Towards the updated IMTS Compilers Manual

Fourth virtual meeting of the Expert Group on IMTS on the update of the IMTS Compilers Manual, start mid of December 2011

Dear members of the Expert Group on IMTS,

I welcome you to this expert forum on which we will conduct the fourth virtual meeting of the Expert Group on International Merchandise Trade Statistics (IMTS) on the update of the existing International Merchandise Trade Statistics: Compilers Manual (IMTS, CM) scheduled to start mid of December 2011.

The objective of this meeting will be to review and adopt the draft report of the upcoming meeting on compilation issues of IMTS 2010, from 6-9 December 2011 in Mexico City (see http://unstats.un.org/unsd/trade/mexico11/default.htm) which will discuss the first full draft of the updated IMTS Compilers Manual; further, to endorse the draft revised compilation guidance for IMTS subject to amendments and clarifications as indicated in the report.

The first full draft of the updated IMTS Compilers Manual, containing all draft chapters has been posted on this expert form. It combines the updated chapters which have been discussed at the two previous virtual meetings of the EG-IMTS, as well as the initial drafts of the remaining 9 chapters (chapters 6, 7, 10, 15, 18, 23, 24, 25 and 26). The experts are invited to review the full draft of the IMTS Compilers Manual and to provide their comments (and any materials suggested for inclusion) on the expert forum, in parallel to the meeting in Mexico. Your comments will be taken into account and noted in the report of the Mexico meeting.

Please take a look at the note on the objectives and organization of the meeting in Mexico (note on item 4 of the agenda) and the note regarding possible changes to the overall structure and contents and next steps (note on item 10 and 18 of the agenda) which have been posted in the expert forum under » EG December 2011 Meeting » B: Documents & Guidelines.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns regarding the proposed procedure. The guidelines of how to use the expert forum (and other reference materials) are available under ‘Documents and Guidelines' on this expert forum. Please access and test the expert forum - access is based on your email address - and let us know if you encounter any problems.

The existing Compilers Manual is available on the UNSD website at: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/trade/methodology%20IMTS.htm. The new recommendations for international merchandise trade (IMTS 2010) are available on the website of the Expert Group at: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/trade/EG-IMTS/EG-IMTS%20web%20announcement.htm together with all information about the IMTS revision process.

I would like to emphasize that your participation in the update process is very important, as only with your assistance we can improve the content of the Manual. We hope, therefore, that all members of the Expert Group will participate actively in this fourth virtual meeting which will start mid of December 2011, as soon as the draft report of the meeting in Mexico is ready for posting.

Yours sincerely,
Ronald Jansen
Chief, Trade Statistics Branch
United Nations Statistics Division
Email: jansen1@un.org