"On February 28, a signing ceremony took place for the Memorandum of Understanding between the State Statistical Committee and UNICEF Azerbaijan on Conduction of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) in the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2022.

"Tahir Budagov, the Chairman of Committee, greeted the ceremony participants and noted that there is close cooperation between the State Statistical Committee and the relevant structures of the United Nations, including UNICEF. He mentioned that the implementation of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey is included in the State Program on the Development of Official Statistics in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2018-2025. The implementation of this initiative will facilitate the collection of up-to-date, comprehensive, and disaggregated data by various indicators, thereby contributing to enhancement of the statistical database, obtaining data on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ensuring the international comparability of data, and strengthening the statistical capacity. Conduction of the MICS will ensure the completeness of the data set on children and women in our country.

"UNICEF Representative in the Republic of Azerbaijan, Alex Heikens, expressed his deep gratitude to Tahir Budagov for organizing the meeting with a large delegation and noted that preparatory work for the MICS survey has been underway since 2021, in collaboration with representatives from the State Statistical Committee. He expressed confidence in the timely and high-quality completion of the tasks outlined in the Memorandum. He pointed out that conducting the survey during the post-conflict and post-pandemic period will provide better opportunities for obtaining data that will retain its relevance for an extended period.

"Then the signing ceremony was held for the Memorandum of Understanding on conduction the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) in the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2022.

"The Memorandum was signed by Tahir Budagov, Chairman of the State Statistical Committee, and Alex Heikens, UNICEF Representative in Azerbaijan.

"Other issues of mutual interest were also discussed at the event.