The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) organised on October 22, an event dedicated to the use of geospatial data and Geographic Information System (GIS) tools for the production and dissemination of official statistics. The event was organised on the occasion of the World Statistics Day celebrated on 20 October. The event was attended by representatives of the Agency for Land Relations and Cadastre, Cadastre Department of the Public Services Agency, central public authorities and academia, GIS entities, experts in the EU-funded "Support for Statistics in Public Administration Reform" Project (Parstat), as well as development partners. The event aimed to strengthen the interinstitutional partnership in order to strengthen the implementation of the geographical information system for the collection of georeferenced data necessary for the production and dissemination of official national statistics.

At the beginning of the meeting, Oleg Cara, Director General, mentioned that the use of geospatial data and GIS tools is one of the current priorities of the NBS. "Currently NBS collects georeferenced data to update the country digital maps in order to develop a geo-statistical database at building and housing unit levels. The data collected will serve as grounds for the upcoming Population and Housing Census, but also a sampling framework for statistical surveys carried out in households.”

Oleg Cara added that the NBS is assisted in the implementation of GIS tools by the European Union via the project "Technical Assistance to Support the National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic Of Moldova", and by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) which donated handheld devices for the related field activities, under the project „Improving the institutional capacity of the National Bureau of Statistics”.

In this context, the Deputy Head of Cooperation of the EU Delegation to the Republic of Moldova, Gintaus Baranauskas, welcomed the NBS initiative to bring together all the stakeholders involved in the development of GIS data and tools. „Using the GIS has an important impact on the official statistical data production. Reliable and high-quality data is important for the decision-making and the implementation of strategies and policies in various sectors. The EU-funded project aims at strengthening the competences of both NBS and other statistical data producers”, MrGintaus Baranauskasunderlined.

In turn, Nigina Abaszada, UNFPA Moldova Resident Representative congratulated NBS on the occasion of World Statistics Day and reiterated UNFPA support for the process of digitalisation and improvement of information systems for statistics. „I am glad that the equipment provided is actively used, the collection of georeferenced data with the support of multiple partners will improve the information systems. Geospatial data and tools represent a prerequisite for the global round of the Census, and their use will help the Republic of Moldova to carry out the next census”.

During the event, presentations were delivered by the representatives of the NBS and the Agency for Land Relations and Cadastre, alongside with interventions from the Parstat expert Roberto Bianchini.

In this regard, it was reported on the current implementation in Moldova of the Global Statistical Geospatial Framework and on the National Spatial Data Infrastructure and the role of the NBS and the Cadastre of Moldova within it. References were also made to the main international standards and recommendations for conducting the Census, the purpose of the mapping programme and the activities currently carried out by NBS within the Census preparations.

The discussions revealed the importance of integrating geospatial and statistical data, the relevance of data interoperability, the significance of partnership among national and international stakeholders. In this context, the NBS confirmed its commitment to further develop the geospatial statistical infrastructure to continue in its modernisation process.