Cape Town - (ECA) - United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ECA, Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, said ECA will work with other regional organizations to harmonise the production and dissemination of economic statistics in Africa to promote regional integration.

Mr. Janneh made the remarks while opening the third session of the Statistical Commission for Africa (StatCom Africa III) Wednesday 18 January in Cape Town , South Africa . StatCom Africa is the intergovernmental body that guides the work of ECA in the area of statistics. It is holding its third biannual session in Cape Town on the theme: Harmonizing Statistics in Support of Economic, Monetary and Social Integration in Africa . The meeting is being held back to back with the African Symposium on Statistical Development (ASSD), which also opened Wednesday at the same venue.

In an address delivered on his behalf by Dimitri Sanga, director of the African Centre for Statistics, Mr. Janneh said: “I am sure you all know that Africa ’s integration agenda dates back to colonial times and was one of the main reasons for the creation of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963. However, one of the major constraints in advancing integration is the lack of harmonised statistical information across countries.”

He said the task of providing the necessary data was too big for any one organisation and ECA would collaborate with partner institutions such as the African Development Bank and the African Union in this effort.

Mr. Janneh also commended South Africa ’s minister in charge of planning, Mr. Trevor Manuel, for being the driving force for statistical development in Africa .

“I am sure you are all pleased with the overall progress in statistical development since the first Africa Symposium on Statistical Development took place right here in Cape Town, in 2006. Mr. Manuel was instrumental in working with ECA to launch the Symposium and has remained engaged ever since,” he said.

In his address to the meeting, Mr. Manuel said planning for development is impossible without comprehensive and credible statistics. He stated the importance of evidence-based policy making, which depends on the work of statisticians. He called on them to tell policy makers what they “need to know” rather than what they “want to hear” in order to assist them in making the right decisions.

The ASSD is focusing on civil registration and vital statistics, which are inadequate in most African countries. In a video-recorded address to the meeting, Ms Nkosozana-Dlamini Zuma, the South African minister of home affairs, said: “Inadequate registration in Africa is the legacy of colonialism and apartheid where Africans were not considered full human beings.”

She informed the meeting that South Africa had embarked on a campaign to ensure that all children are registered within thirty days of birth and all young people to obtain national identification documents at 16.

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source:uneca