(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Fifteenth Meeting of the Regional Census Coordinating Committee (RCCC) which began in Suriname 8 November 2007 will focus on preparations for the 2010 Round of Population and Housing Censuses in Members States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

The two-day meeting at the Hotel Krasnapolsky in Paramaribo will consider among other items, a Common Census Framework, Status Reports by Member States on Initial Planning for the Execution of the 2010 Round of Population and Housing Censuses, and Planning at the Global Level for the 2010 Round of Censuses.

The RCCC meeting was preceded by the Thirty-Second Meeting of the Standing Committee of Caribbean Statisticians (SCCS) which was held 5-7 November also at Hotel Krasnapolsky.

The theme for the SCCS forum was `Enabling the Development of the CSME through Evidence-based Policy – The Case for Increasing Investment in Statistics’.

Special focus at that meeting was on measurement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and how those indicators could be used as key mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating development at the national and regional levels.

Several status and progress reports were presented at that meeting including on the 2010 Round of Censuses, the production of MDG Social/Gender Indicators and developmental work in the area of Environmental Statistics.

Other agenda items included Statistics on Information and Communication Technologies, Modernisation and Restructuring of National Statistical Systems in Member States and Strengthening of Statistical Capacity: Establishment of Statistical Training Programmes in the Region, Implications for Existing Programmes.

Contact: piu@caricom.org