Joint meeting between UN-GGIM: Europe and the Conference of European Statisticians (CES)

The Common Day between UN-GGIM: Europe and the 74th Conference of European Statisticians, co-organised by the Slovenian Mapping Agency and the Slovenian Statistical Institute in Geneva on the afternoon of 24 June, provided a valuable opportunity to deepen dialogue between the geospatial and statistical communities.

The session confirmed that this collaboraton is far more than a technical exercise. It is a strategic platform to improve interoperability, strengthen geospatial and geostatistical literacy, and support more resilient, data-informed decision-making. Participants highlighted practical solutions, including stronger institutional partnerships, coordinated governance and fit-for-purpose frameworks to unlock the full value of spatial, statistical, administrative and Earth observation data.

Discussions also underlined the importance of recognising location as a fundamental dimension of statistics and embedding geospatial thinking more systematically into organisational strategies, workflows and leadership structures. In this regard, the Global Statistical Geospatial Framework (GSGF) and the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (IGIF) were underscored as key enablers for implementation and long-term impact.

This year’s Common Day built directly on the strategic foundations laid two years ago, when UN-GGIM: Europe and CES reaffirmed the shared committment to identify areas of shared strategic importance. The proposed decisions reflected this direction, including continued collaboration between the two bodies the extension of the cooperation agreement for 2026–2028, and the organisation of another joint plenary session in 2028.

Future global development frameworks were also a key focus, with the plenary also calling for closer cooperation between statistical and geospatial agencies, both through the new UN-GGIM: Europe workplan’s dedicated working group on “Data in response to global agendas” and at a national level, thus improving interoperability across datasets and delivering concrete, shared information products.