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| Statistics Korea (KOSTAT) Commissioner Kang Shin-wook, third from left, talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Heydar oglu Aliyev, right, at the President's office in Baku, Wednesday (local time). / Courtesy of KOSTAT |
By Park Jae-hyuk
Korea's expertise in statistics has paved the way for the country to enhance its reputation in developing nations.
Kang Shin-wook, the commissioner of Statistics Korea (KOSTAT), told The Korea Times, Friday, he met Azerbaijani President Ilham Heydar oglu Aliyev at the President's office in Baku, Wednesday (local time), to thank him for Azerbaijan's cooperation with Korea in statistics.
"Over the past two years, KOSTAT has helped to improve the statistical system of Azerbaijan, one of the destinations for the New Northern Policy and a key partner in the government's official development assistance (ODA)," the commissioner said.
"Azerbaijan has its own e-government service called ASAN (Azerbaijan Service and Assessment Network). I suggested to the President that Azerbaijani citizens will be able to use statistics more conveniently, if our system is connected to ASAN."
According to the commissioner, President Aliyev also expressed his appreciation of the Korean government's decision to spend its budget on cooperation with Azerbaijan, saying his country needs support from Korea to revise inaccurate statistical data collected during the Soviet era.
The meeting between Kang and Aliyev took place amid Kang's three-day trip to Azerbaijan.
During his visit, the commissioner attended a conference on ODA and signed a memorandum of understanding with the State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan Chairman Budagov Tahir Yagub.
"In 2016, Azerbaijan asked for our support, after suffering difficulties in measuring the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and providing services to the public due to the lack of statistical infrastructure," Kang said.
"Starting from 2021, we will teach Azerbaijani officials about data collection and interview skills. We will also establish an e-learning system in the country, so that anyone can gain knowledge of statistics."
He emphasized the cooperation will benefit not only Azerbaijan, but also Korea.
"Azerbaijan, which leads the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Statistics Committee meeting, is the country with the greatest interest in statistics in the region, so it is expected to serve as the hub for our ODA initiative," he said.
"Given that Korea's statistics combined with advanced IT technologies is competitive enough, we will capitalize on ODA in statistics to export our technologies throughout the CIS countries. Although the cooperation may not bring immediate economic achievements, I believe the cooperation for basic infrastructure will improve our relationships with other countries."
In addition to Azerbaijan, the statistics agency has shared its national statistics portal, the Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS), with various developing countries, including Mongolia and Sri Lanka.
Kang said KOSTAT will further expand the ODA program to Bolivia and Tanzania in 2020.
"Considering the cooperation in statistics leads to each country offering basic information on its development plans, Korea can also become a beneficiary as it can access the information of other countries," he said.
"I think the development in statistics is the foothold of co-prosperity."
