The 24 th meeting of the Asia-Pacific Commission on Agricultural Statistics (APCAS) opened in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong on October 8, with 85 delegates from 25 countries and international organisations taking part.

Jointly organised by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Vietnam ’s General Statistics Office, the five-day event will look at ways of ensuring the accuracy and quality of agricultural statistics, as they determine the nature of agricultural and rural development policies in the region.

On addressing the event, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Dao Quang Thu said that the quantity and quality of information on agriculture and rural areas that is currently available has yet to meet the growing demands of Vietnamese users.

He said he hopes that the event will help regional countries to ensure the integrity of their agricultural statistics and draw up plans to implement the global strategy on agricultural statistics.

This is the first time that APCAS has been held in Vietnam since it was formed in 1966 and is convened every two years.