The Minister of Economic Affairs, Communications, and Sustainable Development, Mr. Geoffrey Wever, recently presented the National Statistical System Implementation Plan to the Council of Ministers for approval.
The NSS implementation is included in his ministry’s policy vision 2021-2025.
The importance of data to objectively develop and monitor policy and to contribute to an informed public is increasingly recognized and supported.
The National Statistical System NSS is a partnership between the Central Bureau of Statistics and other producers of official statistics. The aim is to guarantee the production of a wide variety of high-quality, relevant, and timely official statistics to form the basis of policymaking, policy review, and sustainable development. Several international studies conducted (by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UN-ECLAC), The Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC), IMF, ICON Institute, the requirements for implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the National Strategic Plan, the Master Plan, and the Land Package, have pointed to the importance of an NSS in Aruba.
Minister Geoffrey Wever established an NSS Commission for the implementation in Aruba at the end of 2021. The NSS Commission has prepared an NSS Implementation Plan. He asked the United Nations Statistical Division (UNSD) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UN-ECLAC) to provide feedback on the NSS Implementation Plan regarding the scope and implementation costs of the implementation plan. Both UNSD and UN-ECLAC were confident about the NSS Implementation Plan. The Council of Ministers approved the Implementation Plan.
“The NSS will contribute to a more objective and complete picture of the situation in Aruba in various areas, thus across all ministries, through reliable and timely data. It will contribute to responsible public policy and financial management. When we base public spending on reliable data, public funds will be spend effectively. This leads to less waste of public funds and thus more savings, which is a crucial component of good governance, “said Minister Wever.
