The NSI President – Assoc. Prof. Mariana Kotzeva will take part in the annual meeting of Eurostat with the EU candidate countries, which will be held on 6 – 7 October 2010 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

During the sessions the following issues will be discussed:

• preparation of census 2011.

• Eurostat strategy on training statisticians from the Western Balkan countries.

• international cooperation, mainly participation in international meetings.

• regional cooperation on the Balkans.

• development of the process of enlargement and association.

• results from Eurostat peer reviews.

• development of European statistics during the coming ten years.

This year the event will be held back-to-back with the PGSC meeting, to be held on 5 October 2010.

The National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria initiated the first informal meeting of the kind, held in September 2008 in Bansko.

The Heads of the Statistical Offices of the South-East Europe will discuss the following issues: information about the First Conference on Agriculture Statistics conducted in May 2010 in Skopje, assess the PGSC work during the previous year and outline the highlights and activities for the next year.

Assoc. Prof Mariana Kotzeva will participate in both forums and will present the BNSI position and proposals.