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Report of the High-level Meeting for Coordinated Implementation of International
Standards for Macroeconomic Statistics
Prepared by ESCAP Statistics Division
Vladivostok, Russian Federation
3-4 September 2014
I. Introduction
1. The High-level Meeting for Coordinated Implementation of International Standards for Macroeconomic Statistics was organized by the Economic and
Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Statistics Division and the
Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation (Rosstat) within the
framework of the Regional Programme for the improvement of Economic
Statistics in Asia and the Pacific (RPES)1 and was held in Vladivostok, the
Russian Federation on 3-4 September 2014. The meeting was attended by high-
level officials from central banks, ministries of finance and national statistical
offices (NSO) of the following countries: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkey,
Uzbekistan and Viet Nam. The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC),
International Monetary Fund (IMF), National Research University Higher School
of Economics and United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) were the
organizations represented.
2. Alexander Surinov of the State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation (Rosstat) chaired the meeting.
II. Organization of the meeting
3. The meeting was organized by ESCAP Statistics Division and Rosstat, in consultation with members of the Steering Group for the Regional Programme on
Economic Statistics in Asia and the Pacific. An Organizing Committee which
comprised the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), ESCAP, the Statistical
Office of the European Union (Eurostat), IMF, Rosstat, UNSD and the World
Bank was established to develop the substantive content of the meeting.
4. The meeting benefited from presentations by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT), ESCAP, IMF, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and UNSD. There were
1 Please see the Programme brochure at http://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/4.RPES-brochure-
English_2.pdf
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two panel discussions in Sessions 3 and 4, respectively. Session 4 also featured
group discussions around the implementation of international standards and the
improvement of the underlying economic statistics. It was also in this session that
countries and international organizations discussed how the proposed Vladivostok
Outcome Statement could be utilized to support implementation of international
standards at the national and international levels. In Session 5, the comments on
the Vladivostok Outcome Statement2 were incorporated and the revised text was
adopted with the possibility of sending further comments in the week following
the meeting.
5. The five sessions of the meeting were as follows:
Day 1 – Improving economic statistics to respond to changing policy needs
� Session 1: Background and premise of the High-level Meeting
� Session 2: Implications of changing economic policy environment on
macroeconomic statistics
� Session 3: Recent updates in the macroeconomic statistical frameworks and
their implementation at the national level
Day 2 –Accelerating implementation of macroeconomic statistical frameworks
� Session 4: Way forward for improving economic statistics
� Session 5: Vladivostok Outcome Statement and closing
6. The programme of the meeting is included in Annex II.
7. The evaluation report for the meeting is in Annex III.
III. Summary of the discussions and main conclusions
8. The summary of discussions and recommendations emanating from the meeting are given below. The Vladivostok Outcome Statement is in Annex I.
A. Session 1: Background and premise of the High-level Meeting
9. The opening remarks by the speakers emphasized the importance of having the main producers and users of economic statistics at the national level represented
in the meeting. The meeting’s objective was set as to enhance user-producer
dialogue in the production and dissemination of macroeconomic statistics with a
view to increasing political and financial support for the implementation of the
related international standards. It was also highlighted that the implementation of
these standards is inseparable from the improvement of the underlying basic
economic statistics.
2 Please see Annex I for the final version of the Vladivostok Outcome Statement.
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10. During the opening session the Executive Secretary of ESCAP, through a video statement, emphasized sound and comparable economic statistics for regional
economic integration and highlighted the important role of the Regional
Programme for the Improvement of Economic Statistics in Asia and the Pacific in
that regard.
B. Session 2: Implications of changing economic policy environment on macroeconomic statistics
11. This session was chaired by Yuriy Shokamanov of EEC with presentations on “Changing world economy and its implications for macroeconomic statistics” by
Robert Dippelsman of the IMF and on “Coherent macroeconomic statistics for
coherent policies” by Aycan Ozek of CBRT. The presentations were followed by
a session on Spotlight on Country Experiences which was organized as a panel
discussion that was triggered by two country presentations on “Experiences as
users of macroeconomic indicators” by the Ministry of Finance of Mongolia and
on the “Experience of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the
formation of external sector statistics and the transition to BPM6”. In addition to
Mongolia and Kazakhstan, the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on
Statistics and EEC participated as panelists in the discussion that was moderated
by Rikke M. Hansen of ESCAP.
12. The country interventions focused on the implementation of international standards and national plans for the improvement of economic statistics. During
the panel discussion, the importance of meaningful dialogue with users on
statistics development, and the value of statistics for regional economic
integration were emphasized.
13. During the plenary discussion, the importance of having further disaggregated data for policy makers was highlighted. The fact that macroeconomic aggregates
do not give information on the distribution of income, consumption and wealth
among different sub-populations was emphasized and the importance of further
integration of economic and social statistics was indicated. In this context, the
disaggregation of European statistics by NUTS (Nomenclature of territorial units
for statistics) and the elaboration of regional accounts by the Russian Federation
were highlighted as important practices. It was also confirmed that confidentiality
concerns that would arise by such disaggregation could be addressed by ensuring
that the resulting statistics would be aggregates for appropriate-size geographical
areas, classification level, groups of populations or urban/rural. When sensitive
data is shared among agencies protocols should be signed to protect
confidentiality (even if it is for single production). In Kazakhstan, for instance,
confidentiality violations have serious repercussions.
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14. Another point that was emphasized for coherence of macroeconomic statistics was the involvement of ministries of finance —especially for the transition to
accrual accounting across the national statistical system. In general, participants
agreed that collaboration between national statistical offices and central banks
was quite advanced whereas the involvement of ministries of finance in statistical
planning and consultations was more challenging and in need of improvement.
C. Session 3: Recent updates in the macroeconomic statistical frameworks and their implementation at the national level
15. Session 3 was chaired by Andrey Tatarinov of Rosstat. Presentations were given on the “System of National Accounts and the integrated statistics approach” by
Benson Sim of UNSD; on “Activities aimed at improving macroeconomic
statistics” by Batjargal Badamtsetseg of the National Statistical Office of
Mongolia; and on “Updates of Statistical Frameworks” by Robert Dippelsman of
the IMF.
16. During the plenary discussion, it was emphasized that the United States of America; Australia; Hong Kong, China; and Mexico were among the relatively
few countries that have implemented the 2008 SNA. Currently, the international
statistical community is addressing issues related to the measurement of financial
intermediation services indirectly measured (FISIM), global production, holding
companies and special purpose entities. The next update of the SNA is some years
ahead.
17. In terms of improving macroeconomic statistics and implementing the revised standards, the Mongolian approach of having a comprehensive matrix covering
areas of improvement, user needs and steps to be taken together with partners and
resources was recommended. The national statistical offices cannot undertake this
implementation process alone and the ministry of finance, especially, needs to be
involved. In terms of national coordination, it was mentioned that the list of
institutional units should be prepared by a formalized committee including all
stakeholders.
18. In the case of the Russian Federation, the coordination between Rosstat and the Central Bank of Russia was assessed by Rosstat and the Central Bank as good.
The Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Finance and Rosstat have
approved a long-term plan for developing national accounts of the Russian
Federation. The plan also allows for other line ministries to engage, e.g. Ministry
of the Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry
of Health on incremental basis. IMF has also been helpful for bridging the
different national agencies and for expanding the national programme, mobilizing
resources and monitoring the implementation of international standards in the
Russian Federation.
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19. In the case of Turkey, cooperation among agencies of the national statistical system is legislated and programmed. The Statistical Law delineates the
responsibilities of the different institutions, with the 5-year official programme of
statistics elaborating those responsibilities. Currently the second 5 year official
programme is under implementation. According this programme, CBRT is
responsible for the balance of payments, international investment position and
monetary and financial statistics and financial accounts. Bridge tables have been
developed to facilitate coordination, e.g. between government finance statistics
and financial accounts.
20. The discussions highlighted that national statistical offices should take the lead in coordinating the production of macroeconomic accounts. Working groups on
specific theoretical issues should be established at the international level. When it
comes to ministries, statistics is generally considered a back-office job. Hence,
there is a need for creating awareness of statistics at the top management level.
21. For the users, Kazakhstan’s experience in educating their users was praised. It was also highlighted that advance notice on any revisions of statistics, including
the changeover to the new standards such as the 2008 SNA is appreciated by
users. Teaching statistics in the regular curriculum of high schools was also raised
as a possible good practice to increase statistical literacy among users.
22. In terms of what international organizations can do, more guidance and advocacy for implementing the integrated approach was mentioned as an area of support.
However, to address the practical issues related to implementation, it is important
that countries take the lead in developing a national strategy to organize the
improvement of economic statistics and the implementation of international
standards. The role of international organizations such as ILO, IMF and the UN in
the harmonization of statistical methodologies across countries was emphasized.
When it comes to supranational organizations, it was highlighted that the
statistical engagement should be on harmonization and sharing information
among member countries.
D. Session 4: Way forward for improving economic statistics
23. Session 4 was chaired by Rikke M. Hansen of ESCAP Statistics Division and the trigger presentation was given by Zeynep Orhun Girard of ESCAP Statistics
Division on “Ensuring sustainable production of quality macroeconomic statistics:
A regional perspective”. This presentation paved the way for the following panel
discussion on “Planning and financing the improvement of economic statistics”
moderated by Robert Dippelsman of IMF. The panelists in this discussion were
representatives of the Central Statistics Organization of Afghanistan, the Central
Bank of Armenia, the Ministry of Finance and the State Statistical Committee of
Azerbaijan, the National Bank of Tajikistan, the General Statistics Office of Viet
Nam and UNSD.
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24. During the panel discussion the following ideas were raised. • To bring about the improvements in macroeconomic statistics, effective
coordination and communication (both formal and informal) with users as
well as with various concerned ministries and government agencies needs
to be ensured.
• Planning serves as an effective tool for improvement that helps to identify
problems, set priorities and delineate actions. In addition, using plans as
communication tools can raise awareness and galvanize political
commitment in support of future actions.
• Work programmes for the entire national statistical system and
memoranda of understanding among agencies are essential for
coordination.
• NSOs should have operational independence, free from political pressure.
• Advocacy efforts are needed to entice decision makers to increase regular
government funding for statistics.
• There is need for infrastructure- and skills-building at the national level in
order to enable the implementation of international standards. Country-to-
country learning and the establishment of networks of experts and
practitioners are effective modalities for this.
• Coordination among international organizations is as important as
coordination at the national statistical system level.
• Countries should regularly update the international organizations on their
plans and developments.
25. Following the panel discussion, four groups were formed for the break-out session:
• Group 1: Afghanistan, Turkey, Mongolia and Viet Nam
• Group 2: Armenia, the Russian Federation, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan
• Group 3: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan
• Group 4: International organizations
26. When the groups reported back to the plenary the following points were raised
based on the questions given earlier to the participants:
• How to implement international standards and move towards an integrated
statistical production system (in the context of the implementation of
macroeconomic statistical frameworks)?
i. A high-level statistical committee comprising the key agencies should be established with the legal basis to plan, coordinate,
implement and assign roles and responsibilities in strategy
implementation.
ii. Under the high-level committee there should be a technical group in charge of:
a) Implementing the strategy or policy adopted by the Committee;
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b) Developing links between macroeconomic statistics
(Bridge Tables);
c) Training staff and promoting newly adopted standards; d) Developing manuals/methodologies and translation; e) Classification and interpretation of standards and manuals.
• How to convince decision makers outside NSS on the need for reforms?
i. Use high-level statistical committee; ii. Establish public awareness and education programmes (including
mass media and academia);
iii. Use international organizations to foster coordination at the national level (arrange meetings with key policy
makers/parliamentarians, refer to country comparisons, regional
and international initiatives (SDDS plus, G20 data gap), and
related recommendations).
• How can we rally support for coordinating the implementation of
macroeconomic standards?
i. Under the high-level committee there should be an advocacy group.
• What role can national and international agencies play?
i. The discussion on areas where international organizations can add value to national improvement processes highlighted the power of
reference provided by international standards, norms and
guidelines of which international organizations are custodians.
ii. It was stressed that moving from intention to action can only happen at the national level and the national statistical offices are
the coordinators. The Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics
(FPOS) guide all parts of the national statistical system and the
main coordination tools are the statistical law, formal agreements,
annual and multi-year plans, formal working groups with clear
TORs and records of decisions made. In this context, the
independence of NSOs is key and consultations with users beyond
government agencies in planning and organizing production and
dissemination of statistics ensures relevance. Modernization of
statistical production systems is important to free up resources for
new undertakings.
iii. International organizations can help with assessments and reviews, selection of strategy, knowledge sharing among countries,
including pairing a resource country with a country with a less
developed national statistical system, providing training and
consultancy and financial/political support. National Strategies for
the Development Statistics are the main tool for coordination
among international organizations at the country level. Priorities
should be set according to national circumstances and in line with
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global standards to do what makes sense for a country at a given
point in time to improve availability and quality of economic
statistics.
E. Session 5: Vladivostok Outcome Statement and closing
27. Session 5 was chaired by Alexander Surinov of Rosstat. The session recorded comments of participants for incorporation into the revised version of the
Vladivostok Outcome Statement. The final version of the Statement, including
concrete actions for the national and international agencies, is in Annex I.
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Annex I. Vladivostok Outcome Statement
VLADIVOSTOK OUTCOME STATEMENT
We, the participants of the High-level Meeting for Coordinated Implementation of
International Standards for Macroeconomic Statistics, held in Vladivostok, the Russian
Federation, from 3 to 4 September 2014,
Considering the need for integrated economic statistics to allow decision makers and
other users to monitor and assess progress, such as towards national and
internationally agreed development goals,
Recognizing the need in this regard for the coordinated implementation of
international standards for macroeconomic statistics, especially the System of
National Accounts, Balance of Payments and International Investment Position
Government Finance Statistics and Monetary and Financial Statistics, to ensure
efficiency and consistency in the production and dissemination of sound and up-to-
date macroeconomic statistics and in response to current and emerging policy
needs,
Agree to advocate for the development of an integrated statistics approach to
facilitate the coordinated implementation of the international standards for
macroeconomic statistics in our respective countries, including the
strengthening of the statistical production process through enhanced
national coordination among all stakeholders, including the central bank,
treasury and ministry of finance in the national statistical system through
mechanisms such as national plans delineating roles and responsibilities of
all official statistics producers and formal interagency working groups
complemented by protocols. We recognize that the national statistical office
is the overall coordinator of the national statistical system and that statistical
production and dissemination by all statistical institutions should adhere to
the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics. We agree
that increased efforts and resources are needed to better reflect the
perspective of the users (government agencies, private sector, academia,
media, general public, etc.) in priority setting, planning and, data production
and dissemination for macroeconomic statistics.
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Supporting the strategic goals of the ESCAP Committee on Statistics including the
improvement of economic statistics,
Recalling the Core Set of Economic Statistics for the Regional Programme for the
improvement of Economic Statistics, adopted by the ESCAP Commission in its
Resolution 67/10 and recognizing the value added of the Regional Programme and
the Core Set in setting national priorities for strengthening underlying economic
statistics for the implementation of the 2008 SNA and other macroeconomic
statistical frameworks, and in enhancing national efforts for the development of
basic economic statistics through advocacy, knowledge sharing, resource
mobilization and providing a platform for coordination of technical cooperation
efforts,
Decide to work actively towards mobilizing in-country and international
resources and investment for the implementation of the above-mentioned
international standards and the improvement of source data. We recognize in
this regard that user-producer dialogues are critical to creating sustained
demand for statistics among decision makers and hence to attracting the
necessary resources. We also recognize that country-to-country exchange is
an effective tool for enhancing national capacities.
Agree that in order to move from intention to action countries must lead and
own the process of improving economic statistics and implementing the
related international standards and in that regard have a responsibility to
facilitate coordinated support by development partners using the national
strategies for the development of statistics to communicate and manage the
type and timing of external support.
Agree, as development partners, to enhance the coordination of technical
cooperation efforts, in accordance with current mandates and governance
structures, such as through periodic global assessments of national statistical
systems in order to support countries in the coordinated implementation of
up-to-date international standards for macroeconomic statistics including
the development of underlying basic statistics.
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Annex II. Annotated Programme of the High-level Meeting
DAY 1 –IMPROVING ECONOMIC STATISTICS TO RESPOND TO CHANGING POLICY NEEDS
Time Topic Presenter / Chair/Moderator
08:30 – 09:00 Registration
Session 1: Background and premise of the High-level Meeting Chair of the Meeting
09:00 – 09:45
Welcome and opening speeches by the organizers
The speeches in this session will set the scene for the event and will link the
High-level Meeting with ongoing global and regional initiatives that are
focused on improving economic statistics.
Mr Vladimir Miklushevsky
Governor of Primorsky Krai
Russian Federation
Mr Alexander Surinov
Head, Federal State Statistics
Service of the Russian
Federation
Ms Rikke M. Hansen
Chief, Economic and
Environment Statistics Section,
ESCAP Statistics Division
09:45 – 10:30 Group photo and the Press conference
Coffee/Tea break
Session 2: Implications of changing policy environment on macroeconomic statistics Chaired by
Mr Yuriy Shokamanov
Director, Department of
Statistics, Eurasian Economic
Commission
10:30 – 11:00 Changing world economy and its implications for macroeconomic statistics
This presentation will give an overview of the major turning points for the world
economy over the past decade and changed requirements for macroeconomic
statistics with a focus on the G-20 Data Gaps Initiative.
Mr Robert Dippelsman
Deputy Director, Real Sector
Division, IMF Statistics
Department
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11:00 – 11:30 Coherent macroeconomic statistics for coherent policies
This presentation will highlight the integrated nature of the existing
macroeconomic statistical frameworks (especially of the Balance of Payments
and International Investment Position and the Government Finance Statistics
with respect to the System of National Accounts but also of Monetary and
Financial Statistics), and how they interplay in order depict a coherent picture of
the economic environment while serving specific policy needs.
Ms Aycan Ozek
Deputy Director, Monetary and
Financial Statistics Division,
Central Bank of Republic of
Turkey
11:30 – 13:00 Spotlight on Country Experiences, Panel Discussion
The representatives of the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of
Finance of Mongolia will be invited to present their national experiences as
users of macroeconomic indicators. The presentations will be followed by a
panel discussion. The panelists will act as discussants of the presentations given
in Session 2.
After the panel discussion the floor will be opened for a plenary discussion on
the entire session and the Session Chair will provide his summary.
Possible questions to be discussed in light of the presentations:
Where are the observed gaps between economic statistics and the
economy?
What are the main areas for improvement for macroeconomic
statistics in order to respond better to the policy needs, e.g. where
are the gaps, shortcomings?
How can we take users’ needs better into account in the production
and dissemination of macroeconomic statistics?
Panelists: Representatives of the
National Bank of Kazakhstan,
Ministry of Finance of
Mongolia, the State Committee
of the Republic of Uzbekistan
on Statistics, the Eurasian
Economic Commission
Moderator:
Ms Rikke M. Hansen
Chief, Economic and
Environment Statistics Section,
ESCAP Statistics Division
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
Session 3: Recent updates in the macroeconomic statistical frameworks and their
implementation at the national level Chaired by
Mr Andrey Tatarinov
Director, National Accounts
Department, Federal State
Statistics Service of the Russian
Federation
14:00 – 14:40 The System of National Accounts and the implementation of integrated
economic statistics
In this presentation, the current version of the System of National Accounts
(2008 SNA) will be presented as the main integrating framework for all
economic statistics along with the implementation challenges related to global
production, financial services, etc. The presentation will also make the case for
an integrated approach to the statistical production process, with a special
focus on improving the institutional environment including the national
statistical offices, central banks and ministries of finance and the underlying
basic statistics for the compilation of national accounts giving examples from
the participating countries when possible.
Mr Benson Sim
Statistician, National Accounts
Section, UNSD
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14:40 – 15:20 Spotlight on Country Experiences
Mongolia will be invited to present their experience in reforming their
institutional environment and data production processes in order to improve
quality of their statistics with a focus on macroeconomic statistics.
Ms Badamtsetseg Batjargal
Senior Vice Chairperson,
National Statistical Office of
Mongolia
15:20 – 15:40 Coffee/Tea break
15:40 – 16:20 Balance of Payments and International Investment Position and, Government
Finance Statistics: progress made and challenges ahead
The latest revisions of the international standards pertaining to balance of
payments and government finance statistics (BPM6 and GFS 2014) have led to
further conceptual and methodological harmonization of these guidelines with
the SNA. However, technical and practical challenges remain in the full
implementation of these standards in the participating countries. This
presentation will give the status of balance of payments and government
finance statistics and will touch upon the next steps for the participating
countries to reach desired levels of implementation.
Mr Robert Dippelsman
Deputy Director, Real Sector
Division, IMF Statistics
Department
16:20 – 17:30 Discussion and Session Chair’s summary
Possible questions to be discussed in light of the presentations:
What are the hindrances and opportunities for the full
implementation of international standards for macroeconomic
statistics?
How can we identify the changes needed for a more enabling
institutional set-up to produce relevant and coherent
macroeconomic statistics?
How do we mitigate risks, from the point of view of statisticians and
policy makers that come with major methodological revisions to
macroeconomic statistics?
How can national statistical offices, as coordinators of national
statistical systems better support and ensure the improvement of
economic statistics?
Chaired by
Mr Andrey Tatarinov
Director, National Accounts
Department, Federal State
Statistics Service of the Russian
Federation
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Annex III. Evaluation Results of the High-level Meeting
HIGH-LEVEL MEETING FOR COORDINATED
IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR
MACROECONOMIC STATISTICS
VLADIVOSTOK, 3-4 SEPTEMBER 2014
EVALUATION FORM
To help us assess the effectiveness of this meeting and improve in the future, please complete and
return this questionnaire. Thank you.
THE TOTAL NUMBER OF COMPLETED EVALUATION FORMS IS 34.
I. Organization of meeting:
Too short Adequate Too long
1. Duration of the meeting 4 30 0
2. Please rate the following aspects of the meeting:
2.1 Preparations by ESCAP secretariat and Rosstat
Poor Adequate Very good
2.1.a Meeting facilities 0 7 27
2.1.b Logistics (travel, hotel arrangements) 3 16 15
2.2 Documents
2.2.a Time distribution 0 16 18
2.2.b Comprehensiveness 0 18 16
2.3 Has the meeting achieved its objectives? (No response: 1)
Yes No
33 0
II. Content of meeting:
3. Which session(s) did you find most
useful and effective? (Please select as many
as applicable) Yes No Please provide your comments
Session 1 (No response: 11)
Background and premise of the High-level
Meeting
23 0
It was a very important session.
Session 2 (No response: 4)
Implications of changing economic policy
environment on macroeconomic statistics
30 0 Great presentations delivered by the Central
Bank of Turkey and the Mongolian NSO.
Session 3 (No response: 3)
Recent updates in the macroeconomic 29 2
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statistical frameworks and their
implementation at the national level
Session 4 (No response: 5)
Way forward for improving economic
statistics
29 0
Yes No Please provide your comments
Session 5 (No response: 5)
Vladivostok Outcome Statement and
closing
28 1 Should give clear directions to teams.
4. Do you have any additional comments or suggestions for the improvement of this meeting?
- More social programme after the meeting (such as a city tour) can be organized.
- Everything was excellent.
- The organizer must be more selective in meeting venues because Vladivostok is very far
from every participating country.
- The organizer should focus on the comfort of the participant as well and not restrict
resources or limit logistical facilities. Also during travel if there is a stopover longer than 8
hours the airline should be informed to take care of the participants.
- Hotel accommodation: we did not use hot water in the hotel, because it is not good. It has
yellow color and is dirty.
- Other things are good. Thank you very much for organizing a useful meeting.