(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) are making steady progress on all fronts including statistical data collection and sharing to foster the smooth functioning of the CARICOM Single Market (CSM) after its December 2005 implementation.
To this end, the Standing Committee of Caribbean Statisticians (SCCC) will convene its Thirtieth Meeting in Kingston, Jamaica from 26-28 October under the theme: “The CSME and the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals–The Implications for Statistics in the Region.”
Forming a major part of discussions at the upcoming regional Standing Committee meeting are issues pertaining to the existing statistical infrastructure as an enabling factor for the establishment and functioning of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). This is in addition to the Committee’s examination of the provisions enshrined in the Revised Treaty establishing the Caribbean Community including the CSME, with respect to the Free Movement of Services, Capital and Persons and the Right of Establishment.
The Meeting will serve as a platform for the exchange of information among producers, users and donor organisations, given the regional thrust to establish the CSME and the international focus on the United Nations (UN) Millennium Developmental Goals (MDGs). The availability of information within Member States to produce the MDGs Statistics and Indicators, as these relate to the measurement issues of the MDGs is also up for discussion among the Caribbean Statistical Standing Committee officials.
The SCCS Meeting will be preceded by the Thirteenth Meeting of the Regional Census Coordinating Committee (RCCC) from 24-25 October 2005, which will focus on the status of completion of the 2000 Round of Population and Housing Censuses, as well as the initial steps being put in place to prepare a cost-effective strategy for the 2010 Census Decade.
