PH Elected as Member, Rapporteur of UNESCAP Committee on Statistics
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Undersecretary Dennis Claire S. Mapa as the Rapporteur during the 7th Session of UNESCAP’s Committee on Statistics.
MANILA 10 September 2020 – The Philippines, represented by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), in coordination with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), participated in the 7th Session of the Committee on Statistics of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) held in hybrid format from 26 to 28 August 2020. PSA Undersecretary, National Statistician, and Civil Registrar General Dr. Claire Dennis S. Mapa was elected as Member of the Bureau of the Committee and Rapporteur of the said session. Dr. Mapa also served as Head of the Philippine delegation.
Attended by more than 200 representatives from 137 member countries, one associate member country, various international and regional organizations, and United Nations (UN) bodies, specialized agencies, among others, the Committee Session underscored whole-of-government support for official statistics in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and called for the advancement of official statistics in aid of the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Undersecretary Mapa delivered the country statements on the following agenda items: a) Monitoring progress in line with the document entitled “Advancing official statistics for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: a collective vision and framework for action by the Asia-Pacific statistical community” and the Declaration on Navigating Policy with Data to Leave No One Behind; b) Accounting for integrated statistics and analysis; and c) Progress made in support of the collective vision and framework for action by groups responsible for regional initiatives of the Committee on Statistics and by the Secretariat.
As the head of the PSA, he also served as a discussant for the seminar on “Transforming human resource management to build statistical institutions in Asia-Pacific for the future.” He underscored that developing human resource capacity building programs, individual career development, and succession planning are vital for any organization’s leadership and stability.
As the newly-elected Rapporteur, Dr. Mapa led the body into the reviews and adoption of the report. Executive Director Gogita Todradze of the National Statistics Office of Georgia and Chair of the 7th Session and the Secretariat, facilitated discussion and revisions to the draft report of the Commission for submission to ESCAP.
The Committee will move forward towards the fulfillment of its commitments and achieving targets for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The 8th Session of the Committee on Statistics will be held in 2022. END