The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) is hosting the annual meetings of the Task Force on International Merchandise Trade Statistics (TF-IMTS) and the Task Force on Statistics of International Trade in Services (TF-IMTS) at the UN House, Beirut, during the period of March 23 to 24, 2010. In addition, the TF-IMTS and TF-IMTS will have a joint meeting on March 25th 2010.
The TF-IMTS was created to improve international cooperation in the collection, processing and dissemination of international merchandise trade statistics. Its work strives to facilitate reporting by merchandise trade statistics compilers on one hand and, on the other, to improve data quality, timeliness, coverage and consistency amongst various international data providers.
While, the TF-SITS is focusing on the development of the Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services (MSITS). The Task Force continues to focus on developing the MSITS further in parallel with the revision of the IMF 6th Balance of Payments Manual (BPM6) and the update of the 2008 SNA.
The TF-IMTS and the TF-SITS Convened by World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) respectively, and include Eurostat, International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Customs Organisation (WCO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the UN Regional Commissions the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Monetary Fund.
During these meeting, they participants of the meetings will discuss trade statistics related issues such as the 2010 Manuals of SITS and IMTS , statistical data bases, balance of payment 2010 and future implementation planes on trade statistics.
Further information and contact:
Mr. Ismail Lubbad
Statistician /In charge of trade and industrial statistics
Tel: 00961-1-978358
Email: lubbad@un.org
Statistician /In charge of trade and industrial statistics
Tel: 00961-1-978358
Email: lubbad@un.org