The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has launched a new online platform – RIVA (Regional Integration and Value Chain Analyser) – to support policymakers, analysts and researchers who want to understand how well integrated countries are in global value chains.
Through the platform, policy analysts from more than 72 economies can now easily generate insightful graphs and statistics about their contribution to, or dependence on, imports or exports of partner countries across 38 sectors, the agency said in a press release on Wednesday.
The value chain analyser tool automates time-consuming data analysis tasks that could previously only be performed by experts with specialised trade and data management skills, according to the ESCAP press release.
“This first version of RIVA is expected to significantly enhance the evidence-based policymaking capacity of all our member states while preparing governments to boost trade as a key means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," said Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, United Nations under-secretary-general and executive secretary of ESCAP.
RIVA will not only support analyses and policy decision-making that require mapping of integration and linkages within global value chains - the full range of activities to bring a product from idea to end use. It also allows for cross-country comparisons and benchmarking. Technical users who would like to download data for further analysis can do so through the flexible data querying function of the platform, the press release noted.
“While required data are increasingly available, major challenges remain in the capacity to utilise the data effectively and in a timely manner,” said Kamrang Tekreth, secretary of state of the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce, speaking at the launch event. “From the perspective of emerging economies such as Cambodia, user-friendly tools like RIVA would be very practical for policymakers and the community, including those working with them. I am looking forward to seeing more tools and the expansion of the RIVA platform.”
RIVA was developed by ESCAP with support from partners including the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and the Asian Development Bank, whose Multi-Regional Input-Output Tables provides the basis for the data underpinning RIVA, according to the press release.
