UNIDO / Rosstat high level seminar for CIS countries on the implementation of the project “Improvement of industrial statistics and development of indicators of industrial performance for policy-relevant analysis in CIS countries”

Tuesday, 17 December 2013
Venue: Austria, Vienna

     Heads and representatives of national statistics offices from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), including from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, took part in a three-day UNIDO seminar.

     Participants agreed on the need to harmonize national industrial statistics with international standards.

   The seminar was held within the framework of UNIDO’s project, “Improvement of industrial statistics and development of indicators of industrial performance for policy-relevant analysis in CIS countries”, which is funded from voluntary contributions by the Russian Federation.
Addressing the seminar, Taizo Nishikawa, Deputy to the Director General of UNIDO, stressed the crucial role of statistics in formulating industrial policy and in monitoring the progress achieved by nations in the field of inclusive and sustainable industrial development.

   Ambassador Vladimir Voronkov of Russia also spoke at the event, highlighting the importance of harmonizing industrial statistics in the region. He recalled the recent General Conference of UNIDO in Lima which gave a fresh mandate to the Organization in promoting inclusive and sustainable industrial development. Industrial sectors account for more than a quarter of GDP of CIS countries, of which around 14 per cent is produced by the manufacturing sector and the rest by the mining and utility sector. CIS countries are major suppliers of energy products to the world market.

     The project also intends to develop a number of statistical indicators for policy-relevant analysis of industrial performance of CIS countries.

     UNIDO maintains an international industrial statistical database and produces a number of statistical and analytical products. Its recent publication, The Industrial Competitiveness of Nations, attracted a lot of attention from statisticians participating in the seminar.