The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has pledged 3 million USD in non-refundable aid for a project to facilitate the implementation of Vietnam’s Statistics Development Strategy for the 2011- 2020 period, with a vision to 2030.

The project was launched in Hanoi on November 19 by the UNDP, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Tran Thi Hang, GSO Deputy General Director and the project’s Director, said the project aims to perfect and raise public awareness of the Statistics Law and sub-law documents and improve inspection capacity.

It will improve the statistical system capacity, enhance regulations and mechanisms in statistic information sharing, and lead to the building of the GSO’s National Statistics Archives Centre and improve statistical methods to bring them in line with international practices.

Addressing the event, UNDP Country Director in Vietnam Louise Chamberlain suggested providing additional external resources and a more stable budget for the project.

She also stressed the need for open dialogue among statisticians, providers and users to ensure a more effective use of data.-VNA