During this week, 6-10 February, a team of experts from the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), at the invitation of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), will carry out the reviews of information technology (IT) in official statistics and the organizational structure of the NBS to provide recommendations on its development in line with best practices.

The assessment mission of the UNECE experts: Steven Vale, Marlen Jigitekov, Carlo Vaccari, Frankie Kay and Mira Nikic, foresees meetings with both representatives of the NBS and with its partners - representatives of the e-Governance Agency and the Information Technology and Cyber Security Service.

During the first day of the mission, held at NBS, the experts have met with the NBS top-management to agree on the agenda and outline the main objectives of the review mission, as well as the expected results. The General Director of the NBS, Oleg Cara, highlighted the importance of this review carried out by international experts in the context of the implementation of the new Strategy for the Development of the National Statistical System for the years 2023-2030.

We note that the subjects approached refer to the analysis of the current situation in the IT sector, namely hardware infrastructure, software infrastructure, information security issues; architecture, data storage and management, data collection and other flows to the NBS; dissemination, communication and GIS (Geographic Information System) tools that allow data collection, management and analysis. At the same time, the work agenda includes a separate topic related to human and financial resources for IT domain.

The discussions will also cover the information flow regarding the production of statistical information as well as the current organizational structure of the NBS and proposals for efficiency will be offered, with the presentation of experiences of reorganization and modernization of statistical offices in Ireland, Italy and Serbia.

We inform that, in the process of modernization of official statistics, the NBS regularly benefits from various external assessments in order to strengthen the national statistical system and improve the efficiency of the statistical activity in the country.