Hanoi, 19^th March 2019 –The General Statistics Office (GSO) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) with support of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)^(*) co-organised today the “Launching Workshop of the Set of Sustainable Development Statistical Indicators of Vietnam”. The workshop was chaired by Mr.  Le Quang Manh, Vice Minister of Planning and Investment. The workshop attracted the participation of representatives from ministries, government agencies, UN agencies, embassies, NGOs, international development agencies in Vietnam, media, acamedia and experts.

The Set of Sustainable Development Statistical Indicators of Vietnam has been developed by the GSO in consultation and close cooperation with various ministries and other actors. The purpose of this set of indicators is to provide "authentic and empirical evidence" with suitable, reliable, consistent, internationally comparable and easily accessible data for the monitoring and assessing of the implementation of 17 Goals and 115 targets as adopted at Decision No. 622/QD-TT of the Prime Minister on 10^th May, 2017.

Speaking at the workshop, Mr. Nguyen Bich Lam, Director General of General Statistics Office emphasized: "As leaving no one behind is the ultimate goal of the SDGs, this is a strong reminder for us to ensure that all efforts should be made to address the inequities in the society. It is therefore very important that data and statistics is fully understood and appreciated by all stakeholders. Improved quality of statistics and disaggregated data (by age, sex, rural/urban, province/city and other characteristics) will lead to more effective decision-making and better development policies.”

Viet Nam has already made significant progress in implementing its National Action Plan for the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and as Dr. Michael Krakowski, Director cum Chief Technical Advisor of the Macroeconomic Reforms/ Green Growth Programme, GIZ once pointed out: "The launching of the Circular No.03/2019/TT-BKHDT dated 22nd January 2019 by the Minister of Planning and Investment on stipulating the set of 158 sustainable development statistical indicators of Vietnam today is believed to bring Viet Nam one step closer to defining the scope of monitoring of sustainable development.“

For further information, please contact:

• 1. Mr. Nguyen Dinh Khuyen, Statistical Methodology and Information Technology Department, General Statistics Office.
• Email: ndkhuyen@gso.gov.vn, Tel: 024-73046666 ext. 8004
• 2. Ms. Justyna Grosjean, Project Manager, Macroeconomic Reforms/ Green Growth Program, GIZ, Email: justyna.grosjean@giz.de, Tel: 024-37345195 ext. 102

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(*) Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), a German federal enterprise, supports the German Government in achieving its objectives in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development.