The first national strategy for the development of statistics is set to be submitted soon for approval, Secretary of State in charge of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises Samir Abdelhafidh Monday said at a launch seminar of the Tunisia Data Literacy Programme. Drawn up by the National Council for Statistics (French: CNS) and the National Institute of Statistics (French: INS), with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), this strategy will ease the integration of statistics into national policies and planning processes and ensure a better coordination within the CNS to produce quality and conclusive data that meets needs of users. Reforming the national statistical system is "necessary" today so as to help the INS and other public statistical agencies keep pace with the latest developments and ensure a "relevant" public statistical production that can meet the needs of public and private users, the official further said. Concurrently, a cooperation programme involving the INS and th e World Bank (WB) was launched in 2023 to help the INS build an integrated and efficient user-based statistical system. The goal is to boost the institutional reform of the National Institute of Statistics, strengthen its integration into the data ecosystem and develop its capacities to use innovative data sources. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse