Hanoi, 9/12/2024 – The European Union Twinning project “Improving the quality of the statistical system in Cambodia” was launched in Phnom Penh on the 5th of December 2024. Igor Driesmans, Ambassador of the European Union to Cambodia; Bin Troachhey, Cambodian Minister of Planning; representatives of Team Europe from Italy, France, Poland and Lithuania; and Dr Michele Boario, Program Coordinator of AICS Hanoi, attended the inauguration ceremony.
Italy, with the National Institute of Statistics – ISTAT, leads the consortium, composed of France, Lithuania and Poland, which will follow the implementation of the initiative for a 2 million euro budget and a duration of 30 months.
The project aims to strengthen institutional coordination within the national statistical system, improve methodologies for collecting, producing and disseminating statistical data, and finally enhance training and professional development for the Cambodian national statistical system staff.
The EU Ambassador, Driesmans, highlighting the twinning approach of strengthening institutional capacities in a peer-to-peer modality, defined the project as pioneering in Cambodia and across Asia, and aimed at promoting the exchange of knowledge between similar Cambodian and European statistical institutions.
Minister Troachhey reaffirmed Cambodia’s commitment to developing a reliable statistical system. He also recalled the fundamental role of the National Institute of Statistics – NIS, in pursuing data-driven policies for inclusive and high-quality statistics that respond to the real needs of the Cambodian people.
Remotely, Prof. Francesco Maria Chelli, President of ISTAT, said that Europe is ready to share its expertise, quoting the importance of the “Code of Practice for European Statistics” and the “Fundamental Principles of Official United Nations Statistics” as essential to build a modern statistical system.
AICS Hanoi, competent for the development cooperation initiatives in Southeast Asia, will contribute to achieving the twinning objectives with a complementary technical assistance initiative led by ISTAT. The project aims to create environmental indicators, producing statistical measures relating to extreme events and environmental disasters and indicators of adaptation to climate change, with a focus on the urban environment and statistics dedicated to water.
The AICS initiative “Strengthening statistical capacities to improve the management of climate change in the Mekong region”, approved in September 2024, for a 750.000-euro budget and a duration of 36 months, will be realized in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
As a preparatory activity of this initiative, a meeting was organized alongside the launch of the Twinning project with the Deputy Director of the Cambodian NIS to discuss the nature of the agreement under which the project activities can be implemented.