of Statistics and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Pacific Islands Financial Technical Assistance Centre, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, the Pacific Community, Statistics New Zealand, United Nations Population Fund, University of the South Pacific, and World Bank, will also participate in the week-long deliberations.

Discussions on the impact and effectiveness of TYPSS initiatives in building statistical capacity are highly anticipated, as well as reports from Technical Working Groups on regional standards and classifications for administrative records, data utilisation, IT and future surveys.

Updates on Sustainable Development Goals indicators, Pacific Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS), agriculture and gender statistics, and outcomes of the recent PARIS21 workshop on Agenda 2010 and Small Island Developing States will also be covered.

The meeting will be held at the Waterfront Hotel in Lautoka from May 30 to June 2, 2016. (PR)