Libreville, Gabon, 27th November 2015 –The Ninth Committee of Directors General of National Statistics Offices (CoDGs), convened in Libreville, Gabon, concluded today with concrete recommendations and an emphasis on the need for a Data Revolution and Data Harmonisation within the African Continent

The two (2) days Committee held under the theme ”Data Revolution, Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063" reviewed the implementation of previous Decisions and discussed statistical development challenges within the Continent in view to consolidate active commitments toward new priorities, strategies and targets for achieving concrete results and impacts in line with the Post-2015 Development Agenda and the Africa Agenda 2063 at National, Regional and Continental levels

Key presentations were made at Institutional and National levels to share successes, best practices and methodologies with an overarching goal to ensure data production, data quality and data harmonisation in order to inform decisions, enable all stakeholders to track progress and make the necessary adjustments to ensure transparency and mutual accountability.

Among the recommendations, the meeting emphasised the need for the quick operationalization of the African Union Institute for Statistics, which is based in Tunis; The need to encourage more Member States to ratify the African Charter on Statistics and revise their national laws and procedures in line with Continental development Agendas; The need to encourage Member States to increase budget allocation for statistical activities and production; The need to call upon all institutional and regional stakeholders to further build capacity towards 2008 SNA through guidelines, national action plans and the use of appropriate technological tools; The need to call upon Member States to provide in-depth studies and data on labour markets, informal sector economy, employment, peace and security and education; The need to fast-track the 2020 Round of Population and Housing Censuses.

Chaired by the host Director General of Statistics of Gabon, the event was organised by the Department of Economic Affairs of the African Union Commission with support from the African Development Bank, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the Government of Gabon and various other stakeholders.

The meeting awarded trophies to two successful Statistics training facilities and concluded its session in the presence of the Gabonese Community Leaders.

/MFM