Cooperation between the Republic of Moldova and India in the area of data was shared in a side-event organized by UNFPA in the context of Global South-South Development Expo 2022. During the event, the National Bureau of Statistics in the Republic of Moldova (NBS) shared the experience of developing the statistical population register and knowledge exchange about the use of administrative data sources for the production of official statistics from Estonia, Slovenia, Finland, Spain, Netherlands and India.

The Global South-South Development Expo 2022 virtual side event was attended by representatives of public authorities holding administrative data, decision makers, policy makers, civil society and the international community that are interested in collaboration with India in the statistical field. 

The focus of the side event was on the knowledge exchange between Republic of Moldova and India in the data field and its contribution to strengthening South-South cooperation through sharing experiences between countries. 

”The National Bureau of Statistics in the Republic of Moldova made huge progress in improving the use of administrative data, with the funding from the India-UN Development Partnership Fund. It managed to assess the quality of 5 administrative data sources, develop the legal framework to allow access to personal information contained in the administrative registers, and develop the Population and Migration Statistics Informational System for the use in official statistics. It is indeed a great opportunity to use south-south cooperation to strengthen the Demographic Resilience in the Republic of Moldova”, mentioned Nighina Abaszada, Resident Representative, UNFPA Moldova.

At the virtual event, UNFPA India shared the experience under South-South Cooperation, mentioning that Moldova among several other countries benefited in the past and gained knowledge on various aspects of Census Operations in India. On the other hand, UNFPA India stressed that NSB officials from Moldova learned good practices on national data quality assurance framework, use of administrative data, economic statistics, mapping of migration data and uses of digital technology in census.

“I am really delighted that this partnership is being showcased at this South-South collaboration expo side event, because it responds to the quote of Secretary General Antonio Gutteres: "to the needs of southern lead solutions being shared far and wide". Moldova - India partnership can be amplified for the use of other nations, seeking to reinforce their own use of data for the achievement of SDGs”, affirmed Ms. Andrea M. Wojnar , UNFPA India Representative, present at the virtual side event. 

During the last 3 years, the National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova received technical assistance from the India-UN Development Partnership Fund managed by UNOSSC and implemented the project jointly with UNFPA Moldova. As a main result, in collaboration with several national institutions, the National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova developed the Informational System on “Population and Migration Statistics”. 

At the virtual event, NBS presented the experience of development of the Informational System and the knowledge exchange that took place during the project implementation. 

”The Project funded by the Indian Government through India-UN Development Partnership Fund, and implemented by UNFPA, which is under completion, has offered complex opportunities for NBS to obtain useful results, to settle productive partnerships and to take a step ahead to the alignment of the national official statistics to the international standards and good practices. In the long-term, the informational system on "Population and Migration Statistics" will support NBS in transitioning from traditional census to combined and afterwards to the register-based census and, in combination with the Business Register and the Statistical Dwelling Register, would support more efficient production of data in different statistical areas via a multi-register-based system”, stated Oleg Cara, General Director of the National Bureau of Statistics.

”This event is a good example of South-South cooperation taking into account the celebration of 30 years of India - Moldova cooperation. We are very pleased to see the success of the sub project under the auspices of UNFPA. This project allowed us to deepen our bilateral relations for the benefits of the society”, mentioned Rahul Shrivastava, Ambassador of India to Moldova, with residence in Bucharest.

NBS also mentioned the study visit to India, consisting of representatives of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the Electronic Government Agency, the Ministry of Finance and the United Nations Population Fund of Moldova (UNFPA) during 01 – 05 August 2022. According to the NBS, the study mission represents one good example of multi-institutional cooperation between the specialists from different fields of both countries, gathered to help each other on a topic of a common interest – getting better data for better lives.

The Global South-South Development Expo 2022 is an annual event organized by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) to showcase evidence-based successful development solutions and initiatives, in collaboration with United Nations agencies and all other partners.