Experts Promote the Development of Statistical Information Throughout the Region

The Second meeting of the Statistical Conference of the Americas (SCA) will be held at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), from the 18 to 20 June 2003 in Santiago, Chile. Representatives from most member countries belonging to this United Nations body will discuss promoting and developing statistics throughout the region.

ECLAC's Executive Secretary, José Antonio Ocampo will preside at the opening ceremony, along with the Statistical Conference of the Americas' Executive Committee President, Eduardo Pereira Nunes, President of the IBGE (Brazilian institute of geography and statistics). This will start at 9:00 am on Wednesday 18 June, in the Raúl Prebisch Room at the ECLAC building (Av. Dag Hammarskjöld 3477, Vitacura, Santiago).

The Conference, created by the United Nations Economic and Social Council in July 2000, is an ECLAC affiliate and seeks to contribute to the progress of statistical policies and activities in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

During 2002, the Executive Committee, headed by Brazil and elected at the first Conference meeting (held in Santiago in May 2001) met twice, in Rio de Janeiro in March and Panama City in December. On both occasions, it was agreed that the Second Meeting of the SCA would examine in depth the following subjects: public credibility of national statistics institutes; directory preparation and the use of administrative registers as a primary information source and as a framework for surveys and other statistical research; and management to ensure the quality of data produced by national statistics institutes.

Moreover, at this meeting member governments should approve the Programme of International Statistical Work for Latin America and the Caribbean, July 2003-June 2005, and elect the Conference Executive Committee for the 2003-2005 period.