Bangladesh has said the 2030 Agenda has vast data needs and more financing is required for data and statistics.

Bangladesh delegation led by Saurendra Nath Chakrabhartty, Secretary, Statistics and Informatics Division said this at the 50th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission held from March 5-8 in the UN Headquarters in New York.

Mentioning Bangladesh’s commitment to implement the SDGs, SaurendraNath stressed on having a robust international cooperation framework for enhancing the capacity of the national statistics offices of countries like Bangladesh, according to a message received from New York on Saturday, reports the UNB.  

He also referred to the creation of the National Data Coordination Committee (NDCC) by the Prime Minister to facilitate effective coordination between data providing agencies and the BBS as well as to provide guidelines for SDGs data generation and international reporting.

The Bangladesh delegation also underscored the importance of innovation in addressing the data challenges.

Bangladesh delegation’s chief also highlighted the activities of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics including different surveys and censuses conducted by it that feeds into national development planning.

He also mentioned about Bangladesh’s Statistical Act 2013 which provides a strong legal support for statistical activities.

The Bangladesh delegation actively engaged in different sessions of the Commission’s four-day long meeting particularly on Data and indicators for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, Open Data, National Quality Assurance  Frame Work, Regional Statistical Development, National  Accounts, Finance Statistics, International Trade and Business Statistics, Industrial  Statistics, Environmental Economic Accounting, Disaster Related Statistics, International Migration Statistics, Crime and drug and drug use etc.

The meeting discussed in detail several issues relating to data and the capacity building of the national offices for statistics particularly the developing countries.

The focus of the discussion was the challenges that hamper the availability of reliable, quality and timely data which are essential for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

The statistics office of different countries participated in the meeting and many of them highlighted the importance of strengthening the capacity of the UN Statistics Division so that it can provide better support to the countries which have weak data producing capacity.

Vice President of ECOSOC addressed the opening session and called upon the member states to strengthen data cooperation to accelerate the pace of implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

The Theme of this year’s meeting was ‘Better Data Better Lives’.