A historic leadership transition for one of Central America’s most critical regional technical bodies took place this week in Santo Domingo, where the Dominican Republic formally handed off the pro tempore presidency of the Central American Statistical Commission (Centroestad) under the Central American Integration System (SICA) to Belize’s national statistics authority.
The handover ceremony, held during the commission’s 31st Ordinary General Meeting, wrapped up the Dominican Republic’s six-month tenure leading the regional collaborative body, which ran through the first half of 2026. Mildred Martínez, Director General of the Dominican Republic’s National Statistics Office (ONE), officially transferred the ceremonial and executive leadership to Diana Lisa Castillo-Trejo, chief of Belize’s Statistical Institute, who will steer the commission’s work for the upcoming term.
The three-day gathering drew senior statistical leaders and technical delegates from all member national statistics offices: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. Observers and contributing delegates from a range of regional and global intergovernmental organizations also joined the proceedings, underscoring the broad importance of coordinated statistical work across the Central American region.
Core discussions centered on three interconnected priorities for the commission: deepening cross-border statistical collaboration, bringing aging national information infrastructure up to modern global standards, and expanding the peer-to-peer exchange of proven best practices among SICA member states. Attendees conducted a full review of progress delivered under Centroestad’s January–June 2026 work plan, conducted a transparent assessment of ongoing systemic and operational challenges facing regional statistical integration, and aligned on key strategic priorities for the coming months.
The meeting’s agenda also featured dedicated technical sessions on high-priority emerging topics for official statistics, including standardized gender-disaggregated data collection, new innovative approaches to official public data production, and the integration of artificial intelligence tools to boost data accuracy, process efficiency, and advanced analytical capacity across national systems. Member states also used the forum to share updates on their collective progress developing standardized food balance sheets – a critical analytical tool that strengthens evidence-based policy and development planning by providing more granular, reliable data on national food availability and food security outcomes.
In post-meeting statements, ONE emphasized that Centroestad has solidified its role as an indispensable platform for technical partnership and cross-border knowledge sharing, working continuously to build the capacity of official statistical systems across Central America and the Dominican Republic. All meeting activities and ongoing Centroestad programming received financial and technical support through international cooperation with the Republic of Korea, via the dedicated Korea-SICA cooperation fund.