Africa and Europe Celebrate Three Years of Statistical Partnership for Sustainable Development
In the city of Casablanca, the final forum for the Second African Statistical Program (PAS II) was held, with the participation of over a hundred representatives from African national statistical institutes, regional economic groups, the African Union Commission, the European Union, and various technical and financial partners.
This program, funded by the European Union and jointly implemented by STATAFRIC, Eurostat, and Expertise France, serves as a crucial step in building an integrated, reliable, and sustainable African statistical system.
In his opening speech, Mersli Osama, Director of Statistics at the High Commission for Planning, expressed Morocco’s pride in hosting this continental event, noting the tangible results achieved by the program, including updates to national accounts, improvements in business registries, enhanced dissemination of administrative data, and the promotion of digital innovation and knowledge exchange among African countries.
Workshops by the High Commission focused on statistical communication and the utilization of administrative resources, contributing to the dissemination of best practices at the regional level.
Partners highlighted the achievements realized, reaffirming their commitment to continue cooperation in the coming phase. Ben Paul Mungyereza, a representative of the African Development Bank, detailed the progress made under the program and announced the preparation of a new program (SCB-VI) for the 2026–2030 period to strengthen the Strategy for the Harmonization of Statistics in Africa (SHaSA 2).
For his part, Léandre Ngogang Wandji, representative of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, presented several accomplishments, including the reduction of the time needed for producing statistical maps in Burundi, new GDP estimates in Eritrea, the development of monitoring dashboards for the Sustainable Development Goals in Cameroon, Kenya, Senegal, and Zimbabwe, as well as the integration of geographic and administrative data within national statistical systems.
Claudia Junker, Head of Unit at Eurostat, noted that PAS II has been a foundational pillar of the strategic partnership between Africa and the European Union, emphasizing that the funding of €18.7 million has enabled remarkable achievements such as national accounts updates, narrowing trade gaps between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia, food balance sheet preparations in Malawi, and the conduct of peer reviews, in addition to enhancing digital transformation through e-learning and organizing hackathons. She called for the launch of PAS III to enhance Africa’s statistical independence and digital sovereignty.
Adoum Gagoloum, Head of Economic Statistics at STATAFRIC, explained that the program embodied African-European cooperation through over 200 technical missions and 40 regional workshops benefiting 1,500 participants. Significant achievements included the release of the first quarterly accounts in Guinea, updates of electronic platforms in Cameroon, Congo, Guinea, and Seychelles, and the establishment of thematic groups within the African statistical system.
The three technical sessions of the forum highlighted the practical outcomes of the program, showcasing lessons learned in national accounts, business registries, trade statistics, and communication, and presented national case studies on statistical transformation in Africa, including quarterly accounts in Guinea, food balance sheets in Malawi, and measuring informal cross-border trade, while emphasizing the sustainability of acquired capacities and digital training that included over 400 training courses in 51 countries, stressing the need for sustained funding to ensure continued results.
The forum concluded with participants renewing their commitment to enhance collaborative efforts based on a shared vision centered on “Reliable Statistics for Comprehensive and Sustainable Evidence-Based Development,” affirming that the Casablanca Forum marks a significant milestone in the African-European partnership and opens new horizons toward a sovereign, future-connected statistical Africa.
