1. This paper follows the established practice of presenting the most significant global and regional issues that engendered discussions among official statisticians during the past year. The paper focuses on issues not covered under other agenda items and aims to stimulate regional inputs on some topics that are deemed of interest for the community of official statisticians in the Asia-Pacific region.

2. The traditional main references in the field of official statistics are the reports of the latest sessions of the United Nations Statistical Commission (New York, 6-9 March 2001); the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Bangkok, 19-25 April 2001); the Administrative Committee on Coordination, Subcommittee on Statistical Activities (Vienna, 18-20 September 2001); and the reports of the most recent activities of the city groups. Certain other meetings which discussed issues of interest to the Working Group will be cited accordingly.

Development of statistics on international trade in services

3. The most notable issue in the field of statistics on international trade in services was the approval of a new manual by the Statistical Commission at its thirty-second session. The manual^[1] had been prepared earlier by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Statistics of International Trade in Services, convened by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, with the World Trade Organization (WTO), the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Commission, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) as members. The Task Force was commended for its work in producing the manual.

4. The manual was designed taking into account and developing existing standards, such as the fifth edition of the IMF Balance of Payments Manual (BPM5) and the System of National Accounts, 1993 (1993 SNA). Furthermore, its classifications are linked to the Central Product Classification (CPC) version 1.0, the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) Revision 3, and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) negotiating list. Thus the manual is well integrated within various established frameworks in economic statistics. It is envisaged that it should serve a broad range of users well. Work in this field will continue as the Statistical Commission asked the Task Force to develop a users' manual on data collection as a next step.

5. The Task Force reported that an expert group, which was convened by the United Nations in July 2000 to review the final draft of the manual before its submission, proposed that data on trade in services be collected internationally and requested the Statistical Commission to decide which agency should be assigned the task of international collector. In this regard the Statistical Commission agreed to the proposal for international data collection on trade in services, as put forward by the Task Force, and it noted that full coordination between agencies would be required. However, the issue of which agency should be given primary responsibility for international data collection may also be of interest for the Working Group to comment on. In particular, the Working Group might wish to indicate whether primary international responsibility for data collection should clearly be assigned to an individual international organization, as happens in many other fields of statistics, and if so how the designated organization should pursue data collection, dissemination, and related activities in this topic.

6. The Working Group may wish to note that the secretariat has closely followed the process of development of the manual. The secretariat, understanding that adoption of the manual by the Statistical Commission was likely to take place, had taken early steps to draft pilot projects in the field of international trade in services statistics.

7. In November 1999 the secretariat designed a project to organize a training seminar in international trade in services statistics in Bangkok. The project aimed at strengthening the capacity of participating countries (selected countries of Asia and the Pacific seeking accession to the WTO) in collecting, processing and disseminating data on trade in services in order to enhance the tools at their disposal for policy and decision making at the Seattle Round of the WTO. Unfortunately, on that occasion the project did not receive funding. In 2000, the project was strengthened and reformulated jointly with the International Trade and Industry Division of ESCAP, but again it failed to attract the necessary extrabudgetary funding even though it was highly rated on an internal assessment. The Working Group might wish to recommend to donors, both countries and agencies, that adequate priority be given to this important field, as statistics on international trade in services are an indispensable tool for developing countries seeking accession to the WTO.

8. The Working Group may wish to suggest whether training activities in this field should be organized only for countries or economies seeking accession to WTO or for a broader range of countries, perhaps already members of that organization, but still lacking sufficient know-how in the compilation of official statistics in this field. The Working Group might also wish to guide the secretariat and comment on the areas and topics to be covered by training activities, and indicate what priority these activities should have within the current priority areas of work of the secretariat. There are many ways of supporting the efforts of countries in enhancing their capacity in collecting, processing, analysing, using, and disseminating their data on international trade in services: requesting the establishment of dedicated advisory services, organizing technical meetings at regional or subregional levels, implementing technical cooperation among developing countries, and so forth, and the views of the Working Group are needed in order to select the most appropriate means for the Asian and Pacific region.

Capital stock statistics

9. The Expert Group on Capital Stock Statistics, also known as the Canberra Group on Capital Stock Statistics, finalized work on Measuring Capital, A Manual on the Measurement of Capital Stocks, Consumption of Fixed Capital and Capital Services. The Manual is published by the OECD and draws on the methodology developed by the Expert Group on Capital Stock Statistics. The Manual is available for download at the OECD's web site at http://www1.oecd.org/std/capital.pdf. The final version of the Manual was completed in February 2001.

10. The Manual serves two complementary purposes: (i) to clarify the conceptual issues concerning stocks and flows of fixed capital in the national accounts, and (ii) to provide practical guidelines for estimation. Statistics on capital are an important component of the national accounts. In recognition of this, the Manual takes the 1993 System of National Accounts (SNA) as its starting point. The SNA framework and SNA concepts are used throughout the Manual and statistics compiled in accordance with the practices described in the Manual can be used directly in the compilation of the national accounts. The Statistical Commission welcomed the publication of the Manual and noted that the Expert Group will continue to function electronically to discuss concepts and practices in the measurement of capital stocks and flows.

Tourism statistics and satellite accounts

11. The Bureau of Statistics of the International Labour Office (ILO) reported to the Statistical Commission on its work on developing a Labour Accounting System for tourism (LAS-T). The ILO's work follows and builds upon that of the World Tourism Organization (WTO)/OECD on tourism satellite accounts, which was presented at the 2000 session of the Statistical Commission.

12. In its report the ILO reviewed the historical background and highlighted the fact that there is very little practical experience in the reconciliation of the rather fragmented statistics on labour markets (such as statistics on employment, unemployment, wages and income from employment) either among themselves or with other areas, especially economic statistics as structured by the System of National Accounts, and social and demographic statistics.

13. The ILO report covered several technical areas like the use of LAS-T, the periodicity and reference periods, the statistical units to be measured, units of measure and classifications to be used, accounting relationships, data sources, and so forth, and is itself an introduction to the methodology being developed. The Statistical Commission noted the difficulties of applying the general framework of labour accounting to such an industry as tourism. It suggested focusing first on the further development of the general labour accounting system.

14. The Working Group may wish to note that ESCAP organized in conjunction with the World Tourism Organization, the Canadian Tourism Commission, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand, a regional seminar on tourism statistics and the development of tourism satellite accounts. The seminar was held in Bangkok from 21 to 24 February 2001, and attracted some 120 participants from 28 countries/areas.

Human Settlements Statistics

15.  The international programme on human settlements statistics is a joint effort carried out by the United Nations Statistics Division and the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat)^[2]. Habitat is based in Nairobi and is the agency of the United Nations responsible for the collection and dissemination at international level of statistics on human settlements. The major goal of the work programme on human settlements statistics is to provide monitoring support for major global conferences, such as the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), held in Istanbul in 1996.

16. The Statistical Commission endorsed the human settlements statistics programme as presented in the Habitat report, including the quinquennial cycle for data collection and dissemination. It took note of the necessity and stressed the importance of reviewing and enhancing the quality of human settlements statistics, bearing in mind the cross-country comparison difficulties in this field, and of more fully utilizing census data. It also pointed out the very considerable obstacles to international agreement on standards in housing, housing conditions and human settlements development, particularly on such concepts as homelessness, of which the quantitative assessment is still prone to inaccuracies and misinterpretations, as agreement on an internationally recommended concept is yet to be reached.

17. The Statistical Commission encouraged Habitat to convene, in consultation with the United Nations Statistics Division, an expert group meeting to evaluate existing methodologies and data collection and dissemination instruments, as well as concepts and sources of city statistics, and it recognized the work on the development of more dynamic city indicators on such topics as environment, urban poverty and informal sector economic activities, which would also provide for targeting differentials within a city.

18.  The authoritative international source for human settlements statistics is the Compendium of Human Settlements Statistics; the sixth issue was released in April 2001. The publication was timed to coincide with the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly for an Overall Review and Appraisal of the Implementation of the Habitat Agenda (Istanbul+5), which was held in New York on 6-8 June 2001.

19.  The Working Group may wish to note that the Asia-Pacific office of Habitat is located in Fukuoka, Japan (see http://www.fukuoka.unchs.org/), and that ESCAP has a sub-programme on human settlements under the Population and Rural and Urban Development Division. Their web site is at http://www.unescap.org/huset/index.html.

Gender Statistics, Paid and Unpaid Work, and Time-Use Surveys

20.  Gender Statistics, one of the priority areas of work of the ESCAP statistical programme, was the subject of a wall chart entitled Gender Statistics 2000 - Asia and the Pacific, which was published by the secretariat in time for the ESCAP Commission session in June 2001. Gender statistics continued to be discussed by the Statistical Commission, which welcomed the initiatives of the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) in the measurement of paid and unpaid work, in particular the development of a guide to producing statistics on time use for measuring paid and unpaid work and the website on time-use surveys^[3] (http://www.un.org/Depts/unsd/timeuse/index.htm). The Commission noted the value of time-use statistics, not only for issues related to gender but also more broadly for quality-of-life concerns, social accounting, care of the elderly, estimates of the workforce and total work accounts.

21.  The Statistical Commission endorsed the outline for the guide, subject to suggestions made by the Commission, and raised a number of specific issues related to the design and methods of time-use surveys that the guide should address, including the effect of resources and other constraints, considerations related to sampling, non-response rates, respondent burden, the use of information technology, and ensuring the consistency of the classification with the System of National Accounts. Considerations related to the dissemination and use of time-use statistics, including in the valuation of unpaid work, were also raised. Many countries expressed interest in sharing the results of their work and in continuing to collaborate with UNSD in the development of the guide.

22.  Integrating paid and unpaid work and the development of time use surveys are also subjects of discussion within a larger project supported by APGEN, the UNDP-funded Asia-Pacific Gender Equality Network (http://www.apgen.apdip.net/). The two subjects form one of the four components of the project. ESCAP is responsible for the implementation of this component, with a Regional Resource Group (RRG) playing a steering role. The RRG, which comprises persons from various national and international agencies including ESCAP, held two meetings in Bangkok during 2001. The first meeting was held in March, and the second in September, prior to the Workshop on Integrating Paid and Unpaid Work in National Systems, 24 to 27 September 2001.

23.  Activities of the RRG include the release of a Guidebook on Integrating Paid and Unpaid Work into National Policies, which is expected to be finalized by the end of 2001. The Guidebook focuses on several methodological aspects, but includes also policy-making and advocacy. The Working Group may wish to note that ESCAP and the RRG have been working in very close coordination with the United Nations Statistics Division on this subject. These coordination efforts have avoided the duplication of work and of outputs, as the RRG's Guidebook and the Guide for Time Use Surveys being prepared by the United Nations Statistics Division are complementary to each other. Prospects for integrated frameworks in social statistics

24. In reporting to the Statistical Commission, the Siena Group for Social Statistics presented its latest activities and what it believes is the trend for the development of social statistics. The most recent meeting of the Siena Group was held in Maastricht from 22 to 24 May 2000 and had as theme "Accounting in social statistics and indicators for social development"^[4].

25.  According to the Siena Group, the increased need for monitoring economic and social developments via a restricted set of authoritative indicators based on consistent frameworks of statistical indicators is the main cause for the ongoing transformation of social statistics from a wide variety of isolated statistics into integrated systems. This is happening at national as well as at international level, where the Statistical Commission has set up a "Friends of the Chair" expert group on development indicators (see paper STAT/WGSE.12/9).

26.  Activities in this direction have already begun at national level too. Some national statistical offices have experimented with integrating surveys, building accounting systems, using existing registers, or planning for new administrative sources. These country experiences were analysed during the Maastricht meeting in 2000. The ultimate goal of the Siena Group is to promote an analysis of the frameworks for integrating social, economic, and demographic data for the purpose of policy formulation and analysis.

27.  The Working Group might wish to comment on the desirability and the advantages of having integrated and consistent frameworks of statistical indicators and social accounting systems, bearing in mind also the positive side effects on international harmonization and comparability.

The issue of quality of official statistics

28.  The quality of official statistics has become one of the most discussed issues among official statisticians worldwide. In this field, a leading role is played by the IMF, which is developing the so-called Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF). In defining the DQAF the IMF has built on its experience in monitoring the implementation of its standards, the SDDS and GDDS. The framework comprises a generic assessment framework and specific assessment frameworks for the main aggregates used for macroeconomic analysis. The generic framework, which brings together internationally accepted core principles, standards, and practices for official statistics, serves as the umbrella under which the dataset-specific quality assessment frameworks are developed.

29.  Another important contribution in exchanging information on the best practices adopted by countries is the UNSD's web site on good practices in official statistics. The web site is accessible at http://esa.un.org/unsd/goodprac/ and presents a collection of good practices of countries and organizations with regard to the ten Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics adopted by the Statistical Commission in 1994.

30.  The issue of the quality of official statistics was discussed at regional level at the Statistical Quality Seminar 2000, which was held from 6 to 8 December 2000 in Jeju Island, Republic of Korea. In that seminar the available frameworks, approaches, objectives, techniques and instruments developed to promote and monitor the quality of official statistics were noted. Despite the differences among the approaches used, it was concluded that an overriding common characteristic of these approaches should be that they take the users' needs as their principal starting point, and that a key success factor for all quality initiatives was the commitment of the senior management of statistical offices. The work of IMF and of other international statistical players in data quality issues was appreciated.

The Asian Statistical Forum

31.  The Working Group is informed that at the recent International Statistical Institute (ISI) session held in Seoul, discussions on the idea of establishing an Asian Statistical Forum (ASF) continued. The first formal step towards establishing the ASF was during the International Statistical Forum held in Taejon, Republic of Korea in September 1999. At that meeting the theme of the discussion was the enhancement of regional cooperation in statistics. Participants, in recognizing the usefulness demonstrated by that meeting and the need for continued mutual cooperation and integration by way of exchange of professional knowledge and findings among statisticians in East Asia, recommended establishing an Asian Statistical Forum. The Forum is envisaged to be held on a systematic and regular basis, involving among others national statistical offices, statistical societies and associations, and academic institutions.

32.  In August 2000, in conjunction with the Ninth Meeting of the Heads of the National Statistical Offices of East Asian Countries in Gotemba, Japan, the ASF held its first meeting. The discussions were centred on its future development: the ASF was seen as an effort to provide a forum where different players in statistics could meet and exchange their ideas. The view was that, as in Western countries, Asian countries also need dialogue and cooperation between official, private sector and academic statisticians. Issues such as training, the statistical curricula, the information society, and international cooperation were outlined as future areas of work for the Forum.

33.  So far there have been expressions of interest for continuing to build up this initiative, especially during the recent ISI session, where the ASF was one of the topics discussed on the basis of papers from several statisticians of the Asia-Pacific region. Many speakers at the ISI supported the general intent behind the establishment of the ASF, and a number of ideas were put forward in relation to its objectives and possible activities. It was suggested that the Forum should establish its own web site for facilitating the exchange of information. For the time being it appears that the ASF may continue to function with the support of individual national statistical offices and to meet in conjunction with other forums.

34.  The Working Group might wish to discuss the initiative of establishing the Asian Statistical Forum, and provide suggestions from the perspective of official statisticians on issues such as its mission, the level of institutionalization, and geographical coverage.

The PARIS21 initiative

35.  Activities of PARIS21 (Partnerships in Statistics for Development in the 21^st Century) have continued during the past year. PARIS21 is a consortium where producers, users, donors, and recipients in the field of official statistics share a common stake and communicate in order to strengthen the capacity of national statistical systems. PARIS21 is not an operational agency; it has a small secretariat, and aims to act as a catalyst. PARIS21 has divided its work among a number of dedicated task forces. The last full consortium meeting was held in Paris from 4 to 5 October 2001. The participants from the Asia-Pacific region were the chiefs, or deputy chiefs, of the national statistical offices of Kyrgyzstan and of Mongolia, a researcher from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, and the Director of SIAP.

36.  In its first two years, PARIS21 has been active mostly in Africa. However, its plans for the biennium 2002-2003 include initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region too. In particular, there is a budgeted workshop for the Asia-Pacific region to be tentatively held in the third quarter of 2002, with some follow-up activities scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2002. Activities in 2002 would also include the development of "Asian" pages within the PARIS21's web site. In 2003, PARIS21 has budgeted other two regional events, in the first and the third quarters, with follow-up activities to be developed throughout the whole year.

37.  The attention of the Working Group is particularly directed to the possibility of benefiting from some available funding set aside for the regional events scheduled for the period 2002-2003. The Working Group is invited to note that PARIS21 is active in several areas of work, including (i) advocacy, (ii) indicators of statistical capacity building, (iii) statistical strategic planning, (iv) agricultural and rural statistics, (v) population censuses. The Working Group might therefore like to identify what areas of work it would wish to pursue and promote with regard to PARIS21 activities for the Asia-Pacific region, and to indicate which channels of communication to use for conveying its comments.

Other issues

38.  The Working Group may like to note that the newest revision of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, generally referred to as the "Harmonized System" or simply "HS", will enter into force from 1 January 2002 following the recommendation of the Customs Cooperation Council of 25 June 1999. Information on the amendments contained in the revision is available at the World Customs Organization web site at http://www.wcoomd.org/. The Statistical Commission discussed the updating and revision of other economic classifications^[5]. In particular, the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) and the Central Product Classification (CPC) will be updated by 2002, and their revision is scheduled for 2007. The Working Group may wish to note that the Statistical Commission suggested that the Expert Group on International Economic and Social Classifications consider the possibility of further synchronizing and coordinating the revision of classifications supporting production and trade, so that resulting data becomes more comparable.

39. The Working Group's attention is also drawn to XML technology, which is the object of increased interest among statisticians worldwide^[6]. XML, which stands for eXtensible Markup Language, is not a language itself, but is a meta-language that allows the definition of tailor-made languages that can be used for web page design. The most attractive feature of XML is its ability to split the definition of the content and of the representation of a web document, giving the document a well-defined structure. What is interesting to note is that XML has been discussed in several statistical forums as the technology that could provide an open source standard for dissemination of statistical information over the web. As an example in other fields, XML was used for the definition of the Mathematical Markup Language, or MathML as a W3C^[7] standard (W3C Recommendation of 21 February 2001). MathML is an XML application for describing mathematical notation and capturing both its structure and content. The goal of MathML is to enable mathematics to be served, received, and processed on the World Wide Web, just as HTML has enabled this functionality for text. XML is going to be discussed at the next session of the Statistical Commission (agenda item 7.(c)). The Working Group might wish to invite national statistical agencies to monitor the evolution of this web technology for their own dissemination programmes. The Working Group might also wish to comment on the desirability of defining an international standard for web dissemination of statistics and in doing so, also clarify the roles that statistical players should have at international, regional, and national level in order for such a standard to be put in operation.

40. The Working Group may wish to note and comment on the UNSD statistical capacity-building initiative that has been undertaken for ASEAN countries during 2001, with ESCAP as a cooperating agency. The initiative comprises numerous technical workshops covering several fields of statistics, organized on a rotational basis throughout the member countries of ASEAN. Moreover, the project provides funds for strengthening technical infrastructure (mainly computers), and for training. Project activities for ASEAN countries are going to be completed by the end of 2002. The project, which is funded by the Development Account of the United Nations, builds on the experience that UNSD gained with Caribbean countries (the CARICOM group) where such a project was first implemented. The project will be further replicated in the coming years for member countries of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). The Working Group might wish to comment on whether other subregions or groupings of the ESCAP region might benefit from such a capacity-building project in future.

41. The 53rd session of the International Statistical Institute was held from 22 to 29 August 2001 in Seoul. With the Korean National Statistical Office as the prime organizer, the attendance was a record at over 2,400 participants. The ISI sessions traditionally cover all major aspects of statistics: from its methodology to applications, from very theoretical fields in inference and probability to more practical discussions on official statistics. As far as official statistics are concerned, many issues were covered. A number of important and interesting invited and contributed papers are posted on the session's web site at http://www.nso.go.kr/isi2001/.

42.  The Working Group might like to note that the International Association for Official Statistics (IAOS), one of the sections of ISI, will hold its next conference in London, 27-29 August 2002. The theme of the conference will be "Official Statistics and the New Economy". The programme and instructions on submission of papers for the Conference have been issued; current information on the Conference is already on the web and available at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/iaoslondon2002/default.asp.

43.  As reported at the twelfth session of the Committee on Statistics, the Canberra Group on Household Income Statistics met for the fourth and last time in May 2000. The Working Group may wish to note that the final report and recommendations are now available in hardcopy form as well as on the Group's web site at http://lisweb.ceps.lu/links/canberra/finalreport.pdf.

Issues on which the Working Group is invited to provide its comments

44.  To recapitulate, the Working Group might wish to:

1. Indicate whether primary international responsibility for data collection on statistics in international trade in services should be clearly assigned to an individual international organization. - Para 5.
2. Recommend to donors, both countries and agencies, that adequate priority be given to statistics on international trade in services. - Para 7.
3. Provide suggestions on how to implement training activities covering the field of statistics on international trade in services. - Para 8.
4. Comment on the desirability and the advantages of having integrated and consistent frameworks of statistical indicators and social accounting systems. - Para 27.
5. Discuss the initiative of establishing the Asian Statistical Forum, and provide suggestions from the perspective of official statisticians on issues such as its mission, the level of institutionalization, and geographical coverage. - Para 34.
6. Identify what areas of work it would wish to pursue and promote with regard to PARIS21 activities for the Asia-Pacific region, and to indicate which channels of communication to use for conveying its comments. - Para 37.
7. Invite national statistical agencies to monitor the evolution of the XML technology for their own dissemination programmes and to comment on the desirability of defining an international standard for web dissemination of statistics. - Para 39.
8. Note the UNSD statistical capacity-building initiative that has been undertaken for ASEAN countries during 2001, with ESCAP as a cooperating agency, and to comment on whether other subregions or groupings of the ESCAP region might benefit from such a capacity-building project in future. - Para 40.

Provisional agenda and documentation for the thirty-third session of the Statistical Commission^[8]

1. Election of officers.
2. Adoption of the agenda and other organizational matters.
3. Demographic and social statistics:
   1. Population and housing censuses;
   2. Paris Group on Labour and Compensation (city group);
   3. Rio Group on Poverty Statistics (city group);
   4. Siena Group for Social Statistics (city group);
   5. Health statistics.
4. Economic statistics:
   1. National accounts;
   2. Round Table on Business Survey Frames (city group);
   3. Public finance accounting;
   4. International Comparison Programme;
   5. Ottawa Group on Price Statistics (city group);
   6. Intersecretariat Group on Price Statistics;
   7. Delhi Group on Informal Sector Statistics (city group);
   8. Voorburg Group on Service Statistics (city group).
5. Natural resources and environment statistics.
6. Statistical capacity-building.
7. Activities not classified by field:
   1. International economic and social classifications;
   2. The Special Data Dissemination Standard and the General Data Dissemination System;
   3. Use of extensible mark-up language for transmitting statistics;
   4. Information technology (E-commerce) and statistics;
   5. Dissemination of statistics by the United Nations Statistics Division;
   6. Coordination of development indicators;
   7. Meeting the needs for statistics of human development;
   8. Follow-up to Economic and Social Council resolutions;
   9. Coordination and integration of statistical programmes;
   10. Programme questions (United Nations Statistics Division).
8. Provisional agenda and dates for the thirty-fourth session of the Commission.
9. Report of the Commission on its thirty-third session.