E/ESCAP/STAT.10/13
9 October 1996
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

Committee on Statistics
Tenth session
25-29 November 1996
Bangkok

1. At its ninth session in 1994, the Committee on Statistics decided that its office-bearers, who had been elected at the start of the ninth session, should form a Bureau whose term of office would be extended to the end of the tenth session of the Committee, with a new Bureau being elected at that stage, following consultations during the session. This note is intended to facilitate the process of electing the Bureau.

2. The functioning of the Committee and its Bureau will be taken up under item 6 of the provisional agenda, and what follows is therefore subject to decisions that may be taken under that item. At its ninth session, the Committee decided that the officials elected to the Bureau would represent their respective national statistical organizations and would not serve in their personal capacity. While subregional representation in the Bureau was favoured in principle, a flexible approach was recommended, keeping in view the effective functioning of the Committee. No specific number of members was set for the Bureau; nor was the term of the Bureau's tenure explicitly stated. These questions are being taken up in document E/ESCAP/STAT.10/6, for further consideration by the Committee.

3. As far as the subregional aspect of the Bureau's composition is concerned, the annex to this note shows the origin of the office-holders in the Committee on Statistics and its predecessor bodies -26 meetings in all. The following table, organized by subregions as delineated by ESCAP, shows the frequency of election by country or area for the Committee sessions since 1974, 1 Including the session of the Committee on Development Planning and Statistics in 1989. and in parentheses, for all meetings since 1951. The number of Committee sessions attended since 1974 appears in the last column. In reading this table, it should of course be borne in mind that the present members and associate members have joined the Commission at widely differing dates.

4. The secretariat stands ready to assist the Committee in the consultative process leading to the election of a new Bureau. One procedure that is followed in some organizations is to appoint a "kingmaker", usually a senior former office-holder of the Committee, to sound out opinions and organize consultations among interested parties, and to present an agreed slate of candidates to the Committee towards the end of the session.

Frequency of election of office-holders in the Committee on Statistics by country or area since 1974

	Chairman	Vice-chairman	Rapporteur	Number of sessions attended
Central Asia
Armenia	-	-	-	1
Azerbaijan	-	-	-	-
Kazakstan	-	-	-	-
Kyrgyzstan	-	-	-	-
Tajikistan	-	-	-	-
Turkey	-	-	-	-
Turkmenistan	-	-	-	-
Uzbekistan	-	-	-	-
East Asia/North-East Asia
China	-	-	-	7
Democratic People's Republic of Korea	-	-	-	1
Hong Kong	1 (1)	1 (1)	4 (4)	10
Japan	- (2)	- (3)	- (a/)	10
Macau	-	-	-	2
Mongolia	-	-	-	9
Republic of Korea	-	1 (1)	-	10
Russian Federationb/	-	-	-	10
Pacific
American Samoa	-	-	-	-
Australia	- (1)	-	3 (4)	10
Cook Islands	-	1 (1)	-	4
Fiji	-	2 (2)	-	4
French Polynesia	-	-	-	1
Guam	-	-	-	1
Kiribati	-	-	-	2
Marshall Islands	-	-	-	1
Micronesia (Federated States of)	-	-	-	1
Nauru	-	-	-	-
New Caledonia	-	-	-	1
New Zealand	1 (1)	2 (3)	1 (2)	10
Niue	-	-	-	-
Northern Mariana Islands	-	-	-	-
Palau	-	-	-	-
Papua New Guinea	-	-	-	4
Samoa	-	1 (1)	-	4
Solomon Islands	-	-	-	1
Tonga	-	-	-	1
Tuvalu	-	-	-	-
Vanuatu	-	-	1 (1)	2
South Asia
Afghanistan	-	1 (1)	-	6
Bangladesh	1 (1)	2 (2)	-	10
Bhutan	-	-	-	2
India	- (2)	2 (6)	- (4)c/	10
Iran (Islamic Republic of)	2 (2)	- (2)	-	9
Maldives	-	-	-	3
Nepal	-	- (1)	-	4
Pakistan	1 (1)	- (3)	- (2)d/	9
Sri Lanka	-	- (2)	- ( )a/	6
South-East Asia
Brunei Darussalam	-	-	-	4
Cambodia	-	-	-	4
Indonesia	2 (2)	1 (6)	- (2)	10
Lao People's Democratic Republic	-	-	-	4
Malaysia	1 (3)	3 (5)	-	10
Myanmar	- (1)	1 (2)	- ( )a/	3
Philippines	- (1)	- (5)	1 (1)d/	10
Singapore	-	1 (1)	-	9
Thailand	1 (8)	- (1)	- (1)d/	10
Viet Nam	-	-	-	5
Non-regional members
France	-	-	-	10
Netherlands	-	-	-	4
United Kingdom	-	-	-	10
United States of America	-	-	-	10

________
a/Shared responsibility at one meeting.
b/USSR prior to 1991.
c/Shared responsibility at two additional meetings.
d/ Shared responsibility at one additional meeting.

Annex

Origin of the office-holders in the Committee on Statistics and its predecessor bodies, 1951-1994

	Sessions of Regional Conference of Statisticians of Asia and the Far East
	1	2	3	4
Years of session	1951	1952	1954	1956
Chairman	Burmaa/	India	Malaya and British Borneo	Thailand
Vice-Chairman	Indonesia	Thailand, Burma	Pakistan, Japan	India
Rapporteur	Pakistan, India, Ceylon	Thailand, Burma	UNSO

Years of session	Sessions of Conference of Asian Statisticians
	1	2	3	4	5	6
	1957	1958	1960	1961	1963	1964
Chairman	Thailand	Thailand	Japan	Japana/	Thailand	Thailand
Vice-Chairman	India, Japan	Indonesia, Philippines	Philippines, Ceylon	Philippines, India	Pakistan, Nepal	Pakistan, New Zealand
Rapporteurb/	India, Japan	Pakistan	Pakistan	India	Indonesia	Indonesia

Years of session	Sessions of Conference of Asian Statisticians
	7	8	9	10	11	12
	1966	1967	1969	1970	1972	1973
Chairman	Thailand	Australiaa/	Thailand	Malaysiaa/	Philippinesa/	Indiaa/
Vice-Chairman	Pakistan, Philippines	Japan, Malaysia	Philippines, Indonesia	Ceylon, Iran	Iran, Indonesia	Indonesia, Malaysia
Rapporteurb/	India	New Zealand	India	Thailand	India	Australia

	Sessions of Committee on Statistics
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Years of session	1974	1976	1978	1981	1983	1985	1987
Chairman	Indonesiaa/	Islamic Republic of Irana/	Thailand	Pakistan	New Zealand	Bangladesh	Indonesia
Vice-Chairman	Burma, New Zealand	Malaysia, Bangladesh	India, Singapore	New Zealand, Malaysia	Republic of Korea, Indonesia	Samoa, Afghanistan	Cook Islands, Malaysia
Rapporteur	Hong Kongb/	Hong Kong	New Zealand	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	Australia	Australia

	Committee on Development Planning and Statistics	Sessions of Committee on Statistics
		8	9
Years of session	1989	1992	1994
Chairman	Islamic Republic of Iran	Malaysia	Hong Kong
Vice-Chairman	Philippinesc/, Hong Kong	India, Fiji	Fiji, Bangladesh
Rapporteur	Vanuatu	Australia	Philippines

________
a/ Host country.
b/ As head of the drafting committee.
c/ Office-holder not a statistician.