EU funds projects to improve reliability of statistics

TIRANA, June 18 – The EU is currently funding three projects in Albania amounting to 11.5 million euros dedicated to improving the accuracy and reliability of statistics produced by the National and Regional Statistics Office, by harmonising the methodologies employed by INSTAT to gather and process data. Accurate and reliable statistics are essential tools for policies that are responsive to the needs of the country. Apart form being essential for good governance, statistics are also important to the EU integration process as they enable proper monitoring and evaluation of progress. Alignment with EU standards in statistics will ultimately enable comparability between the EU, Albania and countries of the region, said the EC Delegation to Albania in a statement.
In the framework of the planned Housing and Population Census to be carried out in 2011, a workshop was held to discuss with stakeholders the pilot census conducted in April-May 2010 by INSTAT with a view to address potential shortcomings in good time. The workshop was part of the activities of the 800,000 euro EU-funded project on assistance to the National and Regional Statistics Offices.
During the opening of the workshop, the Head of the EU Delegation to Albania Ambassador Helmuth Lohan noted that “The importance of statistics for informed policy-making and the implementation of policy objectives are intuitively obvious. Since Albania’s path towards the EU is also Albania’s path towards the funding instruments offered by the EU there is every reason to pay highest attention to availability of high-quality statistics.” In order for the upcoming housing and population, economic and agriculture censuses to be truly useful for Albania’s policies, Ambassador Lohan emphasized the needs for accuracy and reliability, comparability, timely preparation and data protection.