Pilot training on Automated Processing of Administrative Trade Statistics using R

Domestic production in the Pacific is limited by the lack of resources and technologies, geographic isolation, high costs, and insufficient economies of scale. As such, Pacific economies are heavily reliant on international trade to supply their basic commodities and more complex machinery, and to expand their market base. International merchandise trade statistics (IMTS) is crucial to monitor and analyze trade flows, production and consumption. Timely and high-quality trade statistics will better guide the development of trade and economic policies and infrastructure planning. 
As trade datasets grow in volume and complexity, manual data cleaning, validation, and compilation could be slow, prone to error, lack an audit trail, and not methodologically repeatable. Automating parts of the statistical production process offers reproducibility and reduces human error, standardizes methods across reporting cycles and across countries, and allows small teams to focus on processes that need more careful manual deliberation (such as data cleaning procedures and analysis).
This hybrid workshop, organized by the Pacific Community (SPC) and United Nations Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP), aims to increase capacities of national statistical systems to compile international merchandise trade statistics by automating parts of their workflow process.