UN Asia-Pacific Chief calls for sustainable, inclusive and job-generating growth (Photo: un-csam.org)

Bangkok (People’s Daily) - Countries in Asia and the Pacific on Friday adopted a declaration that will strengthen national statistical systems to present a complete picture of the region's development, governance, health, and human rights.  

The declaration, “Navigating Policy with Data to Leave No One Behind,” was agreed at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Sixth Committee on Statistics held in Bangkok from Oct. 16-19.

The declaration calls on governments to make nine commitments to strengthen and transform national statistical systems in support of the 2030 Agenda.  It also calls on development partners to support national statistical systems and on ESCAP facilitate its implementation.

The committee brought together high-level policymakers with leaders of National Statistical Systems to identify transformative, collective actions to advance the regions progress towards the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The agenda calls for high-quality data that is accessible, timely, reliable, and disaggregated by income, sex, age, race, ethnicity, migration status, disability, and geographic location, along with public-private partnerships to support innovative use of new data sources to inform policymaking.

Hongjoo Hahm, the officer in charge of ESCAP, called on policymakers to push the regional agenda for strengthening data and statistics in their respective countries, with the support of National Statistical Offices and other ministries.

“This is in an important declaration and high-level policy dialogue,” Hahm said. “I hope the policymakers have witnessed the strength of the statistical community and their desires for their collective vision, but most importantly, the actions they are requesting that call for a whole of government approach to strengthen data and statistics throughout our region.”