Large board meeting devoted to the outcomes of the last year and forthcoming duties for 2018 has been held at the State Statistical Committee

Large board meeting related with activity of the State Statistical Committee during the last year, forthcoming duties for 2018 and the execution of tasks entrusted by the head of state during the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers devoted of social and economic development outcomes of 2017 and forthcoming duties, has been held at the State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan on 2 February with participation of heads of the Administration, the State Statistical Committee of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, local and regional statistical offices.

Tahir Budagov, the Chairman of the State Statistical Committee has noted in the meeting that as a result of wide-scale reforms carried out in our country by wise leadership of Mr. Ilham Aliyev, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan against the background of geopolitical, economic crisis and military conflicts lasting in the world over the years, the sustainability of the Azerbaijan economy has been provided last year too.

Tahir Budagov has mentioned about reforms carried out by the Committee according to the tasks of the head of state, Mr. Ilham Aliyev related to bringing country statistics into conformity with international standards. He has noted that within these reforms the structure of the Administration of the State Statistical Committee and local statistical bodies were improved, the efficiency of statistical production process was increased, the reporting forms and methodological recommendations were reviewed considering the national and international requirements, and major measures were taken in organization of activities with statistical units and users.

Tahir Budagov has given detailed information about outcomes of the Global Assessment of the National Statistical System of Azerbaijan implemented by UNECE and EFTA according to official appeal of Eurostat and initiative of the State Statistical Committee.

The outcomes of the Global Assessment confirm that the National Statistical System of Azerbaijan mainly complies with international and European standards, and the assessment team provided several recommendations to the State Statistical Committee and other producers of official statistics to provide full compliance of the country statistics with these standards. English version of the report was posted at the web-page of Eurostat, and both English and Azeri versions were placed at the web-page of the State Statistical Committee.

At the board meeting, it has been noted that the State Statistical Committee executed 2017 statistical works program, including statistical works program for local statistical bodies approved upon agreement with the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, methodological plan and plan of action with data users, quarterly plan of actions on economic analysis, strategic road maps by national economics and key sectors of economy, “State Program of Development of Official Statistics in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2013-2017”, Development Concept “Azerbaijan 2020: Look into the future”, “National Activity Plan on Open Government Promotion”, “State Program on Social and Economic Development of the Regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2014-2018”, and tasks entrusted by orders and decrees of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On conduction of population census in the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2019”, “On complementary measures related with increasing of business environment efficiency in the Republic of Azerbaijan and more improvement of the state of our country in international rankings”, “On complementary measures related with improvement of regulation of labour relations in the Republic of Azerbaijan” and “On establishment of the National Coordinating Council on Sustainable Development of the Republic of Azerbaijan” in a quality and timely manner.

Reforms carried out in the statistical system in 2017, reporting discipline, preparation of methodologies, organization of works with statistical units and users, use of administrative data, application of information technologies on statistical data collection, processing and dissemination, increasing of data quality, report on main actions taken by statistical bodies towards implementation of Sustainable Development Goals and tasks envisaged in Strategic Road Maps have been discussed  and achievements gained, as well as gaps and lacks have been addressed by heads of the Administration of the State Statistical Committee and chiefs of regional statistical offices.

Finally, Mr. Tahir Budagov, Chairman of the State Statistical Committee have charged the relevant structures of the organization with concrete tasks for quality and timely execution of duties coming from the speech of the head of state in the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers devoted to the outcomes of 2017 social and economic development and forthcoming tasks and obligations set to the State Statistical Committee.