From 9 to 11 December 2009, Assoc. Prof. Mariana Kotzeva – President of the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute took part in the meeting, held in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

The meeting was organized by the United Nations Statistics Division and the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Geografia of Mexico, in its role as the chair of the Friends of the Chair Group. Representatives of the National statistics of 15 countries from all quarters of the globe were included in the Group. Europe was represented by the Presidents of the Statistical Institutions of Bulgaria and Italy.

The Friends of the Chair Group of the United Nations Statistical Commission was created 2 years ago and its purpose was to develop and propose a set of statistical indicators to assist the governments in measuring the rate, dissemination and frequency of the acts of violence against women.