A brief history of SIAP

The Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP) was established in Tokyo in 1970 by twenty countries in Asia and the Pacific and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as an international centre to bring about regional co-operation in training government statisticians from developing countries of the region. SIAP was accorded the legal status of a subsidiary body of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) as of 1 April 1995. As the host country, the Government of Japan (GOJ) extends co-operation to the Institute through the Ministry of International Affairs and Communications (MIC) as the cooperating agency. Key events in its establishment and history are as follows:

1963	Conference of Asian Statisticians recommended the establishment of a statistical training and research centre
1967	The Government of Japan invited the establishment of the Asian Statistical Institute (ASI) in Tokyo at 22nd session of Economic and Social Commission fro Asia and Far East (now ESCAP)
1969	UNDP and the Government of Japan entered into an Agreement concerning assistance for the Establishment and Operation of ASI
1970	Plan of Operation was signed by 20 member countries, UN and UNDP and the Asian Statistical Institute was officially inaugurated on 3 June 1970
1973	The second Five-Year Phase of the Institute and its preservation as a regional institution supported by the United Nations were resolved at the 29th session of ESCAP
1977	Asian Statistical Institute (ASI) was renamed Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP)
1979	Governing Council of Training and Research Institutions in the ESCAP region recommended that SIAP should continue as an autonomous institution in Tokyo and the third Five-Year Phase of the Institute resolved at the 35th session of ESCAP
1994	Resolution on Status of the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific was adopted at the 50th session of Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
1995	SIAP was accorded the legal status of a subsidiary body of ESCAP
1999	SIAP shifted its premises to Makuhari, Chiba-City, Chiba-Prefecture in November
2000	Thirtieth Anniversary of the Institute was cerebrated with a Ceremony and Seminar on 28 August in Tokyo
2005	Resolution on Statute of the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific was adopted at the 61st session of Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
2006	Since 2006, the Institute has been delivering results that contribute towards the achievements of objectives of the Statistics subprogramme of ESCAP.