LUCKNOW, Aug. 5 -- BRICS member countries on Tuesday adopted a joint statement at the conclusion of the two-day meeting of heads of national statistical offices (NSOs) in Lucknow, reaffirming their commitment to streng- then cooperation on data, innovation and modern statistical systems. The meeting, held under India's Chairship, was organised around the theme "Quality Statistics as a Driver of Change". More than 350 participants, including heads of national statistical offices, policymakers, academics, think-tanks, civil society representatives and technical experts, attended the event. The second day featured a technical session on "Identifying Common Innovation Areas for Potential BRICS Collaboration," focusing on modern survey methods and digital data collection. India showcased its transition from paper-based surveys to digital systems through e-SIGMA (e-Survey Information Gathering and Management Application), a cloud-based, CAPI-enabled platform now used for large-scale sample surveys. Egypt presented its use of geospatial technology in official statistics, while delegates discussed expanding the use of AI in survey implementation and combining administrative data with survey-based information to generate faster and more detailed statistical insights. China shared its experience of adopting the new framework, Brazil demonstrated the use of alternative data sources such as e-commerce and online platform data, and Indonesia outlined its transition plan to SNA 2025 along with adoption of ISIC 5. On the sidelines of the meeting, MoSPI and BPS-Statistics Indonesia signed a letter of intent to strengthen cooperation in knowledge exchange, technological and methodological development, human resource capacity building, and emerging areas such as AI, metadata standardisation and open data....