India and Afghanistan Sign MOU for Cooperation in the Field of Official Statistics

As a follow up of the umbrella agreement signed by Government of India with Government of Afghanistan and UNDP on 30th March 2010 to develop the capacity of Afghan Ministries / Agencies in Afghanistan through the project called National Institution Building Project, Dr. M. S. Gill, Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation signed an MOU with Mr. Abdul Rahman Ghafoori, President General, Central Statistics Organisation, Afghanistan here today for cooperation in the field of official statistics. 

Dr. Gill in his address to the delegation mentioned that signing of MOU between the two organizations marks a new chapter in fostering mutual cooperation between the two countries to steer the implementation process for capacity building through skill transfer particularly to strengthen the statistical capabilities of CSO Afghanistan in the context of developing a robust statistical system. He emphasized that both our countries share many commonalities and this partnership was a significant step towards building new relationship based on mutual trust and a consultative and transparent approach. 

The scope of the twinning MOUs signed by the Minister include (i) provision of advisory services incl. medium / short term assignments for experts from GOI (ii) provision of services of advisors in technical areas for on-site support to Afghanistan as well as off-site support (iii) study and exposure visits of civil servants of the partner ministry / agency of Afghanistan to the Ministry / agency of GOI (iv) short term international training of Afghan Civil Servants at the training institutes of GOI and other relevant institutions in India, and (v) deputation of Afghan Civil Servants for on-the-job practical training at the ministries / agencies of Government of India. 

India would also assist in establishing / strengthening the training institutes of Afghanistan, and also share its publications, technical know-how etc. with them. The technical support includes areas such as national accounts, survey designing/planning etc., analysis/presentation of data, training of trainers, development of official statistics in areas like education, health, environment, births, deaths, etc. 

Courtesy : PIB