On 1 July this year, Poland began its year-long Presidency of the Visegrad Group (V4). During the Polish Presidency, cooperation between Statistics Poland and the National Statistical Institutes of the V4 countries will continue.

In this respect, a meeting of the Presidents of the National Statistical Institutes of the V4 countries was held in Szczecin on 18 September. The aim of the meeting was to discuss key issues requiring deeper cooperation within the V4 and to sign Annex VII to the Memorandum on cooperation in statistics.

In 2018, at the initiative of Hungary, the Statistical Institutes of the Visegrad Group countries concluded a Memorandum of understanding on co-operation among the statistical institutes of the Visegrad Group countries, which was signed by the Presidents of the National Statistical Institutes. The specific areas of cooperation undertaken by the individual Presidencies are defined in the annexes to the Memorandum signed annually. They focus on current challenges and issues. Topics concerning the basis of statistical data provision, user needs and the usefulness of dissemination platforms provided to users are also discussed. In accordance with the Memorandum, the Presidents of the four National Statistical Institutes meet regularly every year to discuss opportunities for effective cooperation.

During the meeting in Szczecin, Annex VII to the Memorandum was signed. Its scope includes the organisation of expert meetings on cross-border functional areas and European population statistics, especially in the context of planned changes to the legal basis at the EU level. During the Polish Presidency of the V4, it is also planned to prepare a joint publication on the closed-circuit economy, which will aim to show the achievements of our four countries in achieving a closed-circuit economy, which is one of the priority policies of the European Union. The study will present indicators showing, inter alia, the level of production and consumption, waste management and use of secondary raw materials in individual V4 countries in comparison with the EU average.