Sixty-fourth General Assembly

Plenary

90^th Meeting (PM)

General Assembly Designates 20 October as World Statistics Day,

 

Makes Appointment to Fill Vacancy on Contributions Committee

 

Acknowledging that the production of reliable, timely statistics and indicators of countries’ progress were indispensable for informed policy decisions and monitoring implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, the General Assembly this afternoon decided to designate 20 October as World Statistics Day.

Adopting by consensus a resolution on the matter (document A/64/L.53), which was introduced by Fuad Al-Hinai (Oman), the Assembly requested that the Secretary-General take the necessary steps for the United Nations to observe the Day, bring the text to the attention of Member States and United Nations organizations and report on its implementation to the Statistical Commission’s forty-second session.

Further, the Assembly — recalling Economic and Social Council resolution 2006/6, which calls on all stakeholders to support national efforts to build and strengthen statistical capacity, particularly in developing countries, and noting that many Member States and some regions already have initiatives to celebrate official statistics — invited stakeholders from the United Nations system and civil society to observe the Day appropriately.

In other business, the Assembly appointed Andrei Vitalievitch Kovalenko (Russian Federation) to the Committee on Contributions to replace Vyacheslav Anatolievich Logutov (Russian Federation), who resigned on 20 May.  Mr. Kovalenko will fill the vacancy effective immediately for the remaining period of Mr. Logutov’s term, which expires on 31 December 2011.

It also took note of document A/64/631/Addendum 10, in which the Secretary-General informed the Assembly President that Palau had made the necessary payment to reduce its arrears below the amount specified in Article 19 of the United Nations Charter.

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For information media • not an official record