Why is co-operation with International organisations so important?
EU statistical legislation contains a wide variety of standards which create the framework of the European Statistical System (ESS). The enlarged European Statistical System, consisting of EU members, EFTA countries, candidate countries, potential candidate countries, and participants in the European Neighbourhood Policy, comprises 55 countries; this amounts to over one quarter of the UN membership. Eurostat cooperates with other international organisations to build on best practices and to improve the coordination of methods as well as the comparability and quality of data.
The cooperation with international organisations takes place over various statistical domains at international and regional level. Statistical activities at global level are mainly coordinated by the United Nations (UN), to guarantee integrated systems of collection, processing and dissemination of data.
United Nations (UN)
Statistical co-operation between the United Nations and Eurostat takes place on two levels: globally and regionally.
At regional level, Europe, cooperation takes place with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), which is steered by the Conference of European Statisticians (CES) and its Bureau. The members of the CES Bureau are elected every 2nd year with Eurostat as a permanent observer.
In order to guarantee efficiency in the work in different statistical domains, Eurostat has established an Inventory of groups in international statistical cooperation.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Eurostat's cooperation with OECD is based on an informal agreement in the Inter-secretariat Working groups (IWGs). A Memorandum of Understanding covers the exchange of statistical data. Eurostat is a member of the OECD Statistics Committee (CSTAT). Members of the CSTAT Bureau are elected every second year. Eurostat is a permanent observer.
Eurostat is represented in the Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21). This consortium brings together statistical users and produccers from developed and developing countries, regional and international institutions and bilateral donors. The aim is to improve governance and government effectiveness in reducing poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are co-ordinated by the UNSD.
The World Bank is mainly a user of statistics. It provides technical assistance for statistics and plays an important role on the development of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs); indicators generally via the European Commission DG for Development and Cooperation - EuropeAid. Along with other organisations, it has recently developed the Virtual Statistical System (VSS), an online resource for national statistical offices, other data producing agencies, data users, or anyone who wants to know more about official statistics and how statistical systems and their organisations operate.
Eurostat co-operates with many international organisations for example with International Statistical Institute (ISI) with affiliates, mainly on methodological subjects. ISI Sessions are held every second year. ISI2013 will be held in Hong Kong.
