Mr. Ma Jiantang Participated in the First Meeting of the Global Executive Board of the New Round ICP, Stressing That the Special Cautions Need to Be Paid When Using ICP Results

Mr. Ma Jiantang, Commissioner of National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS), led a delegation to attend the First Meeting of Global Executive Board of 2011 Round International Comparison Program (ICP), and made important observations.

In February 2008, the UN Statistical Commission decided to carry out the ICP on a global scale from 2009 to 2013 at its 39th session, the base period is 2011.

In order to ensure the smooth development of the project, the UN Statistical Commission established 2011 ICP Global Executive Board, whom is responsible for major policy decisions to develop the project strategy, bear the ultimate responsibility for project implementation. Board members include representatives from international and regional organizations, and some participating countries,   such as the UN, WB, IMF, Eurostat, OECD, etc. By the invitation of the UN and WB, and by the approval of the State Council of China, Mr. Ma Jiantang was appointed as the Board member.

The First Meeting of ICP Global Executive Board was held at the headquarters of the IMF in Washington DC, USA. The main elements are: discussion on “ICP Management Framework in 2011"; the main lessons from ICP in 2005; inter-regional institutional arrangements of ICP; scope of work and preparation of ICP, and so on.

Mr. Ma Jiantang indicated that, approved by the Chinese government, China will fully participate in the 2011 round global ICP.

Mr. Ma Jiantang pointed out that, ICP Global Executive Board should take full account of the political sensitivity, organizational complexity, technical challenges, and the limitations in results uses, when determining the strategic objectives of the project for the next round, and special cautions should be paid in important decision-making.

Mr. Ma Jiantang stressed that, when bringing into play the role of relevant international organizations, the role of participating countries should be strengthened in decision-making and implementation process, because the participating countries are the main bodies of the project execution.

Regarding the funding of ICP, Mr. Ma Jiantang suggested that the international organizations should give full play to their influences to promote this work; the relevant international organizations and the developed countries should increase the supports and assistances to the ICP works in technology, capital, and so on to the developing countries.

The comments and suggestions made by Mr. Ma Jiantang received great attention and support of the meeting.

It is determined that the Second Meeting of the ICP Global Executive Board will be held in New York in February 2010.

Messrs. Du Weiqun, Director-General of Department of International Cooperation, and Wen Jianwu, Director-General of International Statistical Information Center of NBS, attended the meeting.