4. The African integration agenda of the Continent, which the AU Commission has embarked upon for some years now, calls for the use of harmonized and reliable statistical data in all areas in order to ensure its effective implementation. To this end, the AU Commission committed itself to playing an active and catalyst role in the area of statistics in order to produce harmonized and comparable statistics in time and in space so as to backstop the realization of the African Economic Community.
5. However, on the continent, there are a number of challenges facing the statistical development and dissemination. This is due to a number of impediments including, among others, inadequate resources, lack of institutional framework, inadequate coordination of statistical activities and dissemination tools. Definitely, the production and utilisation of African statistics calls not only for the adoption of harmonized and standardized definitions and concepts; but also the utilisation of a common methodology for statistical production and appropriate technological solutions for the management and dissemination of statistical data and information.
6. For these reasons, many initiatives were carried out by the Department which include: (i) the establishment of the Statistics Division with the creation additional positions; (ii) the adoption and implementation of an African Charter on Statistics; (iii) the adoption and implementation the Strategy for the Harmonization of Statistics in Africa (SHaSA); (iv) the establishment of the AfricaInfo database; and African Statistical Yearbook (ASY) and Joint Publication with Eurostat.