Malaysia appointed as advisory group member of UN statistical commission

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia was appointed as an Advisory Group (AG) member of the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) at the 52nd Session of the UNSC earlier this month, with valuable contributions made to the advancement of the global statistical community.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) in a statement said the AG would work towards modernising the management and organisation of the National Statistical System (NSS), an ensemble of statistical organisations and units within a country that jointly collect, process and disseminate official statistics on behalf of the national government.

Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin, who led the Malaysian delegation at the session this year, said DOSM as the official government agency will continue to provide reliable official statistics that are relevant to policies that will benefit the whole NSS and the well-being of society.

"National governments, international agencies, private sectors, research community in academic institutes, non-governmental organisations and general communities are reliant on national and international statistics, especially in this pandemic situation.

"Thus, UNSC continues to lead the Global Statistical System (GSS) in providing the most reliable data and statistics to build an inclusive and effective path for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda," he said in the statement.

The UNSC, the highest decision-making body of more than 190 members comprised of UN member states and international organisations, oversees the work of the UN Statistics Division (UNSD) and is a Functional Commission of the UN Economic and Social Council.

Meanwhile, DOSM said Malaysia is becoming more internationally recognised in the statistical arena due to its involvement and contribution in various international organisations such as the UNSD, UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), and the UN Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (UNSIAP).

Malaysia was also selected as one of the pilot countries under the 12th Tranche of the UN Development Account for 2020-2023 projects.

Recently, DOSM has also been selected as a member of the Working Group on Open Data for 2020 - 2024; Inter-Agency and Expert Group (IAEG) on Disaster-related Statistics 2020; Statistical Advisory Panel for 2020 Human Development Report (HDR); Inter-secretariat Working Group on Household Surveys (ISWGHS); Regional Advisory Board (RAB) for the 2020 ICP for Asia and the Pacific; and Global Ocean Accounts Partnership for Sustainable Development (GOAP).

As being one of the countries which implemented the 2020 Census during the pandemic with amendments made to its implementation, Malaysia was also invited to share its experience and best practices with the global community during the Experts Group Meetings on Population as well as at the UNSC's side event.

-- BERNAMA