Excellencies
Ministers
Ladies and Gentlemen
Dear Colleagues

I would first like to tell you how delighted I am to be in Port-of-Spain for this High-Level Advocacy Forum on Statistics, co-organised by the government of Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean Community Secretariat, the Standing Committee of Caribbean Statisticians, and PARIS21. I would also like to recognise the important contributions of the European Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States in supporting the organisation of this event.

PARIS21 has been very active over the 10 years of its existence in promoting statistical development at international, regional, and national levels. Our objective is to develop a culture of evidence-based policy making and implementation which serves to improve governance and government effectiveness in reducing poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals. PARIS21 has pursued this goal primarily by encouraging and assisting low-income countries to design and implement a National Strategy for the Development of Statistics or “NSDS.” In fact, prior to this High-Level Forum, CARICOM and PARIS21 co-organised a workshop on NSDS for the Caribbean region. It is very encouraging that many Caribbean countries are either designing, implementing, or planning to design a statistical strategy. PARIS21 stands ready to support Caribbean countries in their strategic statistical planning efforts. One of the means by which PARIS21 can help is advocacy.

Advocacy has been at the very heart of our work since we began operations back in 1999. This has included promoting the better use of better statistics to support overall development processes as well as advocacy for adopting a strategic approach to statistical development. If the need for good statistics was evident in 1999 at the dawn of the MDGs, it is even more acute now that the global community is in the midst of a major financial crisis, and governments and development partners are focused on managing for development results, including the commitment to report to the UN General Assembly on ten years of progress towards the MDGs as part of the next major review of the Millennium Declaration in September 2010.

This ever growing recognition of the crucial role played by statistics in all aspects of development has been building over the past few years. For example, the importance of statistics and strategic statistical planning was underscored at the February 2004 Second International Roundtable on Managing for Development Results held in Marrakech, Morocco and voiced in the Marrakech Action Plan for Statistics. More recently, these points were echoed at the Third Roundtable held in Hanoi, Vietnam in February 2007 that highlighted the need to scale-up resources devoted to statistical development; and at the High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, held in Accra, Ghana in September 2008.

These wider development agendas have accepted the centrality of statistics to their efforts. The global financial crisis represents a pivotal moment in history and a golden opportunity for statistics to fulfill their potential. I look forward to discussing these themes with you over the course of today’s Forum.

Lastly, on behalf of Mr. Eckhard Deutscher and Mr. Pali Lehohla, co-chairs of the PARIS21 Steering Committee, on behalf of the PARIS21 Secretariat, and in my own name, I would like to thank Trinidad and Tobago for hosting this important event and all the local authorities for their warm hospitality and their vital support in the organisation and success of this Forum.

I look forward to fruitful discussions today.

Thank you.

contact piu@caricom.org