Representatives of all nine members of the Council, namely, China , India , Indonesia , Japan , Islamic Republic of Iran, Malaysia , Pakistan , Republic of Korea , and Thailand , representatives from Australia, Fiji, Hong Kong , Kazakhstan, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, South Africa, Srilanka, Turkey and Viet Nam as observers attended the session. Representatives of the following United Nations bodies and specialized agencies and intergovernmental organizations also participated as observers:IMF, UNECE, UNESCO Institute for Statistics, and UNSD

Mr. Feng Nailin, representative of China was duly reelected as chairperson of the 4 rd session of SIAP Governing Council.

The Governing Council took note of actions taken to address matters that arouse and recommendations made by Council at its previous session.

The Director of SIAP, informed the Governing Council about completed training activities of the Institute, and also about future directions and developments.

During the reporting period, SIAP completed five group training courses of the Tokyo Metropolitan Area-based (TMA) programme, ten regional/ sub-regional courses/seminars/workshops including one research based regional course and eight country training courses amounting to 18 courses under the Outreach Programme. In addition, three distance training courses (trial) had been conducted.

During the period, SIAP trained a total of 569 participants from 59 countries, 96.6 percent of them, or 550 participants, came from 47 countries of the ESCAP region while the remaining 19 participants came from 12 countries outside the region. The number of participants trained in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area (TMA) -based courses was 90 whereas the regional/ sub-regional/country courses/ workshops/ seminars together accommodated 404 participants and 75 participants were trained under the distance training programme.

The training programmes of TMA-based courses were organized in collaboration with Japan International Cooperating Agency (JICA) and covered several fields of statistics, from Fundamental Official Statistics in its 6-month modular course, Information and Communications Technology for statistical production, to Analysis and Interpretation of Statistics. Several countries expressed their appreciation of the TMA-based courses as these were very useful to their offices and requested that the current system of these courses should be continued in the future. (ILO)

With regard to the Outreach programme, the Director reported that the Institute had completed the implementation of a three-year (AY2004 to AY2006) expanded outreach-training programme. During the last three academic years (AY2005 - AY 2007), the Institute conducted 30 regional/ sub-regional training courses/seminars/workshops and 17 country courses and trained 1,127 participants in total. This shows a significant increase in the number of training courses from 38 in the preceding three-year period (AY2002 - AY2004) to 47 in AY2005 - AY2007. The number of participants also increased by 21.7 percent (from 926 to 1,127) between the above period. The outreach training activities were organized in collaboration with country partner institutions and national statistical offices as well as international organizations.

The Institute conducted two training courses on a trial basis using JICA net services in its field offices. The Council recommended that these training arrangements can serve just a small portion of the potential number of trainees, thus new ways of effective training modalities must be explored. It also advised SIAP that distance training arrangements cannot replace face-to-face teaching and recommended to continue maintain the same modalities of training courses in Tokyo .

It was reported that SIAP continued to develop partnership cooperation with other organizations from within and outside the UN System in carrying out its training activities.

The Council reviewed the current financial situation of the Institute and noted that if SIAP's work programme was to be maintained at its present level, the current financial situation was not sustainable in the medium to long-term. Several suggestions were made by the members to encourage countries to increase their cash and in-kind contributions, including the use of cost sharing arrangements. The Governing Council urged SIAP to submit a strategic plan with options for ensuring the medium to long-term sustainability of the Institute.

The Council acknowledged with deep appreciation to the Government of Japan for providing SIAP with its cash and in-kind contribution through MIC, and for the provision of 81 fellowships through JICA for the group training courses conducted in Chiba , Japan .
Further, the Council acknowledged with deep appreciation the contributing members and associate members in the region for their continuing cash and in-kind contributions, through which they have demonstrated their sustained interest in the Institute.

The Council expressed its gratitude to UNDP for its continued programme support to SIAP.

The Council also acknowledged: (a) the Governments of Fiji; Indonesia; Islamic Republic of Iran; Philippines; and Republic of Korea; for hosting and providing organizational support for the conduct of regional and sub-regional courses through their respective national statistical offices/services; (b) the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan, Australian Bureau of Statistics; Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong, China; Korea National Statistical Office; National Statistics Office of the Philippines; and Statistics New Zealand for providing resource support in specific subjects at SIAP training courses and workshops through their experts; and (c) other agencies of the United Nations and other regional and international organizations, particularly, ILO, IMF, SPC, ESCAP, UIS, and UNSD for collaborating with SIAP in the implementation of its training activities.

The Council thanked the NSOs of the governments of Brunei Darussalam, Kiribati , Malaysia , Maldives , Pakistan , Sri Lanka , and Thailand for their collaboration in the organization and conduct of their respective country courses.