1. Introduction
2. Brief history of the conference structure
3. Recent developments
4. Issues related to the statistics programme
   1. Broad and cross-cutting nature of statistical work
   2. Orientation of the statistics subprogramme
5. Issues related to the Committee on Statistics
   1. Translating themes into structures
   2. Participation at subsidiary bodies of the Commission
   3. Need for a regional statistical forum
   4. Position of the Committee on Statistics in global statistical infrastructure
6. Next steps

• Annex I: Excerpt from the draft résumé of discussions of the 258^th session of the Advisory Committee of Permanent Representatives and Other Representatives Designated, by Members of the Commission, 25 September 2001
• Annex II: Extract from the Commission report for 1988 (document E/1988/35)
• Annex III: Attendance at the subsidiary bodies of the Commission from 1992
• Annex IV: Extract from the report of the United Nations Statistical Commission, 1993

I.  INTRODUCTION

1. At its twelfth session in late 2000, the Committee on Statistics had reviewed its own functioning under ESCAP Commission resolution 53/1 on restructuring the conference structure of the Commission.  The Committee noted that the Commission was scheduled to reconsider its conference structure not later than its 2002 session, and that preliminary discussions would take place in 2001.  Given its high levels of participation and representation from the capitals, the Committee felt that there was sound justification for its continued existence within the conference structure.  The Committee decided to authorize its Bureau to monitor developments with regard to the conference structure and to make any necessary representations on behalf of the Committee in connection with its terms of reference.

2. The Commission at its fifty-seventh session endorsed the report of the Committee on Statistics.  The Commission held an interim discussion of resolution 53/1 at the session, but there was no reference to any particular committee in the conference structure.  The deliberations focused on the Executive Secretary's revitalization efforts and programme issues.  The revitalization process was to take place in close coordination with the members and associate members and the Advisory Committee of Permanent Representatives and Other Representatives Designated by Members of the Commission (ACPR), in order to ensure that the programme of work would be member-country-owned and demand-driven. 

3. The Bureau has subsequently been monitoring developments in the conference and related structures.  There has been little direct reference to the Committee on Statistics, apart from an exchange at the ACPR session of 25 September 2001, the report of which is excerpted in Annex I.  There have however been a number of developments with apparent implications for the Committee as well as for the statistics programme and Statistics Division, and these are described in the paper.  To place the current discussions in context, the document commences with a brief review of earlier developments in the conference structure.

II.  BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CONFERENCE STRUCTURE

4. ESCAP has seen many reforms in its history, not least that in 1974 that recognized the social element of the Commission's work, explicitly included the Pacific subregion, and did away with colonial era geographical nomenclature.^[1]  The 1974 reform also gave birth to the Committee on Statistics, which replaced the Conference of Asian Statisticians and its predecessor Regional Conference of Statisticians.^[2]   This note focuses on developments in the later period, especially since 1990.  The nine sectoral Committees established in 1974 survived with minimal changes into the mid-1980s; the Committee on Statistics was one of them.  In the wake of a systemwide review of the efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations in 1986, the nine "Legislative Committees" were reduced to seven, which led to the combination of the Committee on Statistics and the Committee on Development Planning.  This merger caused some controversy and the discussion on the matter at the 1988 Commission session is reproduced in Annex II of this paper, since some of the arguments offered would still appear to have some relevance.

5. The merger went ahead and the first (and as it turned out, the last) session of the Committee on Development Planning and Statistics was held in July 1989.  There were many observations that the deliberations in the Committee had not been fully satisfactory; in particular, there had been little of the expected cross-fertilization of ideas between the planners and the statisticians in that Committee.^[3] Subsequently, following resolution 48/2 of April 1992, the Committee on Statistics was reinstituted, and held its eighth session in November 1992.^[4]. While the statisticians of the region were able to meet again in their own forum, they did so within a markedly changed conference structure.  In 1990 a Group of Eminent Persons was tasked with exploring the feasibility and desirability of a more radical reorganization of the overall conference structure.^[5] Among alternative solutions, the Group of Eminent Persons on the Intergovernmental Subsidiary Structure rejected a model  having  a   significant  number  (38)  of  intergovernmental  and  technical  working groups in various sectors and subsectors, along with Ministerial meetings in a mixture of sectoral and cross-sectoral fields.  Instead, the Group lay the foundation for the thematic approach which was to bear fruit in resolution 48/2 and which remains to this point as the main philosophy underlying the present conference structure.

6. The 1990 Group of Eminent Persons noted that the intergovernmental structure of ESCAP had been a virtually constant preoccupation of the Commission since the 1970s.  They were asked by the then Executive Secretary to tackle the "vexed question" of the relative lack of vitality of most parts of the subsidiary structure of the Commission.  The Group of Eminent Persons noted the sectoral organization of ESCAP, including its conference structure and its secretariat structure, but noted also that the Commission had in-house multisectoral capabilities.  It therefore proposed that ESCAP should adopt a thematic approach to organizing its subsidiary structure, and selected three initial themes: Regional Economic Cooperation; Environment and Sustainable Development; and Poverty Alleviation and Economic Growth.^[6]  They therefore proposed three thematic committees in these areas which with some modification were set up from 1992.  They also recognized that while the thematic approach was the ultimate goal, a mix of sectoral and thematic approaches would be necessary for what they felt would be a transitional period.  Hence resolution 48/2 established not only three thematic committees but also two "other" committees for Statistics, and Transport and Communications.

7. The Group of Eminent Persons identified many issues and problems involving the region which needed an interdisciplinary approach.  The Group of Eminent Persons also felt that the strength of the secretariat staff could be best utilized in working on important themes that caught the imagination, and that met the concern and interest of countries in such a way as to motivate them to participate in a meaningful way in the appropriate forums of the Commission.  The Group also thought that governments themselves would increasingly reorganize themselves along thematic multisectoral lines and thus be in a position to participate strongly in the thematic committees set up by the Commission.  They also expected that eventually the technical committees of Statistics and Transport would be subsumed within the thematic structure.

8. These latter developments have not come to pass.  The three thematic committees have not lived up to the promise that was anticipated for them by the Group of Eminent Persons in 1990.  Even after their review in 1997 which resulted in largely cosmetic changes to their titles and terms of reference, they had difficulty attracting as many countries to their deliberations as have the committees in Transport and Statistics.  This is particularly so in terms of delegations which are represented from the capital.  Governments themselves have basically remained organized on sectoral lines.  Thus there has been, for most sessions of the thematic committees, difficulties in deciding on a delegation from the capitals, with a tendency to allow the committees to be serviced from the embassies of respective countries in Bangkok.  Annex III contains a collection of graphs which indicate that participation in the thematic committees, and especially participation from capitals, is lower than that of the sectoral committees and is on a declining trend.

III.  RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

9. The thematic orientation envisaged by the Group of Eminent Persons in 1990 has been carried forward to a large extent in the conference structure, as indicated by the existence of the three thematic committees.  The transition to the programme structure has been slower, although by the 2000-2001 biennium there were subprogrammes on Regional Economic Cooperation and Environment and Natural Resources Development.  (There were however also subprogrammes on Development Research and Policy Analysis; Social Development; Population and Rural and Urban Development; Transport, Communications, Tourism and Infrastructure Development; and Statistics, indicating still a generally sectoral approach).  In terms of the secretariat structure, the thematic approach is even less evident with only the Environment and Natural Resources Development Division corresponding reasonably clearly to one of the themes identified earlier.

10. For reasons of sound organization and accountability, it is generally considered desirable to have a high degree of congruence between the conference, programme and secretariat structures.  During the present revitalization process, it was at one time envisaged that work on these linked structures would proceed simultaneously.  It has now been decided that the broad programme structure would be tackled first, with the conference and secretariat structures to follow.

11. In wishing to focus the work of ESCAP in the light of a basically unchanged quantum of regular budget resources, the Executive Secretary has put forward three priority themes.  While the exact formulation has varied, these are basically (1) Poverty Reduction, (2) Managing Globalization, and (3) Emerging Social Issues.  The Commission at its fifty-seventh session in 2001 acknowledged the pertinence of these three main areas of focus, while also emphasizing the importance of several other issues.  At a Retreat of the Advisory Committee of Permanent Representatives and Other Representatives Designated by Members of the Commission (ACPR) from 2 to 4 November 2001, a Concept Paper (available to the Working Group as STAT/WGSE.12/CRP.1) was presented containing chapters on the three themes above.  No strong objection was raised by ACPR, and thus the three themes are likely to form the basis for a broad programme structure for ESCAP.  While there are three programmatic themes, preliminary indications are that the number of subprogrammes will be greater, possibly not fewer than the seven that currently exist.

12. In an initial grouping of the existing divisions of the ESCAP secretariat, the Statistics Division has been placed in the Poverty Reduction grouping, along with the Development Research and Policy Analysis Division and the Population and Rural and Urban Development Division.  The secretariat divisions dealing with International Trade and Industry; Environment and Natural Resources Development; and Transport, Communications, Tourism and Infrastructure Development have been grouped under the Managing Globalization theme. One existing substantive division, the Social Development Division, has been aligned with the Emerging Social Issues theme.  Because of this grouping, the Concept Paper which was placed before the ACPR Retreat contains several statistical references in the chapter on Poverty Reduction, but hardly any in the Managing Globalization and Emerging Social Issues chapters. 

13. The Concept Paper is now undergoing revision to further narrow the focus of the work programme, with fields in which the secretariat would no longer work to be identified.  At the same time, it was stated at the ACPR Retreat that the focus areas enumerated in the Concept Paper were not intended to represent the totality of ESCAP's work (this would perhaps apply, for example, to much of the secretariat's data collection and dissemination work).  The extent to which statistical work would be focused on the Poverty Reduction theme, and the corresponding extent to which it would be involved in the other two themes of Managing Globalization and Emerging Social Issues, and indeed in other work which cuts across all three themes, has not yet been the subject of discussion. 

IV.  ISSUES RELATED TO THE STATISTICS PROGRAMME

A. Broad and cross-cutting nature of statistical work

14. There are some considerations relating to statistical work which the Working Group may like to address.  The chapter of the Concept Paper on poverty reduction mentions several areas of statistics in addition to poverty measurement, including national accounts and purchasing power parities.  Given that statistics is the basis for a clear understanding of any issue, and that relevant statistics at national level are needed for informed planning, evaluation and monitoring purposes, the omission of other statistical activities from the Concept Paper may mean that statistics are not needed directly for the implementation of programmes in the other focal areas, or that other statistical work falls  outside the purview of the Concept Paper.^[7]  The Committee on Statistics has long recognized the need to focus the work of the secretariat, and currently has designated six priority areas for 2002-2003, not all of which are specifically mentioned in the Concept Paper.  Further, it is generally recognized that there is some portion of statistical work which is overarching in nature, relating for example to statistical organization, management and legislation; advocacy of the importance of the statistical function in policy formulation and decision-making; the central role of statistics in the strengthening of evidence-based societies; and promotion of the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics.  In these latter areas ESCAP is probably the only organization in the region which is doing, or has the potential to do, significant work.

15. In light of the above, the Working Group may wish to consider the scope and degree of focus of a future ESCAP work programme in statistics.  It would also be helpful if, in the spirit of the Concept Paper, the Working Group could identify areas of statistics in which the secretariat should cease work.

B. Orientation of the statistics subprogramme

16. Another point of programmatic nature concerns the orientation of the Statistics subprogramme in future.  Over the years, indeed decades, the basic orientation of the Statistics subprogramme has been external, related to capacity building in member States.  The consistent view of the Committee on Statistics, reiterated  most recently at its twelfth session in late 2000, is that the thrust of the subprogramme should lie in promoting statistical development in the region.  The statistical information service activities of the secretariat have also been somewhat externally-oriented, with the focus on publications and tabulations for external rather than internal users.  The secretariat's internal users often have specialized needs for statistics which are best satisfied through their own contacts in, say, line ministries of government.^[8]  There have been some recent suggestions that the statistical work of the secretariat might focus more on the internal function of support to other areas of ESCAP work.  There certainly is scope for providing greater statistical support internally, including in the areas of questionnaire design, statistical analysis, and presentation of data.  However, this could be achieved only at the expense of externally-oriented activities unless resources for statistics as a whole are to be increased.

17. In a related matter, the Committee has urged the secretariat to assist in the building of national statistical capacity and has recognized that extrabudgetary resources are often necessary in that regard.  Indeed at its twelfth session the Committee asked the secretariat to prepare projects for the benefit of the countries in certain areas: information and communication technology, statistical classifications, the International Comparison Programme and statistics on social issues.  Extrabudgetary resources will most certainly be required if these projects are to materialize.  In line with the internal orientation described above, and a focus on regular budget work, there may be some limitations in the mobilization of extrabudgetary funds for statistical projects, particularly perhaps those of a general capacity-building nature.

18. The Working Group may like to give its views on the desired future orientation of the Statistics subprogramme, from the two angles described above.

V.  ISSUES RELATED TO THE COMMITTEE ON STATISTICS

A. Translating themes into structures

19. As indicated earlier, the Commission has already recognized the pertinence the three themes identified by the Executive Secretary.  It is easy to envisage that they, or themes similar to them, could form the basis of a focused programme.  A key issue seems to be how the three themes will be implemented in terms of the work programme, in the secretariat's operations (that is in terms of divisions of ESCAP) and in the conference structure consisting of bodies like the Committee on Statistics.  As past experience has shown, translating the thematic approach into programme structures, and particularly effective secretariat and committee structures, has proved problematic.

B. Participation at subsidiary bodies of the Commission

20. As can be seen in Annex III, the attendance and participation at the Committee on Statistics is the highest among any existing subsidiary body of ESCAP, with a large number of delegations represented from the capitals by chief or deputy chief statisticians.  There are a number of factors for this, no doubt, but the existence of appropriate, clearly identifiable national counterparts in governments is clearly a key one.  The availability of counterparts, their willingness and ability to come to meetings at government expense, and the fact that such a situation is clearly sustainable, would appear to be an important prerequisite for any programme to create impact.  It also is necessary in maintaining an interactive and sustained relationship between governments and the ESCAP secretariat.  To maintain relevance for countries, it seems important to focus on substantive and if possible action-oriented topics, rather than administrative and process issues; this has been a trend in the Committee on Statistics in recent years once the essential institutional infrastructure such as the terms of reference and the bureau had been set up.  Close and sustained interest in the objectives and work programme of the secretariat, careful scrutiny of the degree of implementation of recommendations of the Committee, and involvement of countries themselves in agenda-setting and substantive preparations for meetings, have all appeared to increase member countries' sense of ownership of the Committee and the programme.  The Committee would seem to be an example of what might be termed a 'sustainable governance structure'.

C. Need for a regional statistical forum

21. In considering a possible future conference structure, the Working Group will no doubt be aware of the strong collegial atmosphere that already exists among the statisticians of the region, providing a fruitful basis for cooperation and collaboration.  Although there are a growing number of forums where official statisticians gather, the ESCAP Committee on Statistics is currently still recognized as the apex body for the Asia-Pacific region.  Should ESCAP for any reason not be in a position to provide a suitable forum, it seems more than likely that Asian and Pacific statisticians would use another existing forum, or constitute a new one, to exchange and articulate their views.  Any other forum would, almost certainly, be outside the United Nations system.  The timing of such a development, if it occurred, would be particularly unfortunate since the statisticians of the region are just beginning to have a significant influence on the global statistical agenda, which hitherto has been dominated by European and North American thinking and circumstances.  The momentum of such influence has been growing in recent years, and has been channelled largely through the Committee on Statistics to the United Nations Statistical Commission, to which the chairs of the regional conferences of statisticians are invited.

D. Position of the Committee on Statistics in global statistical infrastructure

22. On a related point, the Working Group might also note that the United Nations Statistical Commission views the regional conferences of statisticians like the Committee on Statistics, which between them have universal membership, as vital links between the centre and the countries.  They also see the regional conferences of statisticians as the focus of regional statistical development, and indeed this is why the terms of reference of the Committee are prefaced with this phrase. The full recommendation of the United Nations Statistical Commission in relation to the role of the regional statistical divisions and conferences of chief statisticians is shown in Annex IV.  Should developments in the conference structure of ESCAP have the effect of altering in any significant way the role and scope of the Committee on Statistics, there is therefore likely to be concern beyond the Asia-Pacific region.  The concern is not entirely a theoretical one given the experience at another regional commission, where a subcommittee on statistics was formed under another committee.  An evaluation report commissioned by the Co-ordinating Committee on African Statistical Development noted as one of its main findings that 'restructuring of the ECA's statistical activities was perceived by countries to have downgraded the status of statistics at ECA's secretariat'.^[9]

VI.  NEXT STEPS

23. The secretariat has provided member States with a 'road map' for the review of the implementation of resolution 53/1.  As slightly amended by events, it is as follows:

October 2001:	Dissemination of secretariat "concept papers" on: poverty alleviation managing globalization emerging social issues
November 2001:	ACPR Retreat considers overall concept paper entitled 'Focusing ESCAP's Programme' (available as STAT/WGSE.12/CRP.1). ACPR Informal Working Group begins meeting on preliminary framework of revised programme, conference structure.
December 2001:	Continuation of ACPR IWG deliberations.
January 2002:	Continuation of ACPR IWG deliberations; Finalization and dispatch of documents, letters of Invitation for Intergovernmental Meeting to Governments.
March (Second week):	Convening of Intergovernmental Meeting (Bangkok) 2002
March-April 2002:	Finalizing and dispatch of report of Intergovernmental Meeting to Governments
16-22 May 2002:	Fifty-eighth session of the Commission

24. With regard to the time frame for a new programme structure, it has been recognized that the biennium 2002-2003, for which proposals are basically before the General Assembly, should be a kind of transition period, while substantial change, of whatever measure it might be, would take place in the 2004-2005 biennium.

25. The Working Group should therefore have an opportunity to inject its input into this process, inter alia through its representatives on the Informal Working Group of ACPR.  It might like to structure its views around the following issues which are discussed in this paper:

1. The continued existence of the Committee on Statistics in any new conference structure, as implicitly endorsed by the ESCAP Commission at its fifty-seventh session (paragraph 2);
2. The possible effects on programme and conference arrangements of the placement of the Statistics Division in the Poverty Reduction grouping, (paragraph 12);
3. The scope, priorities and degree of focus of a future work programme in statistics, and identification of any areas of statistics in which the secretariat should cease work (paragraph 15);
4. The orientation of the statistics programme in terms of internal and external functions, and with regard to operational activities and extrabudgetary funding (paragraph 18);
5. The experience of the Committee on Statistics as a 'sustainable governance structure' (paragraph 20);
6. The need for a regional statistical forum, and its links to the United Nations system and global statistical infrastructure (paragraphs 21-22).

Annex I

Excerpt from the draft résumé of discussions of the 258^th session of the Advisory Committee of Permanent Representatives and Other Representatives Designated

by Members of the Commission, 25 September 2001

Another representative stated that his Government fully supported the reform and revitalization of ESCAP but emphasized the need to retain and enhance the work in areas which ESCAP has done well, such as the work of the Committee on Statistics and the Statistics Division relating to coordinated statistical development in the Asian and Pacific region and support for developing countries in statistical infrastructure building.  He said that ESCAP was well placed to provide a leadership role in those areas and that his Government would be concerned if the specialized focus of the work of ESCAP was eroded.  His Government expected that the reform efforts would have a positive impact on the operation of the Committee on Statistics, the work of the Statistics Division and the secretariat. ...

The Executive Secretary expressed his appreciation for the constructive and valuable comments made by ACPR members.  He assured the members that the proposed part reorientation of the work programme towards poverty alleviation would not weaken the work in the area of statistics, but stated that he expected that Division to contribute more to poverty statistics in terms of data collection and analysis.  He did not intend to reduce the role and scope of the Committee on Statistics; rather the shift in orientation would serve to ensure that its work conformed to the three areas of focus and it would be more evident in the programme of work for the 2004-2005 biennium (as the programme of work for the 2002-2003 biennium had already been finalized and was under consideration for approval by the General Assembly).  He added, however, that efforts would be made to integrate the focus areas into the work programme for 2002 and 2003.

Annex II

Extract from the Commission report for 1988 (document E/1988/35)

598. The Commission examined at length the question of the scheduled merger of the Committee on Statistics and the Committee on Development Planning, and noted the strongly-held views for and against the merger as reported in document E/ESCAP/595.

599. Some delegations felt that the restructuring of the legislative committees of the Commission, including the merger of the Committees on Statistics and Development Planning, aimed at economy and efficiency through the full utilization of the secretariat's expertise in a multi-disciplinary manner.  There was logic in merging development planning with one of its most important tools.  Those delegations, therefore, supported the merger in principle, although a number of comments concerning the effects of the merger were offered.

600. Other delegations, while appreciating the urgent need for budgetary and administrative streamlining in the light of the financial constraints faced by the United Nations, felt that statistical programmes in the region would suffer from the lower priority they might receive under the merger.  Concern was also expressed that statistical representation in a merged Committee would fall away, and that the smaller Pacific island countries would suffer particularly in that regard.  There was further concern at the potential loss of a separate, distinct forum where the statisticians of the region could meet to discuss common problems and benefit from the sharing of experience.  Those delegations urged ESCAP to continue to provide such a forum, since the Committee on Statistics had done much useful work in setting out guidelines for the development of statistical services and currently promoted multidisciplinary assistance in all sectors of development.

601. A number of delegations also expressed the view that a merger of the Committees should not jeopardize the maintenance of a separate identity for the statistical activities of ESCAP, nor result in a downgrading of those activities in what was a vital and effective area of the secretariat's operations.  In particular, there should be no lessening of the Statistics Division's capacity to carry out its work programme, and it was stressed that the Division should be preserved as an organizational unit in the secretariat.  It was also suggested that the Working Group of Statistical Experts could play a more important role; it might focus on assistance to the island developing countries, for whose participation donor countries and relevant international organizations might provide financial support.

602. The Commission noted that the Committee on Statistics had a record of successful achievement, as evidenced by increasing country participation, heightened government awareness of the need for statistics, and improvements in the range, quality and timeliness of statistics produced by member countries.  Those achievements were directly attributable to the regularity of contact in the environment provided by the Committee, and some delegations felt that any reduction in the level of such contact or in the availability of time to discuss and resolve statistical matters would be a retrograde step.  The view was therefore expressed that the scheduled merger of the Committees should be reconsidered to enable a more workable solution to be arrived at which would not result in the loss of tangible benefits to member countries.

Annex III

Attendance at the subsidiary bodies of the Commission from 1992

Annex IV

Extract from the report of the United Nations Statistical Commission, 1993^*

Recommendation 10

40. The Statistical Commission:

1. Endorsed the views of the Working Group on International Statistical Programmes and Coordination related to strengthening the role of the regional statistical divisions and conferences of chief statisticians in the activities of the Statistical Commission and within the global statistical community;
2. Recommended that regional commissions establish or reinforce conferences of national chief statisticians, technically served by the respective statistical divisions;
3. Recommended that the regional conferences of chief statisticians, working in close collaboration with the Statistical Commission, act as the focus of regional statistical development.  In that role they and the respective regional statistical divisions should be involved in developing, revising, testing and implementing standards and in monitoring their application, as well as in coordinating technical assistance;
4. Recommended that regional commissions strengthen their statistical divisions to raise the profile of statistical work within each commission's programme of work;
5. Requested specialized agencies, regional development banks and relevant United Nations bodies to cooperate to the fullest extent with the statistical divisions, especially in technical assistance projects;
6. Requested the Statistical Division and the regional commissions, within the context of the Secretary-General's overall restructuring of the United Nations system, to determine the optimal division of effort between Headquarters and the regions.