MoU in the field of Official Statistics to Open New Opportunities for Promoting Technical Cooperation between India and Afghanistan: Dr. M.S. Gill

Introduction

The union Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation Dr. M.S. Gill has said that the MoU signed between the CSO of Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation of the Government of India, is a landmark achievement. Speaking on the occasion of signing of MoU here toady he said, it will go a long way in strengthening the statistical capability of the CSO of Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, besides opening up new opportunities for promoting technical cooperation in other areas of mutual interest.

Here is the full text of Minister’s speech:

"It is indeed my pleasure to welcome you all on this very important occasion today to sign the MoU between CSO of Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation of the Government of India, carried out under the National Institution Building Project (NIBP) aided by UNDP. It marks a new chapter in fostering mutual cooperation between the two countries to steer the implementation process for capacity building through skill transfer particularly to strengthen statistical capability in CSO Afghanistan in the context of developing a robust statistical system. As a part of the agreement, India would, inter-alia, provide advisory services for supporting policy and strategy development and system improvement in accordance with identified needs of CSO, Afghanistan including medium term and short term assignments; facilitate short term international training of Afghan Civil servants at the training institutes of India; assist in establishing/strengthening the training institutes in Afghanistan; provide technical support on important areas including national accounts, survey designing/planning etc., analysis/presentation of data, training of trainers, development of official statistics in areas like education, health, environment, births and deaths etc.

Both our countries share many commonalities and this partnership is a significant step towards building new relationship based on mutual trust and a consultative and transparent approach. The recent visit of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India to Afghanistan has already underlined our deep friendship and has reinforced our commitment towards promoting technical cooperation between the two countries.

The Indian Statistical System functions within the overall federal set up of the country. ‘Statistics’ is a subject covered under the Concurrent list enjoining both Central and State Governments to develop statistical system in the country. The National Statistical Organization (NSO) of India, under the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, functions as the nodal agency for planning and facilitating the integrated development of the statistical system in the country. It aims to supply data/statistics on key parameters to Planners and Policy makers in Government and outside; improve the quality and reliability of existing data sets including reducing the time lag; make available new data sets in response to the emerging data demands. In this mission, NSO is also committed to participating and contributing actively in all international initiatives and to support development of international statistical system.

Statistics plays a key role in policy planning process of any country. With the increasing inter-connectivity of nations in the World, there has been a spurt in the data demands both at the national and international level. Greater scrutiny of Government development programmes and growing thrust on e-governance to promote transparency, along with information technology revolution, has expanded the domain of data requirements.

The National Statistical Offices (NSO), therefore, face many challenges in providing a range of information, to help formulation of good policy, manage resources, monitor and evaluate the impact of policy and investments, besides meeting obligations under international data dissemination standards. Therefore, it is extremely important for the national statistical systems to gear up their capacity to meet ever increasing challenges on the data front including ensuring greater consistency and comparability of data both in the national and international domain of statistics.

The response of the individual statistical system to these issues and the complex problems arising thereof, usually depends on its capacity and the support it gets from the Government and international agencies. Active transfer and exchange and transfer of statistical skills, knowledge, practices and innovations is a critical tool to drive the process of capacity building through strengthening national statistical capability including statistical infrastructure, to meet progressive data requirements besides delivering other statistical products from time to time.

The MoU being signed between the CSO of Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation of the Government of India, is, therefore, a landmark achievement. I am sure it will go a long way in strengthening the statistical capability of the CSO of Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan CSO, besides opening up new opportunities for promoting technical cooperation in other areas of mutual interest, to eventually help in establishing a deep sense of solidarity and goodwill for building a more strong and purposeful partnership and relationship between the two countries. As Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, in his recent visit to Afghanistan, has said that the journey ahead for both the countries to fulfil the aspirations of our people is a long one, but we can overcome obstacles by working together to achieve our goal. We should have a long term vision to harness mutual goodwill to encourage greater interaction and cooperation between our people in future.

With these words, I once again welcome you all and congratulate you for this important and significant initiative to promote mutual cooperation between the two countries. I hope that the Afghanistan delegation will have a comfortable stay in Delhi and enjoy their programme by having fruitful discussions with the senior officers of my Ministry as well as visits arranged to Haryana Agricultural University, Hissar, and NASA, the Training Institute located at Greater Noida, and ISI, Delhi.”

Source

Press Information Bureau, May 30, 2011