The National Bureau of Statistics of China is to strengthen international links to provide quality and up-to-date statistics for government and the public, says the bureau's Deputy Commissioner Qiu Xiaohua.

He was speaking at an international meeting on statistical cooperation, which was ended in Beijing Thursday.

Qiu said technical cooperation with foreign partners was one of the two "legs" for China's statistics system development, besides its own efforts.

The country's statistical system was "closed" before 1979, when China initiated the economic reform program, Qiu said.

At that time, the data was collected and compiled at local offices and then submitted to higher levels with no sample surveys applied, he said.

The statistics were regarded as the nation's secrets and were not allowed to be published without authorization.

In 1982 China started its first technical cooperation with international organizations in its population census, he said.

In the following years, the Chinese Government expanded technical cooperation and exchange activities with international organizations and statistics departments such as Japan's Statistics Bureau, the US Census Bureau and Statistics Canada.

In 1996, the National Bureau of Statistics of China and Statistics Canada started to implement a seven-year statistical information management program.

The Canadian Government contributed 9.9 million Canadian dollars (US$7.1 million) to the project.

Yesterday, Statistics Canada announced that the Canadian International Development Agency had agreed to provide 10 million Canadian dollars (US$7.2 million) to start the second phase of the Sino-Canadian program.

Li Deshui, commissioner of China's bureau of statistics, said development of official statistics gathering here could profit from the experiences of other countries and also learn to conform to international practice.

"The official statistics should meet the needs of the development of the socialist market economy," he said.

China is now experiencing great changes in both economic and social development.

The new situation required reform and improvement in terms of content, methodology, management systems and the legal framework of statistics, Li said.

"Our goal is to establish a modern official statistical system that is embodied with Chinese characteristics and integrated into general international standards and recommendations," he said.

China's official statistics will help to reform the management system, improve operating mechanisms and enhance the legal framework of statistics, he said.

The statistics bureau will also improve accuracy, relevance and pertinence; and the scientific soundness of statistical data and this would also enhance the authority of official statistics, in order to provide efficient and quality statistical service to the governments, the public and the international community.

Aiming to achieve these goals, the National Bureau of Statistics will strengthen its direct survey capability, beef up the capacity of management and co-ordination, and enhance the guidance and supervision of non-government statistical institutions and market research institutions, Li said.

The statistics bureau will also improve the national economic accounting system and integrate more closely with international statistical standards.

The bureau will reform survey methodology to develop a modern statistical survey system that better meets the needs of a socialist market economy and facilitate international comparison of statistical data, he said.

It would also apply modern information technology to achieve fully networked environments for statistical design and for the collection, transmission, processing, management and dissemination of data with high efficiency, he said.

The statistics bureau will also beef up training of high-quality professionals in statistics through job-oriented training and formal statistical education.

(China Daily May 14, 2004)