Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam and Italy have had success in their worktogether to improve the national Vietnamese statistic system, an official hassaid.

Nguyen Bich Lam, General Director of the General Statistics Office (GSO) of Vietnam,made the statement at a meeting to assess the mid-term results of the project:'Vietnam – Improvement of National Statistical System'.

The project, worth more than 648,700 EUR (716,000 USD) financed by the Italiangovernment through the Agency for Cooperation to Development (AICS), aims tostrengthen the capacity of the Vietnam’s statistic system to support economicand social development.

The three-year project, which started in April last year, focuses on theability to produce, collect, analyse, use and disseminate statistical data onenergy and the environment.

“Improving capacity in the field of energy and environmental statistics andclimate change is essential for Vietnam to take timely measures to respond andadapt to climate change in the context of Vietnam being one of the countriesmost severely affected by climate change," Lam said.

The project consists of five parts: institution building, energy, environmentand climate change, information dissemination and information and communicationtechnology.

Roberta Fontana, the project director, from the Italian National Institute ofStatistics (Istat), said that after 18 months, 51 percent of the project hadbeen completed, keeping progress on schedule.

The project helped the GSO in its coordinating role in the national statisticalsystem, increasing awareness of State administrative agencies of statistics tofacilitate data exchange.

In terms of energy, it provided technical assistance to the GSO to compile thenational energy balance, starting with the centralisation of available datafrom public administrations.

Regarding environment and climate change, it helped the GSO develop a system ofenvironmental and urban statistical indicators.

It also provided technical assistance to develop a new website for the GSO anddesign a new input data centre to enhance information and communicationtechnology security.

Speaking at the meeting, Italian Ambassador to Vietnam Antonio Alessandro saida reliable, independent and effective national statistic system was ofparamount importance to support economic and social development in today’sworld. It also contributed to a better relationship between citizens andinstitutions, as it improved transparency.

He also said that depending on the final results and the interest of bothparties, they might decide to extend the project.

The results achieved in the 18 months of the project showed the close andeffective cooperation from AICS as well as the efforts of the GSO, said Lam./.