On 21^st February this year, a joint meeting between the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and United Nations (UN) agencies in the Republic of Moldova was held to discuss the perspectives of supporting the NBS in the process of developing of the National Statistical System (NSS). In particular, the discussions focused on providing support for the NBS activities, as well as to other members of the NSS as set out in the Strategy for the Development of the National Statistical System (NSS) for the years 2023-2030, the draft Action Plan on the implementation of the NSS Development Program for the period 2023-2026 (document in the process of elaboration) and the conducting of the Population and Housing Census in 2024.

The meeting was attended by representatives from several UN agencies in the Republic of Moldova, such as: the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Moldova, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) International Organization for Migration (IOM), UN World Food Programme (WFP).

During the meeting, the Director general of the NBS, Oleg Cara welcomed the UN agencies for their interest in statistics field, emphasizing that the NBS is constantly supported by the UN agencies and other development partners that provide significant support for the development of the national statistical system. Oleg Cara mentioned the importance of the support provided in the process of modernization of the official statistics, as well as the needs of technical assistance for the implementation of the Strategy and the above-mentioned Program, especially some major actions for the entire country, such as the population and housing census.

Therefore, the representatives of the UN agencies, participating in the meeting, through their interest, affirmed their support for the statistical field in the Republic of Moldova, reiterating the importance of statistical data for a modern democratic society that cannot function efficiently and rigorously without a solid database of relevant statistical data. In this context, the representatives of the UN agencies also expressed their interest in supporting the NBS in organizing and conducting the 2024 population and housing census, as well as other statistical areas and activities of common interest.

We inform that the Strategy for the Development of the National Statistical System (NSS) for the years 2023-2030, approved by the Government at the end of year 2022, provides the objectives of the 2030  Global Agenda for Sustainable Development, for significantly increasing the availability of qualitative, timely and reliable data, disaggregated by sex, age, ethnicity, migration status, disability, geographical location and other relevant characteristics in the national context. The strategic document stipulates that by the end of 2030, the NSS should function as an integrated, coherent, coordinated statistical data system, aligned with international standards and methodologies, able to provide the necessary statistical products and services to a wide spectrum of users and responding to their needs.

We would like to mention that this meeting was preceded by the meeting of the development partners held on 25 January this year, chaired by Simon Springett, UN Resident Coordinator, where the NBS was invited to present the Strategy and the Program for the Development of the NSS until 2030.