The need to develop new indicators to measure the effectiveness of decisions taken by EU governments for coming out of the crisis was one of the conclusions reached at the meeting, attended by representatives of the EU and the OECD, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC) and metrics experts who approved the Madrid Document establishing international co-operation in the development of economic indicators.



At a press conference, Lucilla Sioli, head of the Economic and Statistical Analysis Unit of the EU Information Society and Media General Directorate; Sami Al Basheer, head of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau; and Cristian Vergez, head of the OECD Innovation and Integrity Division, highlighted the opportunity presented by this meeting.


They explained that at this time of economic crisis, indicators are a ‘fundamental’ instrument for taking political decisions that help overcome the crisis.
In response to questions raised by journalists, they pointed out that measurements taken in various countries are entirely comparable as the same data are used. Although they stated that there were some difficulties in new areas such as the Internet, mobile telephony, networks and green technologies, where procedures need refinement.


The Spanish Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Information Society, Francisco Ros, said that the declaration in Madrid establishes that governments will meet at least once a year to discuss co-ordination in measurement systems and the development of new indicators in greater detail.
It states that official statistical sources will be mainly used, although, if necessary, unofficial sources may be used with particular attention paid to the reliability and quality of results.
The meeting recalled the new European Digital Agenda which was recently approved by the EU, while Ros pointed out that its development is a priority for Europe in spite of the economic situation.