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(Opening) 56th Statistical Commission — Economic and Social Council — 4 March 2025
Language: en
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Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [23:57]:

Distinguished members of the countries, please take your seats. Distinguished members of the Commission, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, it's my great pleasure to declare open the 56th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission and call to order its first meeting. We shall immediately proceed with the first item on the agenda entitled election of the officers for the current session. I invite nomination for the position of the Chair. So the election will be held in accordance with the relevant rules of procedure of the Fundamental Commission of the Economic and Social Council, particularly Rules 66. The representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, um, will ask for the floor to nominate the Chair. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.


Netherlands (Kingdom of the) [25:23]:

It is my pleasure to nominate Mr.

George Simon Ulrich from Switzerland from the Group of Western Europe and Others to be elected Chair of the Statistical Commission for its 56th session.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [25:35]:

Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Are there any further nominations for the chair? I see none. Distinguished delegates, in the absence of any other nomination, may I take it that the Commission wishes to elect by acclamation me Mr. Georg Simon Ulrich of Switzerland as Chair of the Statistical Commission to preside over this 56th session. I wish to thank the Commission for the confidence expressed in my election as Chair for the 56th session of the Commission. Please allow me to make a few opening remarks. Before, um, before we proceed. Mr. Undersecretary-General, ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, I'm very happy to welcome you to here to New York for the big annual meeting of our global community. Once again, we have a full agenda with many important topics from the field of data and statistics before us. I'm looking forward to fruitful discussion on these topics between members of the Commission, but also with all stakeholders in the room, all UN member states, international organizations, and civil society. Working together, we can make sure that we are able to improve our common standard so that data and statistics continue to play their role in supporting fact-based democratic decision-making processes. One of our most important tasks this session is to finalize two resolutions for ECOSOC. They concern two pillars of official statistics: the System of National Accounts and population and housing census. The 2025 edition of the System of National Accounts will help us in measuring all aspects of today's economy. It takes into account new economic developments such as, such as the financial innovation and and digitalization and strengthen the links between the system of national accounts and broader measures of well-being, sustainability, and sustainability. Similarly, since the last World Population and Housing Census Programme was launched 10 years ago, there have been profound changes in the way censuses are conducted in many, in many countries. For example, an increasing number of countries now use digital and register-based methods in conducting their senses. A third key element in the adoption of the comprehensive review of the Global SDG Indicator. With this review, we are fulfilling the mandate given to our Commission in a 2017 UN General Assembly resolution. The work carried out by this Commission pertaining the 2030 Agenda of— it is of great importance, and it has already preparing us to deal is the peri— period after 2030. You will have guessed a big part of this session will be around adapting the way we do things to a rapidly changing environment. Technology and the way in which people interact with data have changed enormously over the last past few years. We have to make sure that we are up to speed with these developments. This is why I am particularly looking forward to our discussion on the working methods of the Statistical Commission and how to ensure that our Commission remains relevant in the United Nations system. Maybe two things seem to be particularly worth mentioning to me. First, making not only the statistical results and methodological definitions comparable, but also the data themselves that leads to them. And secondly, that the— that this data is such that it can be found and used and understood by those for whom we are doing this, and ensure also that that what we are doing has an impact. How can we say that we want to stay relevant and at the same time not creating the technological precondition for this? It seems to be important that we work on that. So in this regard, I also want to remind you of the discussion we had during the Friday seminar and the Monday forum on how we can contribute our expertise to financing for development processes, um, to the implementation of the Global Digital Compact. Dear colleagues, I'm looking forward to chairing my second session of the Statistical Commission and to leading us through a busy week of discussing key issues and learning from each other. Because we have so many issues to discuss, and to make sure everyone can contribute, I want to encourage you, right from the start, to be mindful of time and to limit the length of your statement as much as possible. Thank you very much. Distinguished delegates, I now invite the Commission to proceed with the election of the three vice chairs and the rapporteur in accordance with the rules of procedure of the Functional Commission of the Economic and Social Council. Are there any nominations for this proposition? I give now the floor to the Dominican Republic.


Dominican Republic [31:27]:

Buenos días.

Good morning.

Thank you very much, Chair. We are delighted to congratulate you on your reelection to lead the work of this 56th session of our Statistical Commission. I have the pleasure of nominating the following vice presidents for this session. Ms. Graciela Márquez from the Latin American and Caribbean Group from Mexico. We nominate also Yulong Yi Lee from the Republic of Korea from the Asia-Pacific Group. And Ms. Apollonia Oblak-Flandre of Slovenia from the Western European Group. Those are nominated as vice chairs and Mr. Andrew Johnnie of Sierra Leone from the African Group is nominated as rapporteur. Thank you.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [32:31]:

Thank you very much, the distinguished representative of the Dominican Republic. I see the country— the distinguished delegate from Djibouti. No, please. He seems to be just pushed the button now. Are there any further nominations? I see none. In the absence of any other nomination, may I take it that the Commission wishes to elect by acclamation as Vice Chairs Mrs. Graciela Márquez Collín of Mexico, Mr. Hyun E. Lee of the Republic of Korea, and Mrs. Apollonia Ablak-Flander of Slovenia. And as a rapporteur, Mr. Andrew Cioni of Sierra Leone. Sorry. And I hear no objection, so it is decided. I congratulate the Vice Chairs and the Rapporteur on their election. I note the re-election for the three Bureau members and look forward to a close collaboration with them in our common endeavour to bring the work of the session to a fruitful conclusion. I now have the honour to invite the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Mr. Li Shuhua, to make a statement.


UN DESA · USG · Li Shuhua [34:01]:

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Chair.

Well, at the outset, I just want to extend our warm congratulations to the successful election of the Bureau members, especially the Chair, Vice Chairs, and the Rapporteur. Well, Mr. George Simon Aldrich, the Chair of the 56th Session for the Statistical Commission and also Director General of the Federal Statistics Office of Switzerland, Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, dear friends, warmly welcome to the 56th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission. I'm very pleased and honored to address this Commission at the start of this week's important discussions on data and statistics, especially given the growing role and the influence of the algorithms, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Data shapes every aspect of our lives and societies, and it is the foundation of the decision-making for the development policies and interventions. To ensure that the progress on data and statistics is inclusive, our efforts must be underpinned by sound and trusted forms of the data governance and sufficient capacity development. I am pleased to note that these important topics were the focus of the two recent high-level events held just before this Commission. Over the next few days, the Commission will consider the two important resolutions for the 2030 World Population and Housing Census Programme and the Systems of the National Accounts 2025. These two programs have a rich history and they remain highly relevant in maneuvering the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and are fundamental to monitoring the needs of the 2030 Agenda. Conducting population and housing census is essential for delivering on the 2030 Agenda and beyond.

These—

the new 2025 Survey of National Accounts will enhance our ability to measure the digital and global economies and contribute to the discussions on beyond GDP. I appreciate that the foundational statistics remain central to the Commission's work as a digital transformation. Yield remarkable progress over the past several years. It is important that the Statistical Commission embarked on innovative transformation as needed while maintaining and setting the new internationally agreed upon standards and methodologies. Just now, as the Chair highlighted, the Commission and the statistic community should stayed relevant to all member states with the profound changes. Nevertheless, the Commission's role within the broader data ecosystem is also under discussion. The UN World Data Forum has exemplified this outreach. I congratulate you on the success of the 5th edition of the UN World Data Forum. Held recently in Colombia, launching the Madeline Framework for Action on Data for Sustainable Development. I am confident that the Commission's work will strengthen the engagement in the wider UN processes, including the three major conferences that my department, UN DESA, will organize in coming months. Namely the Third UN Ocean Conference in June in France, the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in July in Spain, and the Second World Summit for Social Development in November in Qatar. Data governance and capacity development are expected to feature prominently in all these major conferences. In closing, let me reaffirm that the UN DESA fully supports your work and we will stay together with all of you to make it a new beginning. I wish you a very productive deliberations and a successful session. Thank you.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [38:56]:

I thank the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs. The support that he expressed for our work is truly valued.— and much appreciated. It's very important for us. Thank you very, very much. I understand that the Undersecretary for Economic and Social Affairs has other demands and will have to leave us at this point. I thank him once more for honouring us with this presence— with your presence today. Thank you very much. Distinguished delegates, I now invite the Commission to turn to Agenda Item 2, Adoption of the Agenda and Other Organizational Matters. Relevant information in this regard is provided in document E/CN.3/2025/1. REF1 containing the annotated provisional agenda and E/CN3/2025/L1/REF1, which transmits the provisional program of work and timetable for this session. And I give the floor to the Secretary of the Commission.


Secretary [40:18]:

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I'm pleased to report that all documents for the session were submitted and issued on time in all official languages. In summary, both the submission and the issuance compliance stands at 100% for all official documents for this session of the Commission. I take this opportunity to remind delegations to kindly approach the focal points in their respective permanent missions to get registered to to the Statistical Commission module on the eDelegate platform for both the list of participants and the announcement module to ensure that not only the participation of your delegation is correctly captured, but that delegations also duly receive announcements during the session. All official documents are available for downloading electronically on the Commission's website. I would also like to kindly remind delegations to send their prepared oral interventions to e-statements to help the interpreters. The email address is also indicated in the UN Journal. Regarding the list of participants, the preliminary list will be made available tomorrow morning, Wednesday, 5th March, via the announcement of the Statistical Commission module of the e-delegate platform and on the Commission's website. The preliminary list will only include members of delegations who registered via the eDelegate platform, their representatives. Please send any updates or corrections by Friday, 14th March through eDelegate so that these could be included in the final list which will be issued after the Commission session. The email address of the focal point is also indicated in the UN Journal. Thank you, Mr.

Chair.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [42:09]:

I thank the Secretary for the useful information, and the Commission will now begin its consideration of the annotated provisional agenda for the section contained in document E/CN.3/2025/1/REF1, in line with the structure introduced in 2006. And at the last session, the annotated provisional agenda makes a distinction between items for discussion and decision, those for decisions and those for information. Regarding items for decision and discussion, the Commission will hear a brief oral introduction by the representative author of the report. Thereafter, the floor will be open for debate. I would like to stress that once deliberations are concluded on each of these items, they will not be reopened at a later stage. The Commission will take decisions on these items on Friday. I also want to thank all of you who participated in informal discussion before we started here this— the day today. Thank you for your flexibility and your cooperation. It's fantastic to work with all of you. In the interest to maximize utilization of our time for decision, items will be introduced and summarized individually on Thursday afternoon, but no further debate is expected. The Commission will take decision on these items also on Friday. However, the Bureau recognized that there might be a need for intervention on some of the topics under this item. To better manage our time, I would urge delegation to inform the Secretariat before Wednesday afternoon whether they intend to take the floor on specific for decision sub-items. Items for this information will not be introduced. In line with the past practice, the Commission expected to take note of the information documents without further debate. In the interest of time and in accordance with the past practice, when we consider the information item, I will invite the Commission to take note of a large number of information items en bloc. However, the Bureau recognized that there might also be a need for intervention on, on some of the topics under this item, mainly in order to provide the Commission with clarifications and update on recent development. To better manage our time, I would urge delegates to inform the Secretariat before Tuesday morning whether they intend to take the floor on specific information sub-items. So may I take it that the Commission wishes to adopt its an— anoted provisional agenda contained in the document E/CN.3/2025/1/REF1. I hear no objection, so it is decided. Distinguished delegates, I now invite the Commission to consider the provisional program of work and timetable contained in document E/CN.3/2025/L1REF1.

1.

Are there any comments or observations regarding the provisional program of work and timetable contained in document E/3/2025/L1/REF1? I see no requests for taking the floor. I take it that the Commission wishes to approve its provisional programme of work and timetable for the 56 sessions contained in E/CN.3/2025/L1 Rev. 1, and on the understanding to further adjust it if necessary as we proceed. I hear no objections. It's so decided. I would like to emphasize at this point that other further formal meetings will begin at 10 AM or 3 PM sharp in this conference room. It is imperative that we use our time efficiently. While recognizing the importance of interactive professional exchange, which is at the core of our work, I would like to urge all participants to avoid in their intervention detailed exposition of methodology or the reporting of routine activities and national practices. To facilitate the process when necessary, We might need to report— to resort to time limits for intervention, especially if the speaker lists grow too long relatively to the time available for the discussion of specific agenda items. In that event, I will announce the time limit to be observed. During this session, we will maintain the Commission's practice of breaking for informal consultation of about 10 minutes as necessary. Necessary to enable us to better prepare for substantive deliberations on the issue before us. In addition, I— in, in view of the positive experience with the written statements during the '21 and '22 sessions, at the last session we also accept written comments. However, I need to clarify that the written comments cannot be reflected in the rapporteur's summary report, which contains only intervention delivered in person during our formal deliberations. Distinguished delegates, I would like to inform the Commission that some intergovernmental organizations that do not have consultative status with the Economic and Social Council or the General Assembly have expressed an interest to participate in our work this session as observers. These are the following: Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics, Secondly, Bank of International Settlements. Three, Central African Economic and Monetary Community. Four, Eastern African Statistical Training Center. Five, Economic and Statistical Observatory of Sub-Saharan Africa. And finally, six, Eurasian Economic Commission. My take, it— the Commission wishes to invite those organizations to participate as observers in the work of its 56th session. I hear no objection, so it is decided. I also wish to extend a warm welcome to the representatives of civil society organizations participating as observers in this session of the Commission. Since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, there has been a marked increase in the level of interest in the Commission's work. While it is gratifying to see a high level of attendance, we also have acute space constraints. Consequently, the representative of non-governmental organization can only be accommodated in the gallery. Owing to time constraints, it will not be possible for them to take the floor for statements. Distinguished delegates, I now invite the Commission to turn to Agenda 3A, entitled National Accounts, under which the Commission has before it for discussion and decision the report of the Intersecretariat Working Group on National Accounts, contained in document 3/CN.3/2025/2., and a draft resolution by the Bureau entitled System of National Accounts 2025, contained in document E/CN.3/2025/L4. Background documents are available on the Statistical Commission's website, and the Commission will consider the official documents one by one. We will proceed to first consider the report. I now give the floor to Mrs. Haishan Fu, Chair of the Intersecretary Working Group on National Account to introduce the report. You're mute.


Speaker 10 [50:32]:

Or—


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [50:33]:

World Bank. World Bank.


WB · Chair · Haishan Fu [50:41]:

Yes, I—

Yes.

Could you hear? Okay, great. Thank you, Chair. On behalf of the management team of the Intersector Working Group on National Account, which is comprised of Eurostat, IMF, OECD, UNSD, and World Bank, I'm honored to introduce the report of the Intersector Working Group on National Account before the Commission. The Intersector Working Group is pleased to submit the draft 2025 SNA to the Commission for adoption as the updated international statistical standard for national accounts statistics. The draft 2025 SNA contains the recommendations for the update of the 2008 SNA adopted by the Commission at its 55th session last year and benefited from comments received through a global consultation on the full draft of 2025 SNA. The development of the 2025 SNA is characterized by its transparent process through the involvement of experts from many countries contributing to the development of the guidance on the issues for the 2008 SNA update and their active participation in the various rounds of consultations on the guidance notes consolidated lists of recommendations for the update, draft chapters, and eventually the full draft of the SNA. Altogether, there are over 1,000 people contributed directly or indirectly to this tremendous effort. We're grateful to each of them. The development of the 2025 SNA proceeded in parallel with the development of the IMF's BPM7, facilitated by extensive collaboration between the SNA team and BPM team and in close consultation with the government finance statistics, monetary finance statistics, and environmental economic accounting communities. Consequently, it is expected that with future updates of these standards, there will be greater harmonization across the suite of microeconomic standards, which will be of significant value for users. In accordance with the request by the Commission, the Intersector Working Group is also pleased to submit for information as background documents to the report implementation guides on measuring data, measuring natural resources in the national accounts, and estimating the net return to capital for non-market production. The Intersector Working Group National Account recognizes that while there will undoubtedly be challenges in implementing the 2025 SNA, it is likely to be several years before full implementation, thus leaving substantial time for preparation. For this purpose, an implementation strategy for the 2025 SNA has been developed, which was subjected to global consultation. The updated implementation strategy for the 2025 SNA is also submitted to the Commission for its endorsement. To further support implementation of the 2025 SNA, the Commission has before it a draft resolution on recommendations for the implementation of the System of National Accounts. The Intersector Working Group on National Accounts would like to thank those countries and international organizations that have provided in-kind and monetary contributions to facilitate the update of the SNA. However, additional financial support is still required for funding the publication of the— the 2025 SNA in all UN official languages and to facilitate its implementation, for which a multi-donor trust fund managed by the World Bank has been established. Chair, in closing, the adoption of the 2025 SNA would be important to keep the SNA relevant and reliable in the eyes of policymakers and the broader user community, while preserving the consistency and the methodological rigor that mark the system of national accounts. Similarly, the endorsement of the implementation strategy would facilitate the implementation of the 25SNA in an internationally comparable way. The Intersector Working Group looks forward to the decisions of the Commission on the issues for consideration presented in Section 6 of the report. Thank you.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [55:54]:

I thank Ms. Phu. I now open the debate on the report of the Intersecretary Working Group on National Accounts containing in document E/CN.3/2025/2. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Finland.


Finland · EU [56:14]:

Thank you, Chair. This statement is delivered on behalf of the European Union and its member states. The EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland align themselves with the statement. The European statistical system recognizes fully the importance of keeping the system of national accounts relevant for its, its broad range of users. In this respect, it endorsed the updated version of the 2008 System of National Accounts, which better reflects globalization, digitalization, well-being, and environmental sustainability in the economic accounts. The European statistical system commands the extensive research and technical work carried out by the international statistical community. The ESS also recognizes the importance of the alignment between the SNA and Balance of Payments manual and commands the close collaboration between SNA and BNP teams in updating two macroeconomic standards. The European statistical system emphasizes the need to maintain the high reliability and comparability of the SNA and its key indicators over time and across countries. In this regard, the European statistical system appreciates the substantial preparatory steps already taken for the implementation for the 2025 SNA, including the development of practical compilation guidance. At the same time, considering the methodological complexity and potential impact of some of the key innovations, the ESS calls for completing and supplementing the compilation guidance as necessary to ensure that the reliability and worldwide comparability of national accounts. In this context, the European statistical systems stress the need to further test completion guidance by— emphasize the implementation challenges caused by significant resource constraints. The European statistical system thus considers it's important to take into account the progress achieved on those— these two aspects in assessing the timeline of the 2025 SNA implementation strategy. In this regard, the European statistical system suggests that the Intersecretariat Working Group on National Accounts updates regularly the Statistical Commission on progress with implementation issues starting from 2026. The European statistical system recognizes the importance of the proposed ECOSOC resolution, which would provide political support to the implementation of the 2025 SNA and the mobilization of adequate resources for that purpose. Thank you, Mr.

Chair.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [59:56]:

I thank the distinguished representative of Finland, and I now give the floor to the distinguished delegate of Belarus.


Belarus [1:00:07]:

Mr. Chair, the Belarus Statistics Office fully endorses the adoption of SNA 2025 as a unified international standard. The work to implement the SNA was done so as to ensure all those interested were involved. Due to that, we express our deep gratitude to the members of the Intersecretariat Working Group on National Accounts and everyone else who took part in developing the SNA throughout the many years of its development. It's important for the new SNA to be coupled with the guidelines on the Balance of Payments and on the relevant international systems to ensure the absolute harmonization of macroeconomic statistics. The National Statistics Committee of the Republic of Belarus since 2021 was involved actively in the consultations on the new SNA. In the— we Belstat voiced its position on various issues and called for the conceptual changing of SNA 2025. Furthermore, we approve the— of the strategy of SNA and its goal of accelerating the process of implementation in all countries, equally. For our part, we are prepared to implement unified standards in 2025. The implementation of the new S&A in the Republic of Belarus will be included in our state statistics development strategy up until 2020— 2030. Thank you.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:02:07]:

Uh, thank you very much, uh, the representative of Belarus. Um, I see we already have around 30 people who wants to speak. I mean, I would suggest to limit 3 minutes each. That would— is still more than an hour. I think I really— I know that you have a lot to say and it's important that you can speak, but if you have additional comments, just send us that in writing comments. But these people who really speak here now on the floor, limit their interventions to a maximum of 3 minutes. Thank you very much. I now give the floor to the representative of India.


India [1:02:55]:

Thank you, Chair. I have a few specific suggestions. First, we reiterate that for cross-country comparisons, prominence may be given to more direct measures or gross measures like GVA, GDP, instead of net measures where compilation practices across countries can diverge. Secondly, revolutionary changes due to digitalization have enabled the creation of remarkable digital public infrastructure in India. In view of the same, we would like inclusion of some of the illustrations of the Indian experience, like the United— Unified Payment Interface, as a best practice in the SNA chapter on digitalization. Thirdly, the unstable instruments in our view, such as crypto assets, may not be classified as digital money under the same bracket as a central bank digital currency. For timely implementation of SNA 2025, it might require adaptations in some of the international standards and country-specific standards. Further, many of the changes reflected in SNA 2025 are more at the conceptual level. An implementation of the same would require detailed guidance, in some cases through manuals, handbooks. So it's imperative that work related to the development of detailed guidance may also be expedited. Fifthly, India would like to stress upon more elaborate guidance on statistical discrepancy in the chapter on communicating and disseminating macroeconomic statistics, as the same is often misconstrued by users, leading to its erroneous interpretation since it's handled differently by compilers across the globe. And lastly, Chair, India would be happy to collaborate and be represented in the 2025 research agenda-related working groups and task teams. Thank you.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:04:50]:

Thank you to the distinguished delegate of India. I now give the floor to distinguished delegate of Iran.


Iran (Islamic Republic of) [1:05:02]:

Thank you, Chair, for the floor. Let me congratulate you and the vice chairs and rapporteurs, and thanks to the Secretariat for submitting all documents in all six languages on time on the website. We appreciate that one. And thanks to the representative of the World Bank for introducing the document. We have a general observation or general observation is that we believe that this section should be focused on the needs and priorities of the different countries. We want to see that the indicators and the figures and data that are supporting and then focusing on the needs and priorities of the different countries. And the second issues here as a general remark is a means of implementation. We believe that the member state needs a means of implementation, especially capacity building on SNA 2025. And two specific comments on the report, the— focused on paragraph 29. We believe that an important initiative of the Statistical Commission to support the implementation of SNA 2025 is the decision to establish a compiler's hub by the International Monetary Fund. This hub will be highly beneficial. It is proposed that the platform for addressing country-specific issues and cases be shared throughout this process. Additionally, access to essential training and the guidance materials should be readily available to countries. Furthermore, there should be a dedicated— unit responsible for addressing the points and discussion that arise during the implementation process, ensuring that these issues and concerns are responded to promptly. And lastly, to implement the SNA 2025, a comprehensive action plan must be developed and executed. Countries should be categorized based on their history of operationalizing SNA 2008 and specific timeframe for updating the version of this guideline should be established for each group. It is essential to conduct training sessions to facilitate the exchange of experience among countries regarding the operationalization of SNA.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:07:35]:

Thank you. I thank the distinguished delegate from Iran and give now the floor to distinguished delegate of the Philippines.

Philippines?

The wrong microphone is on. To the technicians, please. The Philippines.


Philippines [1:08:36]:

Oh, I'm sorry.

Thank you.

Hello.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. The Philippines fully supports the adoption of the 2025 System of National Accounts. To this end, we have initiated plans for a comprehensive revision and rebasing of the Philippine System of National Accounts, which will include the incorporation of some of the priority areas recommended by the 2025 SNA. Furthermore, we endorse the proposed implementation strategy, recognizing the importance of capacity building and stakeholder engagement. Our work program includes a robust plan for continuous training for the compilers and extensive consultations with key stakeholders. Moreover, the developments and advancement in technology, we will explore the integration of big data and administrative data in the compilation of our national accounts. We look forward to the guidance of the regional commissions in our implementation efforts, as their expertise is crucial in addressing the challenges we may encounter and in providing valuable perspective. We also commend the development of the Compilers Hub, which will provide a valuable platform for accessing the guidance notes and facilitating knowledge exchange among national accounts compilers. Finally, the Philippines reaffirms its commitment to providing timely responses to the annual reporting of national accounts data and its active participation in various international engagements, especially in the capacity development activities towards the full implementation of the 2025 SNA. Thank you very much, Mr.

Chair.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:10:19]:

I thank the distinguished delegate of the Philippines and now give the floor to the distinguished delegate of the Russian Federation.


Russian Federation [1:10:40]:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Russian Federation thanks the Inter-Secretariat Working Group and the Consultative Group of Experts on National Accounts for its excellent high-quality work. We welcome the strategy for implementation of SNA 2025, and we express our readiness to be involved in studying certain problems of the standards. We plan to join the working group under the auspices of the UN. The strategy for development of Russian statistics up until 2030 for the implementation of SNA 2025, rather our strategy includes implementation of the SNA into our strategy, which will involve a number of ministries and agencies. We've already begun implementing our national work plan. In this connection, it's important to move as quickly as possible to ensure a transition of, or a translation of the guidelines for the UN into all the UN languages. We're prepared to assist in the translation into the Russian language, including with working together with international organizations and country-based groups that are working in our region. We also underscore the importance of training statistics bodies workers and helping them to make the transition to the new S&A and to draw on the experience at international fora. With the financial support of the Russian Federation, Since 2023, we're implementing a project to implement the Statistics of the Commonwealth of Independent States. This is focused, inter alia, on developing statistical methodologies. In this program, we have a series of seminars and workshops to ensure implementation of SNA 2025 for the countries of our region. We think what is very important and timely is to popularize and to advance the new SNA, and we welcome the draft resolution on SNA for 2025. Thank you.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:12:45]:

I thank the distinguished delegate from the Russian Federation and now give the floor to the distinguished delegate of Tshetitskhram.


Tajikistan [1:13:09]:

Mr. Chairman, colleagues, members of delegations, at the outset, I want to express my deep gratitude to the organizers for convening this important event, and we're pleased to be participating in it. I would also like to welcome the SNA 2025. We view it as a key tool for ensuring high-quality statistics and efficient economic analyses at the global level. The work of the Commission on National Accounts is positive in our view. In recent years, Tajikistan has been actively working in modernizing its statistical systems. One of the main areas of our statistics work is ensuring high-quality indicators for the system of national accounts, which is important for ensuring strong macroeconomic indicators to ensure we can manage our national economy. In recent years, Tajikistan has made strides in official statistics. We're actively developing our statistics production, and we're improving the process in Statistics. This makes us more accurate in tracking key economic indicators. Those include the GDP, the employment of the population, and inflation. One important achievement is ensuring a high-quality statistical database in order to inform decisions at all levels of administration. Recent years have seen our country improve its efforts, and our economy has developed dynamically. This shows our macroeconomic stability, but it also— it shows that we are achieving sustained economic growth. The Statistics Office ensures high-quality statistical data and adheres to international standards in cooperation with international experts. For us, there's something crucially important, namely for statistics not only being a tool for measurement, but also an important tool to take decisions aimed at developing and improving the lives of the citizens of our country. We are also ensuring digitalization and implementing new technologies to ensure high-quality statistics and data. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished colleagues, Our statistics agency expresses its readiness to work closely with our other colleagues and other countries and international organizations. We'll be part of the work of the Statistical Commission, and the— we think that our participation will allow us to bring more knowledge and information into statistics systems. We wish everyone success in improving the approaches toward our activity. Thank you very much.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:16:10]:

I thank the distinguished delegate of Tajikistan and I also want to thank that all of you, you stick to the 3 minutes up to now, so if we continue like that it looks quite good. I now give the floor to the distinguished delegate of Turkmenistan.


Speaker 28 [1:16:30]:

Hey!


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:16:32]:

Okay, by the end of the day I know, Turkmenistan.


Turkmenistan [1:16:39]:

Mr. Chairman, distinguished delegates, allow me to thank you for the invitation to participate in the 56th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission. Turkmenistan approves the adoption of SNA 2025, and we stand ready to work on it in close cooperation with the relevant international organizations. One of the key priority tasks for developing national statistics is bringing national statistical systems into alignment with the requirements of international standards. With the technological and methodological support of the statistics organizations of the UN, the European Union, the IMF, the World Bank, and the OECD, and other international organizations, and also By using innovative technologies in our statistical studies, Turkmenistan have achieved major progress toward implementing SNA 2008 into its statistics practices. Based on international classifications recommended in SNA 2008, we've improved our national classifiers and we have developed and approved new ones. We've developed a methodological handbook for improving the calculation of directly measured financial mediation services. We've implemented as well, based on 2015 and 2022, a unified statistical observation developing supply and use tables. In Turkmenistan, we are working to— we have developed a statistical system of e-statistical reporting. This is a digital platform for statistics, including a set of reports on state statistical reporting on the internet and an online register for economic subjects in the statistical register. I thank everyone and I wish you success.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:18:48]:

Thank you to the distinguished delegate of Turkmenistan. Then I will give the floor to the distinguished representative of Mongolia.


Mongolia [1:19:00]:

Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, we express our gratitude to the members of the Intersecretariat Working Group and Advisory Expert Group on National Accounts, and we commend the transparent and true process in development of the SNA. SNA 2025, and we appreciate all those who involved and contribute to the development of the SNA 2025. Mongolia recognizes the importance of updating the system of national accounts to include globalization, digitalization, as well as well-being and sustainability. We also appreciate collaborative efforts to harmonize macroeconomic manuals, especially the alignment of— update of the SNA and the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual. Mr. Chair, Mongolia endorses the adoption of a system of national accounts and its implementation strategy. We would like to note that it's important for member states and international organizations to support the implementation of The System of National Accounts 2025 for member countries and United Nations Regional Commissions' role in their respective region, as reported in the draft resolution submitted by the Bureau. Mongolia will be working closely with our regional commission and international partners for the successful implementation of the SNA 2025. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:20:36]:

Thank you to the distinguished delegate of Mongolia. And I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Chile.


Chile [1:20:46]:

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Congratulations to you and the Bureau members for your election. Chile endorses the 2025 SNA as the updated international statistical standard for national accounts. And also endorses the proposed implementation strategy. To implement the proposed 2025 SNA, Chile has actively participated in the most of events related to economic statistics and national accounts undertaken by the Commission. In our view, the global consultations have— gave countries the possibility to highlight their concerns regarding the implementation program of the SNA, and we took the opportunity to learn from others too. Also, the seminars organized have helped different agencies to design a schedule to update the SNA while considering countries' own idiosyncrasies. In this regard, we consider that practical guidance should be at the core of next training workshops and seminars. Also, early implementation experiences should be shared to other countries as presented in previous handbooks. Finally, Chile is constantly monitoring new recommendations and advances made by other agencies regarding the reporting of national accounts data. In this regard, benchmark compilations are, in our view, the main instance for incorporating advances in reporting annual national accounts data. Thank you very much, Mr.

Chair.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:22:27]:

Thank you very much to distinguished delegate of Chile. I now give the floor to the distinguished delegate of the Bahamas.


Bahamas · CARICOM [1:22:38]:

Good morning, Chair. The Bahamas, on behalf of the CARICOM region, takes note of the resolution for adopting the 2025 System of National Accounts and commends the global statistical community for this significant and comprehensive update. We reaffirm our commitment to implementing national accounts and updating base years within our region. We thus welcome the report and work completed by the Intersecretariat Working Group on National Accounts and fully support the emphasis highlighted in Item 1 of the introduction of the report, which underscores the need to focus on capacity building and funding for member states with limited resources, including small island developing states like ours, which have not yet fully implemented the 2008 SNA. It is critical to build a much-needed robust community of regional experts in CARICOM, ensuring no country in CARICOM is left behind in the transition to the 2025 SNA. We support in general the 2025 SNA implementation strategy as presented in Section 3, particularly its focus on outreach, training, and technical assistance, and we urge the international community and regional commissions to urgently provide the necessary resources and expertise to ensure CARICOM SIDS meet the 2029-2030 target window. Since adopting the 2008 SNA, limited natural resources manpower, expertise, and funding have consistently slowed our progress in fully applying its methodology and fulfilling the minimum requirement datasets in many countries within our region. And in the CARICOM context, that's at least 7 tables. Acknowledging the ongoing and valuable support from development partners in CARICOM and from regional commissions as presented in Section 4, We also urge immediate and needs-oriented technical assistance for economic surveys, GDP rebasing updating, supply and use tables, trade models, satellite accounts, and for linking environmental data with economic indicators, all aimed at building and strengthening national regional expertise. We also support the proposal for a joint SNA manual forward-looking research agenda. As this approach can help fill many gaps and data incompleteness and inconsistencies in our national statistical systems. CARICOM urges sustained support to establish mechanisms such as centers of excellence, resident experts, and technical working group to sustain knowledge and expertise in CARICOM, especially since we have not been able to do so independently due to resource limitations. We support the outreach activities and appreciate in advance the development of easy-to-read and accessible guides on the 2025 SNA, which will be vital for CARICOM SIDS. We also strongly support the Compilers Hub initiative, which will serve as a key platform for training, collaboration, and knowledge sharing. The Bahamas and the rest of CARICOM are committed to actively participating in ongoing global implementation activities, producing experimental estimates and providing feedback based on our national experiences with the revisions. As CARICOM states, with limited funding, we add our voices to the request for funding from our fellow member states who are able to be so generous while offering our in-kind assistance and expertise drawn from many collective years of experience developing the national accounts in our respective countries. Lastly, we encourage the continued assessment and reporting of the member states' efforts to implement the various SNA revisions, as noted in Point 43, as this will bring to the forefront the struggle by CARICOM states to implement the SNA revisions and the minimum requirement data set. This serves as a clarion call for technical assistance and funding from resource-rich countries who are normally able to transition seamlessly into the new requirement revisions. Thank you, Chair.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:27:07]:

Thank you, the distinguished delegate of the Bahamas, and I now give the floor to the United Arab Emirates.


United Arab Emirates [1:27:17]:

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. We are delighted by the work completed by the International Secretariat and we reaffirm the importance of supporting states through technical assistance in order to implement the recommendations that have been updated so that we can implement the national strategy for the and National Accounting System— National System of Accounts for 2025. It is also appropriate for us to take into consideration the gaps in development and statistical systems from one country to another. We should also ensure that the handbook and the And the data is available in all 6 official languages as soon as possible. The UAE will participate in translation to the Arabic language and we welcome the support of regional organizations that provide support for the National System of Accounts 2025. This new initiative will help to facilitate the transition towards the new SNA and highlight the challenges that states are facing. Thank you.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:29:00]:

Thank you to the distinguished delegate of the United Arab Emirates, and I now give the floor to the distinguished delegate of Japan.


Japan [1:29:10]:

Thank you, Chair. Let me start by expressing our deepest gratitude to the ISWGNA, the AG, and other initiatives for their contribution to the establishment of the 2025 SNA. The importance of continuing to develop implementation guidance on the new recommendations to facilitate the implementation of the 2025 SNA in an internationally comparable way was stressed in the report of the last meeting of the UN Statistical Commission. However, we are aware that there are still issues related to the core framework of the SNA, such as the incorporation of a rate of return on capital for non-market producers and the recording of crypto assets, for which implementation guidelines have not yet been adequately discussed or shared at this stage. We request that for major issues affecting the core framework of the SNA, measurement approaches and experimental estimates in each country be shared and then necessary reviews be carried out prior to the introduction of the 2025 SNA.

Thank you.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:30:19]:

Thank you, the distinguished delegate of Japan. And I now give the floor to the distinguished delegate of Colombia.


Colombia [1:30:31]:

The Latin American and Caribbean region supports the approval of the 2025 SNA and reaffirms its commitment to its implementation in national accounts, including its strategy, guidelines, dissemination, and research agenda. It also integrates into its institutional strategic plan a goal focused on the base year change, which will enable the update of the National Accounting Reference Framework. This process will strengthen economic, environmental, and sociodemographic measurement by incorporating new concepts, definitions, and classifications aligned with the latest international standards. Additionally, new data sources will be leveraged and methods, synthesis techniques, automatization, and dissemination within the system of national accounts in the region's countries will be optimized. This process has involved all national statistical offices and central banks of the member states. The fundamental role of the Intersecretariat Working Group, the Advisory Expert Group, and regional commissions in modernizing national accounts is highlighted, as they promote training programs and technical assistance. To this end, it is crucial to foster the necessary financing that facilitates knowledge exchange, and the sharing of best practices among countries in the region. In this regard, it is essential to analyze the progress of each country in implementing the 2025 SNA and to encourage cooperation efforts with those that have advanced further in the process, promoting mutual learning and methodological harmonization. The importance of strengthening Latin America and the Caribbean's participation in the 2025 SNA presentation seminars is underscored. In line with the recommendations of the 2025 SNA Implementation Guide, the role of the regional commissions as key actors in this process is emphasized. In this context, the countries of the region entrust ECCLAC with coordinating a work plan aimed to be closing to the implementation of the GAP of the 2008 SNA. As well as advancing preparations for the implementation of the 2025 SNA with a view toward 2030. This effort will strengthen the adoption and application of the new methodological recommendations, ensuring an efficient and consistent transition across the region. The importance of the post-2025 SNA research agenda is emphasized, addressing key topics such as the balance of payments, —fiscal statistics and environmental accounting—ensuring a continuous process of updating macroeconomic regulatory frameworks. This agenda includes fundamental aspects such as the measuring of GDP in net terms and harmonizing standards with the objective of improving the coherence and comparability of national accounts at a global scale. The use of annual nation accounts— data in the UN reports is supported, given that only 110 countries compile quarterly data, and requiring more detailed reports could affect the timeliness of dissemination. The limited availability of quarterly data restricts economic analysis and decision-making, while the quality of national data remains variable. It is essential that the update of SNA ensures international comparability and is not limited to technical recommendations. The review of structural data from the last 5 years is valued, and it is suggested that the analysis period be extended according to each country's data availability, allowing for a more precise capture for the effects of the pandemic, supply, supply chain disruptions, and economic volatility. The publication of the Handbook for Data Measurement in the System of National Accounts is highlighted as a fundamental guide that strengthened the recognition of data as an asset within the SNA, providing a clear conceptual framework and both standard and advanced methodologies for estimating data production and gross fixed capital formation. Likewise, the harmonization—


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:34:44]:

Can you come slightly to an end?


Colombia [1:34:46]:

I'm almost done. Of these measurements in national statistics systems is supported promoting international comparability and facilitating more informed and evidence-based decision-making. However, concerns persist regarding the applied methodology and conceptual clarity in data measurement, which are fundamental aspects to ensure coherence and accuracy in the SNN. Thank you.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:35:08]:

Thank you to the distinguished delegate of Colombia. May I kindly remind you of the time limit of 3 minutes. As I already was mentioning, you can also send written comments. We still have 11 countries who asked for the floor and also 6 NGOs. We are now closing the list. I now give the floor to the distinguished delegate of China.


China [1:35:34]:

Thank you, Chairman. First of all, China appreciates the efforts made by the Inter-Secretariat Working Group for the efforts made and we applaud the achievements made in updating SNA 2008. China has been actively involved in the updating of national accounts by way of in-depth participation in the revision of work through the Advisory Expert Group on National Accounts and the Data Assets Task Force. We have taken some pilot projects. Going forward, China will continue to pay attention to the 2025 SNA, pay attention to what is being updated, and make adequate preparations for subsequent transition. China endorses the implementation strategy for the SNA 2025 proposed by the Intersecretary Working Group. We will carry out the translation and publication of the SNA 2025 and work actively with regard to the implementation strategy of this 2025 SNA and implement SNA 2025 in a timely manner. Thirdly, China appreciates greatly the efforts made by the Intersecretary Working Group and the regional commissions in promoting the implementation of the SNA and economic statistics standards. We welcome the preparation and publication of a series of instrumental— instruction manuals, rather, and holding of various working training workshops. We will actively extend and cooperate with international organizations and other countries. We also hope that we will continue to receive support and guidance from international organizations.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:37:04]:

Thank you very much. I thank the distinguished delegate of China and now give the floor to the distinguished delegate of the United States.


United States of America [1:37:14]:

Thank you, Chair. The United States commends the Intersecretariat Working Group on National Accounts, the Advisory Expert Group on National Accounts, and the associated teams for their comprehensive and careful work toward updating the 2008 System of National Accounts. The U.S. welcomes and endorses the adoption of the 2025 SNA as the updated international statistical standard for national accounts statistics. We especially appreciate the progress made in expanding the production and asset boundaries to include data as a produced non-financial asset. We also endorse the work programs of the Intersecretariat Working Group on National Accounts and of the regional commissions. The U.S. has had the opportunity to directly participate in many aspects of this work. We'd also like to acknowledge the members of the editorial team for their expertise, insights, contributions. We note the impressive and rapid progress that's been made in resolving issues related to the 2025 SNA and the research agenda, including advisory expert group meetings and extensive discussions on numerous SNA chapters. We also appreciate the invaluable collaboration with those who prepare other statistical manuals such as the BPM and the Government Finance Statistics Manual. We look forward to future discussions on the post-2025 agenda and emerging research topics. With these considerations in mind, the U.S. endorses the draft resolution for the 2025 SNA and commends its guidance and recommendations, including agreeing that the UN regional commissions should play a major role in the implementation of the 2025 SNA. Thank you, Chair.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:38:57]:

Thank you to the distinguished delegate of the United States and now I give the floor to the distinguished delegate of the Oman.


Oman · GCC [1:39:07]:

Shukran sayyid al-Rais bin Yahya bin Hamad.

Thank you, Chair. On behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Countries, I would like to commend the efforts towards updating the SNA, which is a benchmark in terms of international accounts. We're also delighted by the implementation of the 2025 SNA, and we wish to highlight the importance of the role of the regional commissions. We thank the Intersecretariat Working Group on National Accounts for their work. And we thank them also for their technical assistance and support to member states. We also— support or initiatives aimed at improving the quality of data. The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council wishes to highlight data on strengthening statistics as well as those aimed at the use of new technologies that will allow us to save time and establish reliable economic parameters.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:40:53]:

I now give the floor to the distinguished delegate of Malaysia.


Malaysia [1:40:57]:

Honourable Chair, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, Malaysia welcomes the adoption of the 2025 System of National Accounts and commends the work carried out by the ISWG-NA, the AEG, and all contributors for their dedication, expertise, and commitment in developing this comprehensive framework. Malaysia also noted there were 16 chapters which were either new or revised extensively, and 2023 chapters are not really new and not substantially revised. And these changes resulted additional guidance on the some conceptual and practical uncertainties. Given this context, Malaysia looks forward for continued technical assistance, capacity building program, and knowledge sharing initiative to adopt and implement the proposed 2025 SNA. Malaysia also supports the 2035 SNA implementation strategy, which provides training, technical support, and monitoring to facilitate smooth adoption of the new MAS standards. In this regard, Malaysia recognizes the ASEAN Working Group on Systems of National Accounts under the ASEAN Community Statistical System as a key platform for facilitating the implementation of the, of the 2025 SNA across ASEAN countries, ensuring the successful achievement of the target windows from 2021, 2029 to 2030. We remain committed to collaborating with international and regional partners to strengthen economic statistics for better policymaking. Finally, Malaysia appreciates the ongoing work program of the ISWGNA and regional commission in enhancing national account methodologies. In this regard, Malaysia proposed the workshop to be held within the ASEAN region to strengthen technical capabilities, promote collaboration, and facilitate the smoother implementation of the 2025 SNA across ASEAN countries. Malaysia looks forward to actively participating in discussion and providing feedback based on its national experience to address practical challenges and real-world application. Thank you, Chair.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:43:29]:

Thank you to the distinguished delegate of Malaysia, and I give the floor to the distinguished delegate of Kyrgyzstan.


Kyrgyzstan [1:43:38]:

Spasibo, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, colleagues. Kyrgyzstan welcomes the work of the Intersecretariat Working Group on National Accounts, and we express our gratitude for their work. Kyrgyzstan is patiently awaiting the development of a practical manual for the implementation of SNA 2025. Furthermore, we're happy to hear that A manual is in the works on quantitative analysis of national resources and national accounts. We're particularly grateful due to the guideline on manuals for implementation of the SNA 2025, which will allow for specialists on national accounts to inform themselves quickly and to move as quickly as possible to draw up the new accounts and work together in coordination with international experts. I want to briefly inform you that Kyrgyzstan has transitioned to SNA 2008. Kyrgyzstan, however, wants to be one of the first to implement SNA 2025 in order to receive the necessary assistance here. Thank you very much.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:45:11]:

Thank you to the representative delegate of Kyrgyzstan. And now I give the floor to Lao People's Democratic Republic.


Lao People's Democratic Republic [1:45:19]:

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, distinguished chair and delegate. I am honored to speak on behalf of the Lao Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Planning and Investment. Regarding the adoption and implementation of 2025 SNA, we would like to express our sincere thanks and appreciation for the work of the International Expert Group and the active participation, value contribution from the countries across all regions in the development process that updated the SNA. 2025 accurately reflects the evolving global economy. We support the adaptation of 2025 SNA as the updated international statistical standard, recognizing its importance in enhancing data accuracy, relevance, particularly in the areas such as the digital economy, environmental factors, and the new production method. We also appreciate the proposed implementation strategy and acknowledge the challenges involved in transiting to the new standard while we are in the process of enhancing the milestone of 2008 S&A implementation. The strategy emphasis on the strategic approach, capacity building, and coordination is vital for the country like Lao PDR to effectively transition. We particularly value the inclusive approach taken developing this strategy, ensuring that the country are supported throughout the implementation process. In this regard, we call for a greater focus on fostering national ownership of the implementation process, strengthening the delivery and absorption of technical assistance, especially for the countries that require additional support to facilitate effective adaptation or adaptation and integration of 2025 SNA in at the country level. Finally, we recognize the importance of accuracy and timely reporting of the national account data. Laos is committed to improving our national reporting system to gradually meet the requirement of 2025 SNA. We are grateful to the support made by international development partners and also National Statistics Office, particularly through the ASEAN Regional Cooperation Initiative. We also call for continued assistance from global and regional statistics division and look forward to continued collaboration and technical assistance to ensure the successful implementation of this important initiative. Thank you.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:48:17]:

Thank you, the distinguished delegate of Lao People's Democratic Republic. And I now give the floor to distinguished representative of Bangladesh.


Bangladesh [1:48:32]:

Thank you, Mr.

Chair. Bangladesh follows international standard guidelines for compiling of national accounts statistics. Currently, we follow 2008 SNA and ISIC Revision 4 using the base year 2015-16 for estimating the annual GDP. We recently have started the compilation of quarterly GDP using the same base year of annual GDP. We strongly feel that the base year is backdated and need to be revised and updated. The Committee of National Accounts has proposed to make the revision of national accounts and a set of implementation strategy for 2025 SNA is proposed in the report. We welcome the initiative and intend to participate in the process of the revision activity. Thank you, Mr. Chair.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:49:27]:

Thank you, the distinguished representative of Bangladesh. And I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Morocco.


Morocco [1:49:38]:

Thank you, Mr.


Morocco · Arab Group and ESCWA countries [1:49:41]:

Chair. The Kingdom of Morocco, on behalf of the Arab Group and ESCWA countries, congratulates the Intersecretariat Working Group on National Accounting on the progress made to develop the national accounting system and maintain its inclusivity. This resulted in the issuance of the Modern System of National Accounts 2025, Morocco also endorses the adoption of the System of National Accounts 2025 as the updated international statistical standard for national accounts statistics. We would like to note that this revision is commendable. It contributes significantly to the alignment of economic statistics with the needs and challenges of contemporary economic and social policies. On behalf of the Arab Group and ASCUA countries, Morocco notes its approval of the proposed strategy for the updating of the 2025 SNA. We call for an accompaniment of countries to adopt a national strategy for its implementation. We also commend the need to strengthen the capacity of statistical offices to access modern systems of national accounts in areas like Islamic finance, digital assets, and natural resources. Morocco, on behalf of the Arab Group and ESCWA countries, stress the importance of making the manuals and guidelines on national accounts based on the 2025 SNA available in the 6 official languages of the United Nations as soon as possible. Thank you, Mr. Chair.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:51:24]:

Thank you to the distinguished delegate of Morocco. And I now give the floor to the distinguished delegate to the United United Kingdom.


United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland [1:51:34]:

Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom acknowledge the significant work of the international organizations, task teams, and the global statistical community in developing the updated international standards for economic measurement. On a conceptual— and I stress conceptual— basis, we support the endorsement and approval of the updated 2025 System of National Accounts. Our intervention is focused on implementation and the future approach to manual updates. The UNSC Implementation Strategy for 2025 SNA and BPM-7 aims for countries to implement 2025 SNA and BPM-7 in 2029-30. This is challenging, and let us be honest about that. We have heard this morning of countries who have had difficulty implementing SNA 2008 and therefore it is important that the international community recognizes that and recognizes also that there is a real need that the implementation window is not just aspirational but supported to enable a proper implementation for both SNA 2025 and BPM-7. To assist international comparability, international agreement is needed on how to communicate transparently cross-country 2025 SNA and BPM-7 implementation. The sensitivity of methods adopted for some of the key conceptual changes. Experimental work thus far has shown enormous sensitivity to small changes, and so these conceptual changes may impact countries differently. We recommend: A, countries publishing and sharing their experimental estimates and measurement approaches before implementation, and B, international organizations such as the UN, IMF, and OECD disseminating how they will perform country comparisons during the 2008 to 2025 SNA and BPM6 to BPM7 implementation period, especially important if the implementation window extends beyond 2029-2030. The proposed forward SNA research agenda is necessary, but with global capacity constraints, it will be very difficult for countries to actively participate in the SNA research agenda alongside— implementing SNA 2025 and BPM7. This needs to be addressed. We are also concerned that the proposed forward SNA research agenda does not include some of the key issues raised by countries in response to the SNA 2025 chapters global consultation, some of which are fundamental for agreeing the future scope of the SNA. —for example, undertaking research and consultation to agree the most appropriate framework for addressing the measurement of well-being and environmental sustainability. Therefore, we are also recommending a review of the mandate and governance of the Intersecretariat Working Group on National Accounts and Advisory Expert Group, with a particular focus on: a) how users outside of key international statistical organizations can be brought into SNA research agenda and manual update process, and b) how to account for the economic measurement needs of developing countries given the structure and priorities in both their economy and for economic measurement can differ substantially.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:55:25]:

Thank you. Thank you to the distinguished delegate of the UK. I now give the floor to the distinguished delegate of Czechia.


Czechia [1:55:36]:

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Czech Republic welcomes the effort to the update of SNA 2008 and appreciates the work done by dedicated teams. The economy is developing quite fast and we must stay relevant. SNA 2025 substantially extends production boundary that inevitably leads to using models to a large extent. It will be very challenging to ensure international comparability as various assumptions, which are not necessarily valid in all countries, have to be adapted. As regards SNA 2025 implementation, we have to define priorities taking into account resources available. I believe that we have to firstly implement conceptual changes into core accounts while supplementary tables may be introduced later depending on available human and data resources. Thank you.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:56:41]:

Thank you to the representative delegate from Czechia. Now with the floor to the distinguished delegate of Peru.


Peru [1:56:51]:

Gracias. Thank you, Chair. Greetings to the Bureau and to all participants In Peru, the national accounts system is using the 2008 system and we're about to move to the 2019 system. We have used the tables and the annual accounts for institutions. We also have the PBI, which is— has been in place until 2024 and we also produce the PBI on a quarterly basis and by department of our country. We are working on the informal and tourism sector and energy accounts together with the with the support of the IMF. We have been responding to the questionnaires from the United Nations and also others. Peru will actively participate in our discussions and looks forward to receiving advice and other exchanges from our statistics offices to ensure the transition to the new 2025 SNA.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [1:58:19]:

I thank you. Thank you to the representative from Peru. And I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of the OECD on behalf of the CCA.


OECD · CCSA [1:58:35]:

Thank you, Chair. I'm providing a joint statement on behalf of the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities, which consists of 45 international and supranational organizations promoting interagency coordination and cooperation in statistics. The Committee congratulates the Intersecretariat Working Group on National Accounts and the Advisory Expert Group and countries for the work done over the past years to develop the draft System of National Accounts 2025 and to prepare the implementation strategy for the 2025 SNA. Commends the close collaboration between the SNA and the Balance of Payments and the International Investment Position Manual update teams throughout the process to ensure full alignment between the manuals to the best extent possible. Endorses the draft 2025 SNA as the international statistical standard for the compilation of national accounts countries, also considering that the list of recommendations for the updates of the 2008 SNA was approved by the Commission last year and that the final draft underwent extensive global consultation, with the comments being incorporated in this final draft. The Committee takes notes of the proposed implementation strategy for the 2025 SNA, including the draft resolution for the Economic and Social Council of the 2025 SNA appreciates the work already done to develop implementation guidance in areas of data as an asset, natural resources, and the rate of return on capital in the estimation of non-market output, and the ongoing work to develop guidance in other areas, including the measurement of crypto assets and knowledge-based capital. We also welcome the post-2025 System of National Accounts research agenda. The Committee supports the proposed programme of work for the Working Group and the regional commissions, particularly in supporting the implementation of the 2025 SNA and including the development of guidance in other areas of relevance to compilers and the organisation of continued outreach activities. Appreciates the continued evaluation of the conceptual compliance of official national accounts as reported by member states with the SNA recommendations. And finally, the SNA— the CCSA would also like to put on record our sincere gratitude to the many hundreds of people who took the time to provide detailed comments and feedback during the many consultation processes.

Thank you.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [2:01:17]:

Thank you to the distinguished delegate from the OECD. I see now that we have one country, Mozambique, and then we have the ILO, the IMF, SISTAT, Islamic Development Bank, and AfriStat. So we have closed the list and I give now the floor to the distinguished delegate of Mozambique.


Mozambique · Africa Group [2:01:49]:

Thank you, Chair. Mozambique, on behalf of the African Group, commends the United Nations Economic and Social Council's Network of Economic Statisticians for their exemplary efforts in advancing economic statistics. The successful revision of the DSNA is laudable as it significantly contributes to aligning economic statistics with contemporary policy needs and challenges. Africa Group fully supports the recommendations of the update of 2008 SNA, including the broad efforts to integrate contemporary challenges and opportunity into the new framework. However, we emphasize the importance of addressing remaining conceptual uncertainties, particularly around emerging topics like market assets and urge continued development of information guidance to ensure the 2025 SNA is practical, internationally comparable, and inclusive. We invite the Commission to endorse the strategy for implementing the 2025 SNA and believe that it will pave the way for a coordinated global transition. That said, we urge the Commission to address Africa's specific challenges and priorities by focusing on the following: capacity building and addressing resource constraints. Many African countries face significant challenges in terms of financial and technical resources. We therefore advocate for the establishment of a dedicated group to support countries' transition from 2008 to 2025 SNA. Addressing the informal sector. The informal economy constitutes a substantial portion of many African economies, yet it remains challenging to measure using traditional statistical methods. We strongly advocate for more work within the 2025 SNA on measuring the informal sector. Regional collaboration and the knowledge sharing. We call for a regional focus on implementing 2025 SNA coordinated by the key bodies such as the African Development Bank, African Union Commission, and UNECA. This will foster collaboration, enabling knowledge sharing, and ensure best practices are disseminated across African countries. Thank you, Chair.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [2:04:36]:

Thank you to the distinguished delegate of Mozambique, and I give the floor to distinguished delegate of the ILO.


ILO [2:04:46]:

Thank you, Chair. The ILO welcomes the report on the crucial process to update the System of National Accounts 2008. I would like to congratulate the Intersecretariat Working Group on National Accounts and the UN Statistical Division for all those and all those involved in the process of bringing the SNA 2025 to this stage. The ILO was heavily involved in the task teams and subsequently drafting process on multiple chapters including Chapter 16 on labour, Chapter 34 on measurement of well-being and Chapter 39 on the informal economy. Each of those and various other chapters touch on essential aspects of the world of work and cut across various resolutions adopted by the International Conference of Labour Statisticians. With this in mind, an objective of ours has been to ensure consistency and coherence between those frameworks to the maximum extent possible, and we would like to thank the drafters and the editors and the workers for the— for their proactive efforts to achieve the same objective. More specifically, updates to previous definitions of employment and the labour force in 2013 have necessitated careful division of the language used in SNA 2008, recognizing, for example, that labor input to production within the SNA production boundary is wider than employment as defined in Resolution 1 of the 19 ICLS. We believe this way— this is now handled— the way that now is handled in the chapter on labor strikes an appropriate balance between consistencies across frameworks, clarity, and the need for continuity. And this was only achieved through a strong spirit of compromise among all those involved. We also note the excellent work done on the chapter on the informal economy, now achieving alignment between SNA and the latest Resolution on Statistics on Informal Economy adopted in 2023 by the ICLS. We believe the adoption of the SNA can play an important role in improving the coherent the coherence between economic and social statistics in the future and sincerely hope it will be adopted by this session of the Statistical Commission along with the crucial implementation strategy through which we hope to see timely application of the new SNA. Thank you.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [2:07:04]:

Thank you to the distinguished delegate of the ILO. I now give the floor to the distinguished delegate of the IMF.


IMF [2:07:14]:

Thank you, Chair. The IMF would like to congratulate all the countries and organizations that played a role in helping the 2025 SNA become a reality. It has been a truly global effort involving compilers and users across all regions and international organizations. We would like to thank all who contributed to this immense effort. It's great that for the first time in history, The Balance of Payments and the National Accounts communities have updated both standards in a fully coordinated manner. This will lead to more consistent macroeconomic data and that is of great benefit of our users. A lot of interventions were made today about implementation. I can assure you that the IMF stands ready to help in strong cooperation and coordination with all the international, global, and also regional institutions. A lot of compilation guidance has already been developed by the international community, and more will be delivered. We also have developed tools such as the Compiler's Hub, as already mentioned by the distinguished delegates of Iran, the Philippines, and the Bahamas, which will upgrade collaboration of statisticians around the world. This digital platform enables the sharing of experiences and methodologies. Additionally, we will be using artificial intelligence in spearheading our capacity development. For example, our Stats Chat initiative provides an interactive platform for real-time guidance from statistical manuals, which will be integrated into the Compliers Hub. We stand ready to help, either from one of the 12 IMF Regional Capacity Development Centers that serve your region or directly from the IMF Statistics Department. Thank you.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [2:08:55]:

Thank you to the distinguished delegate of the IMF. And I'll give the floor to the distinguished delegate of Sister.


CISSTAT [2:09:08]:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Allow me also to congratulate all those involved in drawing up the new SNA on their successful completion of their work. We thank the Intersecretariat Working Group on National Accounts for their final report too. We support the implementation of SNA 2025 and the posed strategy for its development, we stand ready to contribute to implementing this strategy ourselves as well too. The Russian Federation has financed a project through which we've revitalized activity aiming— aimed at S&A. For example, last year in Tashkent, there was a meeting of the heads of the statistics services in the CIS in order to discuss implementation of SNA 2025. Also, at the beginning of this year, we're going to be convening a meeting of those in the CIS on methodological guidance for implementing SNA 2025. We're also happy to be co-organizing an April meeting of experts on national accounts. The Statistics Commission of the CIS is also carrying out webinars in Russian language. For example, in November there was a webinar with over 300 specialists. They came from the CIS countries, specialists in these areas, and we're going to continue this practice as well. Together with Rosstat, we are prepared to participate in the translation of SNA 2025 into Russian. We want to ensure that SNA is translated into Russian. In closing, I want to say that in September in Baku, Azerbaijan, there will be an international forum for the CIS. One central topic of that forum is implementing the SNA 2025 system. We invite you all to participate in that forum. Thank you.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [2:11:25]:

Thank you to the distinguished delegate of the CISSTAT and I give the floor now to the distinguished delegate of the Islamic Development Bank.


Speaker 79 [2:11:45]:

I'm sorry, there is a mistake.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [2:11:47]:

There was no request for the floor. Thank you. Then I give the floor to the last intervention, the distinguished delegate of Afristat.


AFRISTAT [2:12:09]:

Merci beaucoup, Monsieur le Président. Thank you very much, Chair Afristat. Russia welcomes the outstanding work conducted by the Intersecretariat Working Group on National Accounts. The output, the SNA 2025, gains unanimity in terms of its quality, and we support its adoption. I would like to ask our international partners to support the development of SNAs in sub-Saharan Africa by working on the coordination of actions to avoid useless duplication. Also, on behalf of the 22 member states of our organization, I wish to highlight the need to review the community of partners with the National Statistics Division of the United Nations, and I would like to exhort them to work on the following points. Firstly, swift translation of the 2025 SNA and subsequent handbooks in all of the official languages of the United Nations and in particular in French. This would allow all countries to rapidly move towards implementing this new system of national accounts. Also, a minimum common framework for implementation of the SNA 2025 to allow countries with limited means to participate in international comparison. And thirdly, the voluntary support of African countries and multifaceted support for the mobilization of data that is often lacking. I thank you, Chair.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [2:14:00]:

Merci beaucoup to the distinguished delegate of Afristat. And I see no further request for the floor on this report, and I invite now Mr. Herman Smith, Chief of the National Accounts Section of the United Nations Statistical Division, UNSD, to summarize our discussion on the report.


UNSD · Chief, National Accounts Section · Herman Smith [2:14:25]:

Mr. Chair, as this is my last Statistical Commission, it gives me great pleasure to provide you with a summary. And I can also say that the lead editor and the project manager for the SNA update is also present today, and I'm sure they're also happy. So let me then proceed. The Statistical Commission welcomed the report of the Intersecretariat Working Group on National Accounts, expressed its appreciation for the activities undertaken by the members of the Advisory Expert Group on National Accounts, the working group itself, and the regional commissions, but also the editorial team for the SNA update. There are also the other regional organizations and member states that facilitated the development of the System of National Accounts 2025. The Commission also endorsed the program of work for the 2025— for the year 2025 of the Working Group and the Advisory Expert Group. The Commission adopts the 2025 SNA as the updated international statistical standard For National Accounts Statistics expressed its appreciation for the outreach activities to keep countries informed about the transparent process and inclusive approach to seek the views of countries through the global consultations. Commended the close collaboration between the SNA and Balance of Payments Manual update teams to ensure full alignment between the SNA and the Balance of Payments recommendations to the best possible extent. Welcome the development of guidance on the recommendation related to measuring data, natural resources, and the net return to capital. Endorsed the implementation strategy for the 2025 SNA. Noted the concerns of some member states about the resource constraints to implement the 2025 SNA and requested the working group to report on progress to the Statistical Commission on the implementation process. Stressed the importance of continuing to develop implementation guidance on the new recommendations. Emphasized the need for capacity building and funding for member states with limited resources to facilitate the implementation of the 25 SNA in an international comparable, comparable way, and then also welcomed the compilers hub that would support the implementation of the SNA. Expressed appreciation for the international organizations and countries for providing technical support on national account statistics and supporting economic statistics. Encouraged member states to take ownership of developing strategies, including the mobilization of national resources to facilitate the implementation of the 25 SNA. The Commission also requested the timely translation of the 2025 SNA into the official United Nations languages and noted that there was support from some member states to, to help with the translation process. And lastly, Mr. Chair encouraged the continued reporting and evaluation of availability and scope of the official national accounts data reported by member states and noted the importance of quality data, including the availability of quarterly national accounts data in support of international comparisons and a global understanding of the world economy. Thank you, Mr. Chair.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [2:18:36]:

I thank Mr. Smith. Specifically, thank you for the immense work you have done for the UN. You were mentioning it's your last Commission, so I think this is also an applause we can give you for the work you have done for the UN. Thank you very much. In my capacity as chair, I will introduce now for our discussion on this item the draft resolution submitted by the Bureau of the Statistical Commission entitled System of the National Account 2025, contains in document E/CN.3/2025/L4 as revised with the changes agreed during the informal consultation yesterday. For transparency, these revisions will be reflected in document E/CN.3/2025/L4REF1.1 to be issued by the COB this Thursday, 6th March. In line with our practice, we will take a decision on the draft resolution on this Friday. My understanding is that the draft resolution as agreed during the informals has been truly discussed. Is there any delegation who would like to make a statement now? I appeal to delegates that we have already reached consensus in the informals. No one? So there is consensus on the draft resolution, so as far as I understand, the aforementioned revision proposed during yesterday's informals. As aforementioned, for transparency and also for, and also aforementioned, these revisions will be reflected in a Rev. 1 to the draft resolution contained in document E/CN.3/2025/L.4 to be issued by COB this Thursday, 6th March. In line with our practice, we will take a decision on the draft resolution this Friday. The Commission has due to conclude this stage, uh, its discussion on item 3A. I now invite the Commission to turn its consideration to agenda item 3B entitled Population and Housing Census, under which The Commission has before it for discussion and decision the report of the Secretary-General on the 2020 and 2030 World Population and Housing Census Program, contained in document E/CN.3/2025/3, which also includes a draft resolution in its annex. Background documents are available on the Statistical Commission's website. The Commission will consider the report and the draft resolution in its annex one by one. I now give the floor to Ms. Francesca Groome, Chief of the Demographic and Social Statistics Branch of the UNSD, to introduce the report.


UNSD · Chief, Demographic and Social Statistics Branch · Francesca Groome [2:21:55]:

Thank you, Chair, distinguished delegates. The report before the Commission provides an overview— of the implementation of the 2020 World Population and Housing Census Programme, including information on national participation, successes, and challenges faced by countries, as well as details on activities carried out by the Statistics Division and its partners in support of the 2020 Census Programme. The report highlights that the COVID-19 pandemic posed a major challenge, leading to the postponement of many censuses. However, despite the pandemic, by the end of the 2020 round in December 2024, 204 countries or areas successfully conducted a census and reported significant innovations in census taking, particularly in the adoption of digital technologies, georeferencing, and the use of administrative data. As a point of clarification, the 2020 census round enumerated around 70% of the world's population rather than 85%, as stated in the Secretary-General report, and the corrigendum has been issued accordingly. Uh, the report also outlines the preparations for the 2030 World Population and Housing Census Programme, including the revision of the principles and recommendations for population and housing censuses. This is Revision 4. This revision has been guided by a group of census experts from around the world and serves as the primary methodological reference establishing international standards, and providing guidance to national statistical authorities on planning, organizing, conducting, and utilizing population and housing censuses. And I, of course, I'd like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the experts who contributed to and oversaw the finalization of this important publication. Finally, the report present the work of the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities on estimating the total number of households. Uh, the Commission is invited to note the implementation of the 2020 World Population Housing Census program, endorse the revised census principles and recommendations, provide guidance on the Statistics Division's proposed activities and comment on the importance of producing internationally comparable time series data on the number of households. Thank you.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [2:24:55]:

Thank you, Ms. Krum. And I open the debate on the report of the Secretary-General on the 2020 and 2030 World Population and Housing— Housing Census Programs, contained in document E/LO /cn.3/2025/3. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Philippines.


Philippines [2:25:21]:

Good morning, Mr.

Chair. The Philippines commends the achievements of the 2020 World Population and Housing Census program. We firmly recognize that conducting a population and housing census is a vital milestone in ensuring accurate and comprehensive demographic data. Despite the challenge posed by the pandemic, the Philippines successfully conducted its 2020 Census of Population and Housing, the country's 15th population census and 17th housing census since 1903. We strongly support the proposed activities of the 2030 round of the population and housing census especially with the upcoming revision 4 of the principles and recommendations for population and housing censuses, with considerations on alternative approaches to census taking, integrating geospatial information, disaggregating data for SDGs, and quality assurance throughout the census process, as well as work on methods for estimating total number of households by the task team to enable comparability and harmonization of data. We have gone beyond standard expectations by integrating our census efforts with our community-based monitoring system, which is a census-like undertaking that encompasses collection, processing, and validating necessary— disaggregated data that may be used for planning, program implementation, and impact monitoring at the local level, while empowering communities to participate in the process. The Philippines reaffirms its commitment to adapting technology in data collection for future censuses and exploring innovative or alternative approaches such as use of administrative data to enhance the efficiency and value of our population census. These efforts align with our goal of leveraging data to support the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Thank you, Mr. Chair.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [2:27:41]:

Thank you to the distinguished delegate of the Philippines. Just to remind you, we will stick to the 3 minutes. We have already an impressive list of countries who want to speak. 36. Okay, very good. Thank you. And I now give the floor to the distinguished delegate of Belarus.


Belarus [2:28:06]:

Spasibo, Mr. Chairman. BELSTAT commends the work of the UN Statistical Commission's in the context of the World Population and Housing Census for 2020. The survey of the 2020 round in Belarus was held in October of 2019. This census was one of the most innovative of— was the most innovative of all previously conducted censuses in the CIS. Belarus was the first to carry out a digital census. The data was collected through a combined method. Administrative data, and we also conducted surveys with tablet computers, and we also used self-reporting over the internet by respondents. We used technology when preparing and carrying out the census. This allowed for us to receive data that were geolocated and were aggregated as well by territory. In 2024, Belstep participated in the third study of the Statistics Division of the UN aimed at the collection of information following the census round of 2020 and plans for 2030. Bellstat supports the measures of the UN Statistics Division in terms of the adoption of the draft resolution on the world population and housing census for 2030. As part of the upcoming census, BelStat plans to substantially broaden the use of administrative data when transitioning from traditional censuses to censuses based on registers. We're also prepared to introduce a statistics register of the population. There's no doubt that in the upcoming census we're going to use state-of-the-art technology, including AI. STAT welcomes the work of the Statistics Commission to adopt and approve a draft fourth reviewed version of principles and recommendations for the Population and Housing Census. We are a member of the expert group on drawing up those recommendations. Furthermore, when preparing for the fourth edition Belstat partook in the global consultations on revising its content and structure, and we took part in discussions of a draft recommendation of the Conference of European Specialists on Housing and Population Housing Censuses for 2030. Belstat supports the Statistics Division's work on preparing international guiding principles for methods of conducting censuses. We think it's important to prepare, uh, data about the number of households and to use methodologies that are as close as possible to one another. Thank you.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [2:31:11]:

Thank you to the distinguished delegate of Belarus.

And I give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Republic of Korea.


Republic of Korea [2:31:25]:

Thank you, Chair. Republic of Korea welcomes the resolutions for the 2030 census round and support the fourth revision of the principles and recommendations for population and housing censuses. Since 2015, Korea has conducted its population and housing census using combined methods. We publish full enumeration data on the size of population, household, and houses annually using the register-based census, and conduct a sample survey covering 20% of population every 5 years. For the 2025 census, we have incorporated the third revision of the UN's recommendations by including items such as cohabitation outside the marriage and rental ownership. In addition to the recommended items, we also have added items such as marriage plans, intentions, and family caregiving time to better reflect Korea's socioeconomic changes, including low birth rates and aging populations. For the 2030 census, we will review the inclusion of new items proposed in the fourth revision of the UN recommendations, including reasons for relocation, overseas residency experience, and international migration motives. As this year marks the 100th anniversary of Korea's census, we are enhancing, enhancing survey design, improving systems, and raising public awareness to ensure its successful implementation. With a century of census experience, Korea is committed to sharing its expertise and strengthening global census capacity. Thank you.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [2:33:13]:

Thank you to the distinguished delegate of the Republic of Korea. I now give the floor to the distinguished delegate of Turkmenistan.


Turkmenistan [2:33:29]:

Turkmenistan is dedicated to international decisions and recommendations, including holding a round of the World Population Housing Census for 2020. Turkmenistan, together with ECOSOC, decided to participate in the 2020 round. And in 2017, the President of Turkmenistan signed a decree stating that from 17th to the 27th of December 2022, Turkmenistan would carry out a housing and population census. Uh, the slogan of that would be the 2022 Census: Cohesion, Happiness, and a Bright Future. In order to ensure comparability of statistics at the international level, the methodological materials for the censuses, including the census sheets, were underpinned by international principles and recommendations. For carrying out the census, housing and population censuses, we had 6 census sheets containing 82 questions. The government of Turkmenistan has also decided to use information technologies at all stages of our census. In Turkmenistan, we have been working using tablet computers, and we have also produced programs that were developed by Turkmenistan producers. In order to raise awareness about the census, we've implemented articles and we've also had segments on our national television channels showing clips and introducing banners raising people's awareness about this event. The Turkmenstat website was open and a section of called the population census was introduced with information about the census. The UN took active part at all levels of the preparation of our census as well. The UN Statistics Division took part in the European Economic Convention and the Statistics Commission of the CIS. The mission— underscored that this was a very important event. The results of our census Turkmenistan 2022 was published, were published in Turkmen, English, and Russian languages, and they were put on Turkmenstat's website. We're very much looking forward to the population housing census for 2030. Thank you.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [2:36:09]:

Thank you very much to the distinguished representative of Turkmenistan. I see now that we are coming close to 1 o'clock, so it will be then our break. So there are two more countries to ask for the floor before the break, Samoa and Morocco. So, and after Morocco, I will close the list, and then in the afternoon, of course, those representatives who are asked the floor will continue then, but these will also be then the ones who can speak in the afternoon. So I give the floor to the representative from Samoa.


Samoa · Pacific countries [2:36:50]:

Thank you, Mr.

Chair. Samoa, on behalf of the Pacific countries, is pleased to express our approval of the resolution. On the 2030 World Population and Housing Census Programme and our endorsement of the draft principles and recommendations. We note the proposed activities of UNSD to support the 2030 Population and Housing Census Programme and emphasize the need for further capacity-building activities for Pacific Island Developing Countries. Pacific countries acknowledge the support offered by technical partners partners, including SPC, UNSD, UNFPA, UNESCAP, and SEAP, for the implementation of the 2030 Round Census, and we look forward to a workshop dedicated to the Pacific region later this year. As the Deputy Chair of the Pacific Statistics Methods Board, I would like to highlight innovation in census and population statistics methods in the Pacific region. This has included the long-form census experimental statistical population register establishment in Tuvalu, which is piloting our Pacific roadmap to explore use of administrative data sources for population statistics. In addition, Samoa is embarking on establishing a national ID, which will be implemented in the next 2 to 3 years, with funding available from the World Bank. Pacific countries have also taken the lead in this area in the 2020 Round and included questions on the impact of climate change in their census, which can provide a model for nations in other regions. We recommend that countries consider adopting climate-related questions as recommended items for the 2030 round and would be pleased to work together in this area. The Pacific Statistics Donor and Development Partners Group agreed last year to establish a technical working group to support countries with implementing, implementing the 2030 Round Census and other demographic and population statistics initiatives, including projections and estimates, use of administrative data, and training and capacity building. Thank you, Mr. Chair.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [2:39:10]:

Thank you to the distinguished representative of Samoa. And we come now to the Last one before the lunch break, I give the floor to the distinguished delegate of Morocco.


Morocco [2:39:24]:

Thank you, Chair. Morocco would like to inform this body that it has participated in the 2020 World Population and Housing Census Program by conducting its 7th population census in 2024. Morocco has successfully conducted its first fully digital census using online platform for recruitments of participants, e-learning to train enumerators, computer-assisted devices to collect data, and web applications for management of the whole operation, and hence was able to publish first results within few weeks after data collection. Morocco would like to submit its approval of the draft resolution of the 2030 World Population and Housing Census Program, especially with regards to producing census data using a combination of administrative and fieldwork. Morocco, as a member of the UN expert group responsible for overseeing the revision— the revision of the principles of recommendations for population and housing censuses, for the 2030 round, has actively participated in this global effort. The fourth revision provides comprehensive guidelines for the 2030 round of censuses and updates existing guidelines to reflect modern practices and challenges, including the use of administrative data. The revision focuses on ensuring consistency with international standards while revising concept definitions and classifications to address current issues in census taking. It provides comprehensive and practical guidelines that align with the latest methodologies and frameworks, ensuring accurate and reliable data collection in the upcoming census round. Hence, Morocco endorses the draft fourth revision of Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Census 2030. Thank you, Mr. Chair.


Switzerland · Chair · Georg Simon Ulrich [2:41:29]:

Thank you to the distinguished delegate of Morocco. Distinguished delegates, we still have speakers remaining on the list for Agenda Item 3B entitled Population and Housing Census. The Commission will just continue with the list of speakers on Item 3B at 3 PM in the conference room 4. I just say what countries asked the floor for the afternoon, so the ones who can speak, starting with Barbados, Colombia, Burundi, Mongolia, Albania, Egypt, Iraq, Malaysia, Bahrain, Canada, Cuba, China, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Spain, Russian Federation, Republic of Moldova, Chile, Georgia, Peru, Portugal, Qatar, Argentina, Thailand, Maldives, Hungary, and then some IGOs, UN Population Division, DESA on behalf of the CCSA, ECLAC, ESCW, And finally, UN-Habitat, SISTAT, FAO, and Lao Republic— Democratic Republic. Okay. The meeting is adjourned. See you at 3:00 PM this afternoon.