Working Group
of Statistical Experts, 11th Session
Bangkok,
23-26 November 1999
Tentative
Provisional Agenda for the Twelfth Session of
the Committee on Statistics
1.
At its eleventh session the
Committee on Statistics considered the draft provisional
agenda for its twelfth session in the year 2000
on the basis of a secretariat note which reflected
the recommendations of the Bureau meeting of 23
November 1998. The Committee concurred that the
emphasis for the twelfth session should be placed
on substantive statistical issues, with appropriate,
high-quality documentation. It recognized that
the provisional agenda, as amended, was still
tentative and would be suitably refined and finalized
by the Bureau before the next Committee session.
2.
The eleventh session of the
Committee was the first to conform to the three-day
format1/
decided on by the ESCAP Commission in 1997, and
at the conclusion of the session reviewed its
experience with regard to the time available for
discussion. There was a widespread view that,
despite the innovations introduced and efforts
made, the meeting had been obliged to curtail
discussion on some topics. Some representatives
felt that three days were sufficient for the Committee
to conduct its business, provided the agenda was
sufficiently focused on a few substantive topics,
with items of a reporting or programmatic nature
cut to the minimum. Several other representatives,
however, felt that an additional day would have
eased the tight schedule, and at the same time
would have afforded more opportunities for exchange
of experience. The point was also made that a
longer session was desirable to make travel to
the Committee worthwhile from the Pacific or other
distant countries. The Committee decided to attempt
to improve on the organization of the Committee
at its twelfth session in 2000, to evaluate at
that time the number of days required to conduct
its business effectively, and to report to the
Commission if it felt the three-day format to
be unworkable.
1/
In principle, the session could be of fewer than
three days.
3.
The Bureau and the Working Group will no doubt
bear these considerations in mind when it reviews
the tentative provisional agenda for the Committee's
twelfth session, which as stipulated will be
a maximum of three days duration. Other considerations
relate to
the fact that the schedule
for adoption of the medium-term plan 2002-2005,
originally slated for review at the twelfth
session of the Committee, will already have
been considered by the current session of
the Working Group;
the annualization of the
sessions of the United Nations Statistical
Commission, which means that the topics to
be taken up at the 2001 session -- to which
the Committee will no doubt wish to make an
input -- have not yet been decided on.2/
This would imply that the Bureau would need
to review the agenda for the Committee's twelfth
session after the 2000 session of the Statistical
Commission, but this does not represent a
radical departure from what currently happens
in practice.
2/
The topics for the Statistical Commission's 2000
session are listed in annex II to document STAT/WGSE.11/1.
4.
Taking these developments into account, the
following is an outline of a draft provisional
agenda for the Committee's twelfth session,
for review by the Bureau under its terms of
reference and subsequently by the Working Group
of Statistical Experts:
Opening of the session.
Adoption of the agenda.
Reports for the attention
of the Committee:
Report of the Bureau,
including implementation of the recommendations
of the Committee at its tenth and eleventh
sessions;
Report of the Working
Group of Statistical Experts;
Report on major
statistical activities of regional and
international institutions;
Reports concerning
the Statistical Institute for Asia and
the Pacific, including the reports of
the Governing Board.
Matters arising from
and inputs to major global and regional meetings.
Monitoring achievements
on key economic and social issues.
Environment statistics.
............ [emerging
issues]
Issues relating to information
technology applications.
Programme matters:
Changes to the programme
of work, 2000-2001;
Outline of the programme
of work, 2002-2003.
Other matters.
Election of the Bureau.
Adoption of the report.
5.
Additionally, the Bureau and
Working Group may wish to consider whether there
should be an "open forum" type of discussion during
the twelfth session of the Committee, and if so
what the topic(s) might be. Alternatively, this
might be left for the Bureau to decide on nearer
to the dates of the meeting.
6.
Apart from the agenda, the Bureau
and the Working Group might like to consider the
venue and date of the twelfth session of the Committee.
The venue will be Bangkok unless a member State
offers to host the meeting elsewhere, which would
entail shouldering the additional costs involved.
As to the timing, the Committee has usually met
in November of even years. It may be helpful to
settle at this stage on definite dates, to facilitate
planning on the part of members and associate
members as well as the secretariat. The secretariat
will provide the Bureau and Working Group with
some alternatives after having checked the overall
ESCAP conference schedule for 2000, which is currently
being drawn up.
