Experts meet in Dushanbe for global assessment of Tajikistan national statistical system

Global assessments provide in-depth and comprehensive analyses of the institutional, organisational and technical capacity of EFTA’s partner countries to produce high-quality, comparable official statistics that comply with international and European standards. They identify strengths and areas of development, and provide recommendations to guide the long-term development of official statistics. Additionally, they offer international partners a comprehensive overview of the current state of official statistics in those countries.

Technical collaboration with Tajikistan and other Central Asian countries in the field of official statistics can have a broader impact on strengthening regional ties in the new geopolitical context. In addition, Switzerland has a longstanding commitment to represent their interests at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to aid the development of their economies. Reliable and comparable official statistics are crucial to achieving this goal.

The EFTA Secretariat supported two of the seven experts making up the assessment team: Mr Steinn Kári Steinsson from Statistics Iceland and Mr Lars Svennebye from Statistics Norway. On the purpose of their work in Dushanbe, they said:

“The goal of this global assessment is to gather information on the situation of official statistics in Tajikistan and to give recommendations on how it can better adapt to international standards and best practices.”

The final report is expected later this year.

The EFTA Secretariat would like to thank Eurostat, UNECE, Statistics Iceland and Statistics Norway for their collaboration, as well as staff at the Tajikistan Statistics Agency for their cooperation and warm hospitality!