The delegation of SESRIC headed by HE Mr. Nebil Dabur, Director General, and composed of Dr. Atilla Karaman, Director of Statistics and Information Department, and Ms. Nenden Octavarulia Shanty, Researcher, participated in the 51^st Session of UN Statistical Commission (UNSC) and its side events on 2-5 March 2020 in New York.

Before the start of main plenary session of the UNSC on 3 March 2020, HE Mr. Nebil Dabur represented SESRIC at the 35^th Session of the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA) on 2 March 2020. On the same day, the Director General of SESRIC was also one of the panellists of the side event of the Global Network of Institutions for Statistical Training (GIST) where he shared the modalities of SESRIC in conducting its statistical capacity development activities under its Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme and the engagement of SESRIC, as a founding member, with the GIST since 2018.

On 3 March 2020, HE Mr. Nebil Dabur represented SESRIC during the plenary of the 51^st Session of UNSC. The Director General of SESRIC also paid a courtesy visit to the Permanent Mission of Republic of Turkey to the UN on 3 March where he thanked the Republic of Turkey, as the host country for SESRIC, for supporting the Centre since its establishment in 1978 and informed the representatives of the Turkish Mission concerning the activities of SESRIC in the field of official statistics.

HE Mr. Nebil Dabur realised two important meetings on 4 March 2020. HE Mr. Dabur first paid a courtesy visit to HE Amb. Aghshin Mehdiyev, Permanent Observer for the OIC to the UN. During the visit, the Director General underlined the heterogeneity among the OIC member countries concerning the production of data and mentioned that the OIC Statistical Commission (OIC-StatCom), the only OIC forum in the field of official statistics, plays an important role for facilitating the cooperation among the OIC member countries and other relevant stakeholders.

On 4 March, HE Mr. Dabur had a meeting with HE Amb. Jorge Chediek, Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General on South-South Cooperation and Director of the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC). The two parties praised the cooperation between the two organisations which have been reflected in the number of increasing projects. During the meeting, issues related to the launch of two joint reports of SESRIC and UNOSSC including “South-South in Action: Transforming Potentials into Shared Prosperity” and “South-South and Triangular Cooperation: Accelerating Women Social Entrepreneurship” were discussed.

HE Mr. Nebil Dabur moderated the Follow-Up Meeting of the OIC-StatCom on the sidelines of the 51^st Session of UNSC on 5 March 2020 with a participation of 35 representatives from 17 OIC Member Countries, 3 international organisations, and 2 partner institutions. The Follow-Up Meeting covered the implementation of the resolutions of 8^th Session of OIC-StatCom and preparations for the 9^th Session of OIC-StatCom including composition of the Bureau members, main agenda items, and date & venue. The Follow-Up Meeting continued with an information session on Tobacco Questions for Surveys (TQS) and TQS-Youth contributed by the two partner institutions including CDC and CDC Foundation, and SESRIC. The Follow-Up Meeting ended with the MoU Signing Ceremony between SESRIC and the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Statistics.

Following the SESRIC side event on 5 March, HE Mr. Nebil Dabur and HE Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin, Chief Statistician of Malaysia, signed an MoU to further the cooperation between the two institutions concerning activities on statistical capacity development for the benefit of OIC member countries.

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