The donor-meeting was conducted in the Agency on statistics under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan which was attended by the management of the Agency on statistics, the Main Computing Center, representatives of: the World Bank, the EU Delegation in Tajikistan, the experts from the DevStat Consortium, the United Nations World Food Program, FAO, the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), UNDP in Tajikistan (UNDP), the World Health Organization (WHO), the German Development Cooperation Agency (GIZ), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the United Nations Population Fund in Tajikistan (UNFPA), the Asian Development Bank, IMF, the Aga Khan Foundation, representatives of ministries and departments, heads of the Agency on Statistics, the staff of the project implementation group of the National Strategy for Development of Statistics Project under the Agency on Statistics.The event was opened with an opening remark by the Director of the Agency on statistics under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Ms. Hasanzoda Gulnora Kenja, who noted that AS is currently implementing the Project financed by the World Bank through the ECASTAT Trust Fund, which will be completed at the end of June of this year.
It is worth to note that we have achieved certain degrees of success; in particular, 13 reports are received electronically which are transferred to the Agencys servers delivered by the Project. In two pilot regions (Zafarabad and Nurek), the software has been installed for electronic household books. The information technology infrastructure has been strengthened, 3 sample surveys have been carried out, namely: labor force survey, surveys on water use and use of various types of energy, the international experts have made a significant contribution for improving statistical methodology in various statistical sectors, international methodology is harmonized, databases are being developed and a new Agency website is launched, etc.
At the same time, it was noted that this Project will not be able to cover all areas of statistics and, accordingly, the cooperation of Agency is not limited by other development partners: United Nations Population Fund, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Bank, WHO, UNICEF, USAID/UNDP and the UN Statistics Division supported the Agency in developing a roadmap and an action plan to track the indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Republic of Tajikistan, as the initiator in addressing the global challenges on the Planet, actively participates in the preparation of voluntary reports on the implementation of the SDG. In this context, taking into account the new tasks within the SDG and those tasks that were not fully considered during the implementation of the ECASTAT Project, the Agency started developing a new Strategy for the Development of Statistics for 2018-2022. At the moment there is the first draft of this document.
Then the Country Director of the World Bank in the Republic of Tajikistan, Mr. Jan Peter, spoke and noted that without accurate statistical indicators it is impossible to analyze the activities of a particular area. In this regard, the World Bank will closely cooperate with the Agency on statistics under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan and intends to propose the inclusion of the development of the statistical system in the next country program.
Mr. Rustam Ziyoyev, ECASTAT Project Coordinator, presented in his presentation the detailed report on the activities carried out for the year 2017 within the framework of the Project Implementation of the National Strategy for Development of Statistics (NSDS), in particular, he noted that within the project implementation more than 40 specialists in the field of statistics of the AS have upgraded their skills and qualification as well as passed trainings abroad, including specialists from the Executive Office of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan and other departments; 18 international experts carried out missions to the AS in various areas of the statistical areas.
The Deputy Director of the Agency, Mr. Davlatzoda Kiyomiddin, presented the presentation on the Tajikistan National Strategy for the Development of Statistics Project for 2018-2022 who noted the following:
Tajikistan has entered a new stage of its development. With the aim of establishing a platform for the further development of the country, the National Development Strategy of the Republic of Tajikistan for the period until 2030 has been developed. The NDS-2030 also takes into account the international obligations of the Republic of Tajikistan on Agenda for XXI century and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) endorsed by the 70th session of the UN General Assembly in September 2015.In the course of the consistent implementation of the three strategic programs for the development of state statistics of the Republic of Tajikistan, the AS has successfully passed the transition period to a system that implements all basic international standards and methodology for statistical indicators adapted to the needs of the countrys market economy.
Along with this, in its development, society and the economy having faced with new challenges, put higher demands on state statistics: on the composition and quality of official statistical information. The Agency on statistics will also play a crucial role in the measurement and tracking of SDCs in the country.
The NSDS is the third five-year strategic plan for 2018-2022, the review materials of the TAJSTAT Project as well as the opinions and suggestions of users of statistical data following the survey carried out on the satisfaction of users needs for statistical information were taken into account while preparing NSDS with the participation of DevStat experts Mr. Joseph Olensky and Mr. Misha Belkindas, the working group of the Agency, representatives of the Ministries and departments (departmental statistics).
In his speech, Mr. Davlatzoda noted about the global trends in official statistics, the main priorities of the strategy and what will be improved in statistics with the implementation of the program.
In addition, Mr. Davlatzoda stressed that with its complexity, size and scope the program is unique in the following: the program covers a number of thematic areas; it includes a number of national departments and seeks to create a new statistical system that requires a change in culture, the program covers all areas, combining skills, starting from management practices, IT applications to a number of thematic areas in various branches of economic and social statistics.
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The Agency on statistics is well prepared to perform such tasks. The program is the third large-scale program that will be implemented if resources are available.The international expert from DevStat, Mr. Misha Belkindas, in his presentation noted why a new NSDS is required, namely: the previous NSDC was for periods of 2012-2016 and the NSDS Project for 2015-2018 is completing; new political realities have been emerged- Sustainable Development Goals for measuring and monitoring of more than 200 indicators, and this require data revolution.
The overall strategic goal (or concepts) of NSDS-2 is to: Modernize statistical processes in the field of development and provide timely and high-quality information for monitoring critical government programs in the implementation of sustainable development goals, ensuring the efficiency of statistical production processes and improving the professional level of employees.
Further, Ms Hasanzoda Gulnora stressed that the 21st century is called the century of technology. But the issue of ensuring the quality of statistical information especially depends from its effective use. The modernization of the statistics production depends on the level of availability and efficiency of computer equipment and software. And for the development of statistics of any country this is a paramount task and at the same time is an integral part of the strategy for the development of statistics.
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Mr. Mirpochchoev Furkat - Head of the Programming Department of the Main Computing Center of the Agency on Statistics spoke about the current status of information technologies in state statistics bodies and requirements in this field.
In conclusion, the Director of the Agency on statistics expressed her thank to all and said that todays meeting clarified a lot of questions and problems. The information on the new strategy is presented, but it should be taken into account that we should concentrate on finalizing and submitting the program for consideration to the Government of the country.
Taking into account the suggestions that were expressed, the Agency also expects from the Government of the country, ministries and departments to support to include this strategy in the loan program. We are always open to any dialogue that will benefit all parties.
