First session on developing Strategy of Statistical System held in Tbilisi
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Friday, July 5
On July 4, the first meeting of Inter-Agency Council was held. According to the state national statistics office of Georgia, GEOSTAT, the council was created for the elaboration of 2020-2023 Strategy of Statistical System and Strategy Action Plan in April of this year, based on the Decree of the Government of Georgia.
The council consists of the representatives from eleven agencies, and the chairperson of the commission is Mr. Gogita Todradze, the Executive Director of GEOSTAT.
During the meeting at the “Rooms Hotel,” the members of the council reviewed the elaboration process of the National Statistics Development Strategy and Action Plan, discussed existing challenges and plans.
Todradze, in his welcoming speech, addressed the participants. As he noted, “the purpose of the preparation of a strategic document is to develop a statistical system in the country, to improve the statistical data collection, processing, spreading, and utilization. Also, the strategy mentioned above will be considered as a public policy document that will be developed by the active involvement of stakeholders and includes medium and long-term perspectives for strengthening the capacity of statistics in the country.”
The meeting was also attended by the representatives of the UNDP, Governance Reform Foundation (GRF), as well as international and local experts involved in the project along with members of the Inter-Agency Council. International experts introduced the thematic presentations and documents to the council members.
International experts, Alper Gujumengil and Jerry O’Hanlon, briefed the Council members about the concept and implementation of the strategy.
During his speech, O’Hanlon presented the Global Assessment Document of the Statistical System implemented by the Eurostat, the United Nations Economic Cooperation for Europe (UNECE) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in 2018-2019 and its main recommendations.
At the end of the meeting, the discussion was held, and concrete plans were presented on the elaboration of the strategic document and further development of the statistical system in the country.
National Statistics Office of Georgia (GEOSTAT), is the legal entity of public law, which carries out its activities independently. It is an institution established to produce the statistics and disseminate statistical information according to the Georgian legislation.
