President Lula invites Pochmann to join ministerial meeting in Brasília
August 08, 2024 07h27 PM | Last Updated: August 09, 2024 10h25 AM
The President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, invited the president of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), Marcio Pochmann, to join a ministerial meeting held on Thursday (8) at Palácio do Planalto, in Brasília, capital of Brazil.
In the opening of the meeting, Lula observed that having a “special guest”, the IBGE, “was important for the government to be aware of where the IBGE stands. The IBGE, which is probably the most important national statistical office in Latin America, has a very respectable background and deserves our full trust. But we have to be aware we need to provide adequate conditions so the IBGE will be able to do much more,” said the president.
“Before the military regime in Brazil, the IBGE was the only institute engaged in doing surveys about mostly everything in this country. After the regime, things got fragmented, some activities were no longer under the IBGE's responsibility, but I take this opportunity, since comrade Marcio Pochmann is now president of the IBGE, and a very competent, highly qualified, committed and respected person, whose talent is recognized not only in the academic community but also in the political world, to have him here making a brief presentation to us,” the President added.
During the meeting, Pochmann stressed the IBGE’s accountability regarding its mission of portraying Brazil by means of necessary information for the knowledge of reality and the exercise of citizenship, especially now that the country has been facing a new national reality imposed by the digital transformation process. He also spoke about the sovereign, democratic, transparent and cooperative National System of Geosciences, Statistics and Data (SINGED), which can reduce budget costs and repetitive work, at the same time it increases quality and interoperability of official information.
"Under president Lula, the government has the chance of establishing a new data governance framework for the nation by means of methodological integration, harmonization and pairing of different registries and administrative records under the coordination of the IBGE, as previously seen in the years of 1936 to 1964," stated the president of the IBGE.
Backgound
President Lula attended Pochmann’s inauguration ceremony at the IBGE, on August 18 last year, at the auditorium of the Ministry of Planning and Budget, in Brasília.
In March this year Pochmann was received by Lula at Palácio da Alvorada, official residence of the President of the Republic, in a meeting to present the IBGE’s Work Plan and proposals aiming at the modernization of the Institute. On the same occasion, Pochmann also invited Lula to participate in the Digital Era Conference, organized by the IBGE and scheduled for July 29 - August 02, 2024.
In July, the President called Pochmann, and, not being able to attend the event, praised the National Conference of Data Producers and Users, held between July 29 and August 02, promoted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), with an emphasis on the topic of National Sovereignty in Geosciences, Statistics and Data: risks and opportunities for Brazin in the Digital Era. The President then stressed the relevance of data sovereignty in the context of the information revolution, and highlighted the necessary recovery and modernization of the IBGE.