Compilation of International Merchandise Trade Statistics for the COMESA Region, 12 to 16 November, Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia
Addis Ababa, 8 November 2007 (ECA)- The African Centre for Statistics (ACS) of the Economic Commission for Africa and the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) are organizing a Regional Workshop on the Compilation of International Merchandise Trade Statistics (IMTS) for the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) member States, from 12 to 16 November in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
International merchandise trade statistics provide key indicators of economic development and are used by decision-makers when developing trade policies and negotiations, and in monitoring trade agreements. They also constitute important inputs for the compilation of national accounts and balance of payments.
The workshop will discuss new developments in international merchandise trade statistics, covering major issues such as:
- Institutional arrangements in data collection including cooperation between national statistical offices and customs;
- New international agreements regarding customs procedures and the use of ASYCUDA;
- Data validation procedures and the use of EUROTRACE;
- Conceptual compliance of IMTS with adopted methodologies of national accounting and balance of payments statistics;
- And calculations of imports and exports prices as well key trade statistics indicators
This gathering provides opportunity to national experts in trade statistics and custom officers to share experiences on methods, collection, compilation, and dissemination of international merchandise trade statistics. Participants will be requested to prepare a presentation on country experiences related to specific topics and formulate suggestions on revising existing IMTS recommendations to better serve the needs of trade data compilers.
The workshop will be attended by participants from National Statistical Offices (NSO) from Angola, Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Israel and Turkey. Representatives from the Custom authorities of Ethiopia, Israel and Turkey will also attend the workshop.
Contact: Bakary DOSSO, dossob@un.org , for further information on the event.
