A Strategic Meeting to Strengthen Statistical Harmonization in West Africa

Dakar: The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission is organizing a meeting of the Directors-General of the National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) of member states from July 27 to 31, 2026, in Dakar, Senegal. This meeting is part of the implementation of the ECOWAS Statistical Policy, which aims to strengthen the harmonization of statistical systems in order to produce reliable, comparable, and timely data to inform public policy and support regional integration.According to African Press Organization, participants will examine, among other things, the status of implementation of the recommendations from their previous meeting, the 2026 Annual Budgeted Work Program, and a series of regional methodological guides designed to improve the quality, consistency, and comparability of official statistics within the ECOWAS region.Opening the proceedings, Prof. Allé Nar Diop, Minister attached to the Minister of Economy, Finance, and Planning, in charge of Economy, Planning, and Cooperation, e mphasized that official statistics constitute a strategic public good and an indispensable tool for the design, monitoring, and evaluation of public policies. He stated: "In a constantly evolving economic environment, official statistics are a strategic public good. They enable governments to make informed decisions, evaluate public policies, and effectively meet the expectations of their populations. Statistical harmonization within ECOWAS is an essential lever for accelerating regional economic integration and strengthening confidence in our information systems."Speaking on behalf of Dr. Kalilou Sylla, ECOWAS Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Professor Félix Fofana NZué, Acting Director of Research and Statistics at the ECOWAS Commission, emphasized that high-quality statistics are now a strategic tool for governance, regional integration, and the implementation of ECOWAS Vision 2050. In the face of economic, climate, and security crises, he stressed the need for harmonized, reliable, and comparable data to effectively guide public policy. "Statistics are the indispensable light that guides the decisions of our governments, our regional institutions, our partners, and our people. Vision 2050 must be data-driven; otherwise, it will remain nothing more than a mere aspiration," said Professor NZué.Professor Félix Fofana NZué also commended the commitment of the national statistical institutes as well as the ongoing support of technical and financial partners, whose contributions help strengthen the statistical capacities of member states and modernize the region's statistical systems.Speaking earlier, the Director General of Senegal's National Agency for Statistics and Demography (ANSD), Dr. Abdou Diouf, welcomed the choice of Dakar to host this important regional meeting, reaffirming Senegal's commitment to developing modern statistical systems in the service of governance and sustainable development. In his view, "Official statistics are the infrastructure of sovereignty. A state that does not measure itself allows others to measure it. Investing in statistics, ensuring the professional independence of national statistical agencies, and guaranteeing the credibility of their publications is not a luxury: it is an act of sovereignty and an act of democracy."Following the Director General of the ANSD, the representative of the African Union, Mr. Doum Gagoloum, Head of the Economic Statistics Division, emphasized that strengthening robust and harmonized statistical systems remains an essential condition for the implementation of the African Union's Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and, finally, for monitoring the continent's development policies.Speaking on behalf of the United Nations system, Dr. Gifty Addico, Deputy Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Regional Office in Senegal, reiterated that reliable, disaggregated, and regularly produced demographic and social data are essential for the implementation of inclusive and success ful public policies that result in concrete improvements in equality, participation, and well-being of the entire population, particularly vulnerable groups (women, youth, people with disabilities, minorities, rural populations, etc.).Speaking on behalf of the World Bank, Mr. Abdoullahi Beidou commended ECOWAS's leadership and reaffirmed his organization's commitment to supporting regional statistical reforms, highlighting the shared vision of producing and ensuring the availability of harmonized and credible data-which is essential for strengthening economic governance and achieving more effective regional integration.During this meeting, the Directors-General will review several methodological guides covering, in particular, national accounts, quarterly accounts, tourism satellite accounts, measurement of the informal sector, foreign trade statistics, informal cross-border trade, the Industrial Production Index, and the regional framework for the business register. Their adoption will help enhance the q uality, harmonization, and comparability of official statistics produced in member states.This meeting also provides an opportunity to take stock of the statistical reforms underway in member states, to strengthen cooperation between national and regional institutions, and to accelerate the modernization of statistical systems in support of regional integration, economic convergence, and sustainable development.Participants in this meeting include the Directors General of the National Statistical Institutes of ECOWAS member states, experts from the ECOWAS Commission, and representatives from several technical and financial partners, notably the World Bank, the African Union, AFRISTAT, AMAO, IMAO, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Statistics Sweden, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).