Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the UNESCAP Headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand (21/2). The agreement involves collaboration between the Statistics Indonesia (BPS), UNESCAP, and UNDESA, focusing on the establishment of the Regional Hub on Big Data and Data Science for the Asia-Pacific Region. The signing ceremony was witnessed by Atqo Mardiyanto, Principal Secretary of BPS; Imam Machdi, Deputy Chief Statistician for Methodology and Statistical Information of BPS; and Ahmad Rama Aji Nasution, Minister Counsellor for Economic Affairs of the Embassy of the Republic of  Indonesia.

The decision to designate BPS-Statistics Indonesia as the Regional Hub for the development of Big Data and Data Science in the Asia-Pacific region was made through Decision Number 54/116 at the Fifty-Fourth Session of the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) in 2023. The Regional Hub's objectives include facilitating the use of Big Data for official statistics and Sustainable Development Goal indicators, promoting knowledge-sharing on methodological development and algorithms, and offering training programs on utilizing Big Data for official statistics in the Asia-Pacific region.