On 7 November 2006 the European Commission and ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop joint priorities in the region in three areas of cooperation:
- social cohesion and poverty alleviation
- regional integration and macroeconomic convergence
- statistics.
Cooperation in the area of statistics will aim at promotion of statistical coordination between both parties in their respective fields of competence, in particular, to support the other areas of shared priority in this Memorandum, it will focus on:
- Harmonization of statistical methodologies and enhancing of data comparability;
- Strengthening the exchange of data, metadata, methodologies and other statistical tools via compatible information systems;
- Exchange of experiences end cross fertilisation in ongoing and future statistical cooperation activities at regional level;
- Cooperation in the field of statistics, essential for monitoring progress towards the Millennium Development Goals in the region.
In the context of this MoU and based on the EU experience, Eurostat is currently advising ECLAC on the development of a statistical Code of Practice for Latin America and the Caribbean. Similarly, collaboration has been started in the field of SDMX and use of administrative registers in the production of statistics. Other statistical areas may be included in the future.
