The President gives a speech at the OECD World Forum in Busan, Oct. 27.

The President said an advanced statistical system is crucial for a government''s efficient decision-making, including those for budget allocation and spending, while addressing the OECD World Forum held in Busan on Tuesday (Oct. 27).

Touching upon the etymological origin of "statistics" (studying the status of a state), the President said development in statistics is all the more necessary to satisfy people''s needs and to efficiently run the nation.

The President said this in relation to many statistics experts present at the forum, including OECD''s Chief Statistician Enrico Giovanni.

President Lee hoped that the outcome of the forum would be useful in drawing up a key index that will help better measure people''s quality of life and also improve that quality in the longer term.
 

Meanwhile, the President emphasized that the world economy was recovering faster than expected, thanks to the joint efforts of the advanced and emerging economies centered on the G20 Summit. The recovery is also attributable to their efforts to disapprove of trade protectionism and adopt macroeconomic fiscal spending, he added.

President Lee welcomed the OECD''s adoption of a Green Growth Declaration in June, and pledged that Korea would also strenuously pursue its environment-friendly growth policies in ways to reduce climate change problems and to further advance global prosperity.

The OECD World Forum was launched in 2004, with aims to improving the use of statistics for efficient decision-making and enhancement of citizens‘ quality of life. The previous two meetings were held in Italy (2004) and Turkey (2007). Over 2,000 people from 103 countries attended the forum held in Busan this time.