Transcript Presentation by UNSD

Inter-agency Consultation on the Future
of International Trade Statistics
Thursday 26 February 2009, 8:45 – 10:00 am, Conference Room C, United Nations, New York
The main purpose of the consultation is to exchange views on several
issues relevant to this topic in connection with the preparation for the 41st
session of the Commission in 2010 where international trade statistics will
be one of the major items for discussion.
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Agenda
Status of preparation of the revised recommendations for international
merchandise and services trade statistics
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Towards an integrated approach to international trade statistics:
challenges and the ways to deal with them effectively
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Trade data dissemination by the international organizations in
cooperation with third parties
(UNSD introduction followed by open discussion)
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UNSD/ Trade Statistics Branch
Item 1: Status of preparation of the revised recommendations for international merchandise
and services trade statistics
Revision of recommendations for
International Merchandise Trade Statistics
Activities in 2007-2008
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3 – 6 December 2007: First meeting of the Expert Group on IMTS (EG-IMTS) in New York
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May – June 2008: First round of worldwide consultation on 17 issues selected by the EG-IMTS
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5 November – 5 December 2008: First virtual meeting of the EG-IMTS on the results of the first round
of worldwide consultation and first draft text proposals by UNSD
Tentative schedule 2009
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25 March - 24 April: Second virtual meeting of the EG-IMTS on draft chapters 1 and 2
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6 May - 5 June: Third virtual meeting of the EG-IMTS on the remaining draft chapters
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26 June - 28 August: Second round of worldwide consultation on the full provisional draft
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27-30 October: Second EG-IMTS meeting to review and endorse the draft IMTS Rev. 3
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December: Submission of the final draft of IMTS, Rev.3 to the Statistical Commission 2010
For full information on the revision process and past meetings of the EG-IMTS
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/trade/EG-IMTS/EG-IMTS%20web%20announcement.htm
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UNSD/ Trade Statistics Branch
Item 1: Status of preparation of the revised recommendations for international merchandise
and services trade statistics
Core issues
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Coverage (definition, change of ownership, packaged software, goods
for processing, transactions between parent and affiliated branches,
downloadable or otherwise electronically delivered goods, asymmetric
inclusions and exclusions)
Adding mode of transport
Adding imports on FOB-type basis
Country of consignment for imports and exports
Use of non-customs sources and data compilation strategies including
maintaining institutional arrangements
Recommendations on data quality and the dissemination of metadata
Supplementary topics (Compilation of external trade indices and
seasonally adjusted data)
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UNSD/ Trade Statistics Branch
Item 1: Status of preparation of the revised recommendations for international merchandise
and services trade statistics
After IMTS, Rev. 3 – Future work
Selected issues for the updated IMTS Compilers Manual
and the related research agenda
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non-customs sources and data compilation strategies, moving
towards a more integrated approach
how to maintain effective institutional arrangements
promotion of data quality assurance and the innovative ways to
dissemination of data and metadata (including SDMX)
analytical trade statistics (e.g., various trade indicators)
asymmetries in partner data, reconciliation studies and repository of
reconciliation studies
future of trade statistics in customs unions
capturing the nature of trade / trade in the time of globalization /
trade and business statistics
compilation of external trade indices and seasonally adjusted data
trade statistics and national accounts / BOP
Issues of the IMTS Rev.3 implementation
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UNSD/ Trade Statistics Branch
Item 1: Status of preparation of the revised recommendations for international merchandise
and services trade statistics
Revision of the Manual on International
Trade in Services
Timeline to submit the draft manual to the Statistical Commission for adoption at its
41st Session in 2010 by the Task Force
 TFSITS to review comments received during the first round of the worldwide consultation
and re-draft MSITS chapters by March 2009;
 Finalize draft of MSITS chapters and annexes by June 2009;
 Post the draft for the second round of the worldwide consultation in July – August 2009;
 Finalizing the draft for the Statistical Commission during the TF November 2009 meeting.
 Further information is available at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/tradeserv/TFSITS/msits.htm
Revision of the Manual on IRTS 2008 and
TSA:RMF 2008
The manuals were presented and adopted by the Statistical Commission in 2008 and are
available in a white cover format
The manuals are available at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/tradeserv/tourism.htm
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UNSD/ Trade Statistics Branch
Item 1: Status of preparation of the revised recommendations for international merchandise
and services trade statistics
Issues to work on in the near future
Implementation of the MSITS – coordination of activities
of TFSITS members and the UN regional commissions
 Development of SITS Compilers Manual to promote an
integrated approach to data collection with other
economic statistics
 Developing further the global database on trade in
services statistics of UNSD
 Implementation of the IRTS 2008 and TSA: RMF 2008 –
role of the UN regional commissions
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UNSD/ Trade Statistics Branch
Item 2: Towards an integrated approach to international trade statistics: challenges and
the ways to deal with them effectively
Issues to focus more in the near and far
future
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Integration of trade in goods and trade in services?
Integrating the international work and research programs (i.e. intra-firm trade,
value-added chains, trade asymmetries, price indices/ deflation) and
institutional arrangements
Integrating trade in goods and trade in services data
Data compilation and analysis: Trade in goods and trade in services as
part of an integrated system for economics statistics
Compilation issues of trade in goods and trade in services as part of business
statistics (including FATS)
Analysis of trade by enterprise
Contributing to the analysis of trends in globalization
Trade in goods and trade in services data for national accounts and balance of
payment purposes
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UNSD/ Trade Statistics Branch
Item 3: Trade data dissemination by the international organizations in cooperation with
the third parties
How do we engage with the private
sector?
Global Trade Information
Services
PROGNOZ
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UNSD/ Trade Statistics Branch
Item 3: Trade data dissemination by the international organizations in cooperation with
the third parties
.. Or research sector?
TradeSiFt
…a systematic and
integrated framework for
trade analysis
Holyoke University - WISERTrade
BACI: A World Database of
International Trade at the
Product Level
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UNSD/ Trade Statistics Branch
Item 3: Trade data dissemination by the international organizations in cooperation with
the third parties
.. Or do we need to do it ourselves?
International Trade Centre
The World Bank, in close collaboration with the United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD), has developed the World Integrated Trade
Solution (WITS) for access and retrieval of information on
trade and tariffs compiled by various International
Organizations.
UNECLAC – Trade application
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UNSD/ Trade Statistics Branch
Item 3: Trade data dissemination by the international organizations in cooperation with
the third parties
Data dissemination
.. Do we need to do it ourselves?
.. Do we engage with not-for-profit sector?
.. Do we engage with the private sector?
What purposes do we serve in disseminating?
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UNSD/ Trade Statistics Branch