For the sustainable development of the economy in any countries, production and use of accurate, timely and reliable statistics is very important, particularly for effective policy making and evaluation. However, the stages of development of official statistics in many developing countries remain still to be improved, mainly due to the insufficiency of trained human resources. To develop their statistical capability and to improve the quality of their statistical products are the main objectives of SIAP. The aim of the Institute is to promote the capability development of government officials/statisticians as well as economic and social development of the developing countries.

The main training courses of SIAP [Tokyo-Metoropolitan-Area (TMA)-based courses] are conducted at its premises in Chiba, Japan with participation of government officials from developing countries.

Many other supplementary outreach training courses are conducted in developing countries of Asia and the Pacific. SIAP lecturers are dispatched to the host countries of the training programme to deliver the training. Many of officials who have been trained at SIAP are now holding important posts in national statistical services.

The coverage of the training curriculum is very wide, from methodological issues to practical exercises, including analytical methods in statistics, survey methodologies, computer software, Population Census, System of National Accounts (SNA) and other important official statistics. Project based learning is applied in TMA based training programme to enable SIAP training participants to apply their learned knowledge and skills in the implementation of their projects.

In TMA based training programme, learning from Japan is another important objective. Visits to Japanese leading technology companies and major government statistical offices are organized as parts of the programme. Visits to statistical offices of Japanese local governments are also organized to learn how effectively data is collected from respondents and the effectiveness of work coordination between local and central government.

The visits to local governments are often broadcasted through local media to enable the local people to appreciate the international cooperation in their prefectures.

SIAP will continue to provide statistical training to developing countries and to contribute to deepen mutual understanding between people in developing countries and those in Japan.