OBJECTIVES

The overall objective of the ASEAN Framework of Cooperation in Statistics (AFCS) is to strengthen the organizational framework and statistical capacity of ASEAN towards the establishment of an ASEAN Community Statistical System (ACSS) by 2015 that is able to produce timely and comparable statistics in support of a rules-based ASEAN Community.

The AFCS’s specific objectives are to:

- Establish the appropriate institutional framework for ASEAN statistics in key areas of the ASEAN Community for enhanced statistical cooperation among the national statistical systems and the ASEAN Secretariat;

- Strengthen the planning, governance and monitoring of statistical development in ASEAN building upon the AHSOM process and national strategies for the development of statistics;

- Strengthen the capacity of national statistical systems and the ASEAN Secretariat to produce, disseminate, and communicate ASEAN statistics through enhanced technical cooperation and capacity building and implementation of the ASEAN-help-ASEAN mechanism;

- Increase comparability of ASEAN statistics through adoption of more harmonized definitions, classifications, and methodologies consistent with internationally accepted standards, guidelines, and recommendations;

- Support ASEAN regional planning and policy making bodies and national stakeholders through provision of timely and comparable ASEAN statistics;

- Improve communication between producers of ASEAN statistics and information users to define statistical priorities and promote wider use of statistics;

- Advocate for greater support and commitment from ASEAN policy makers and the Governments of ASEAN Member States (AMSs) to mobilize investment resources for statistical programs, projects and activities;

- Foster the trust and accountability and application of statistical standards by establishing the Code of Practice as a guideline for production, dissemination and communication of statistics in line with the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics; promote sharing of experiences and practical activities among National Statistical Systems;

- Strengthen the leverage of the ACSS on key global statistical issues and concerns.

THE ASEAN COMMUNITY STATISTICAL SYSTEM  (ACSS)

The ACSS is defined as the “partnerships between and among the national statistical systems of the ASEAN Member States, the ASEAN Community Councils, and the ASEAN Secretariat”. As an integral part of the ASEAN Community, the ACSS comprises:

 - The ACSS Committee as the highest regional policy-making and coordinating body on ASEAN statistics;

- The national statistical systems of all ASEAN Member States, with the national statistical office as country focal point on ASEAN statistics;

- The ASEAN Secretariat through ASEANstats as regional focal point of ASEAN statistics and technical arm and secretariat of the ACSS Committee;

 - The ASEAN Community Councils as primary stakeholders.

INSTITUTIONAL ROLES AND LINKAGES

The ACSS Committee

The ACSS Committee shall be composed of the chief statisticians or heads of national statistical offices of all ASEAN Member States and the head of ASEANstats of the ASEAN Secretariat.

Its primary functions are to ensure supply of timely and comparable ASEAN statistics through regional statistical policies and standards, to promote improvement of statistical infrastructure at the national level and to facilitate human resource and institutional capacity building.

The ACSS Committee shall establish appropriate mechanisms to coordinate regional technical cooperation among the region’s national data producing institutions in key statistical domains.

The ACSS Committee shall communicate to the concerned ASEAN Community Councils the progress and issues under statistical cooperation that may have some bearing on the supply of statistics for the other ASEAN bodies, for the Councils’ support, and shall convene periodic user-producer dialogue to consult with concerned ASEAN bodies in the APSC, AEC, and ASCC to discuss, clarify and/or resolve issues related to the demand for statistics.

The ACSS shall be guided by the ASEAN Statistical Indicators (ASI).

AHSOM shall be reconstituted into the ACSS Committee by 2011.

The National Statistical Office

The national statistical office shall coordinate the development and harmonization of ASEAN statistics produced by the national statistical system, including those produced by line ministries/departments, according to the ASEAN’s requirement.

The national statistical office shall also coordinate the provision of ASEAN statistics to stakeholders in ASEAN through the ASEANstats and play a role as the country focal point in matters related to the regional cooperation in statistics.

The ASEAN Secretariat (ASEANstats)

ASEANstats shall initiate the formulation of statistical policies, methodologies and standards for the harmonization of ASEAN statistics and lead the implementation and monitoring of these policies and standards.

ASEANstats shall serve as the technical arm and secretariat of the ACSS Committee.

ASEANstats shall support national statistical systems in the implementation of policies and standards for ASEAN statistics.

ASEANstats shall also serve as the link between the ACSS Committee and the ASEAN Community Councils and other stakeholders, including international and regional organizations.

ASEANstats shall undertake the compilation of ASEAN statistics, administer the ASEAN Statistics Database, and develop statistical products and services to disseminate and communicate ASEAN statistics.

The ASEAN Community Councils

The ASEAN Community Councils are expected to provide guidance concerning the data needs and strategic directions for statistics development in the ASEAN Community. 

SCOPE OF COOPERATION

The AFCS shall address the production, dissemination and communication of ASEAN statistics (hereafter called the indicators and statistics in the ASI), including the enabling mechanisms defined in the Broad Framework for the Sustainable Development of ASEAN Statistics.

ASEAN statistics shall cover statistics produced by the national statistical systems, which include those produced by the line ministries/departments.

ASI shall comprise groups of statistical indicators and indicators/statistics to meet the needs set out in the APSC, AEC and ASCC blueprints.

STRATEGIC AREAS OF COOPERATION

All AMSs, through the concerned ASEAN Community Councils, AHSOM/ACSS Committee and ASEANstats, shall work towards the attainment of the above objectives through the following strategies:

Developing the organizational framework for an effective ACSS

- The establishment of the ACSS depends on clear and strong mandate that provides for concrete organizational structure, linkages, and systems.

- AHSOM/ACSS Committee shall lead consultations with ASEAN stakeholders towards the development of appropriate instruments, mandate and structure for the ACSS in line with the rules-based principle defined in the ASEAN Charter in key statistical areas.

- The national statistical offices shall conduct an assessment of the national statistical systems with respect to the requirements and potential implications of the ACSS to ascertain their level of preparedness as well as interventions that may be needed to facilitate the establishment of the ACSS. The national statistical offices shall consult with relevant national institutions.

- At the regional level, the ASEANstats shall conduct studies and consult with the ASEAN Community Councils on the requirements and processes needed to develop the regional organizational framework and mandate for statistics.

Strategic planning and monitoring

- The production, dissemination and communication of ASEAN statistics, including the process towards the establishment of the ACSS shall be aided by a medium term strategy for the development of statistics.

- To establish the ACSS by 2015, the strategy needs to define the mission, core values and principles, and goals of the ACSS, establish the scope of work, identify the contents, programs and outputs. The strategy also needs to define the appropriate enabling mechanisms.

- Coordination and communication among stakeholders will be enhanced to work out ways of integrating ASEAN Community statistical priorities in the national strategies for the development of statistics, and facilitating support to AMSs.

- Progress of implementation of the strategy shall be monitored and evaluated periodically to achieve the medium-term goals.

Technical cooperation on the development and harmonization of ASEAN statistics

- Existing technical cooperation work on the development and harmonization of selected ASEAN statistics shall be continued. As deemed necessary, regional cooperation shall be established on other priority statistical domains. All cooperation activities must conform to the thrusts and principles of the envisioned ACSS and work towards long-term statistical development objectives.

- Sharing of data using common references and standards shall be expanded to build a comprehensive database of ASEAN statistics and facilitate dissemination and communication of statistics among stakeholders. Harmonization guidelines, data dissemination and communication policies, and data sharing and exchange mechanisms shall be developed and implemented in line with the rules-based principle defined in the ASEAN Charter.

- Advocacy for adherence to and application of internationally-recommended statistical principles, standards, and guidelines shall be strengthened to increase comparability of ASEAN statistics

Institutional building, key statistical infrastructure improvement, and human resource development

- Institutional building includes coordination among data providers, producers and users. Inter-agency coordination will be promoted among institutions with shared responsibilities to produce key statistics.

- Improvement of other key statistical infrastructure such as business registers for economic statistics, methodological documentation and metadata systems, and data quality assessment frameworks shall be promoted through sharing of knowledge, experiences and technology.

- In addition to enhancing competence and skills on technical subject matter, training activities on statistical management and coordination, classifications and information technology applications in statistics shall also be pursued.

Stakeholder consultations

- Stakeholder consultation is important to ensure continued relevance and effectiveness of the ACSS and to enable the system build sustainable new directions.

- Improved communication and interaction between the ACSS and key user groups at the regional and national levels shall be strengthened to help in the determination of regional statistical priorities and promote wider application of statistics in policy creation, decision making and monitoring in the ASEAN Community.