The importance of nordic cooperation

The Nordic statistical cooperation has a long and successful history. Now, when we welcome you to the 29th Nordic Statistical Meeting, is a good time to reflect on why this has been such a long-standing and rewarding cooperation.

The Statistical Meeting, as important as it is, is in fact only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the Nordic statistical cooperation but we can look at it as a testimony and a celebration of the close cooperation taking place almost every day.

The Nordic statistical network, the cooperation at the international level, access to pool of experts, the willingness to help and share knowledge, personal contacts, informal sharing of ideas and experience, the willingness to tell stories of failures as well as of victories, to name but a few, makes us the Nordic statistical family and explains how strong and fruitful the ties have been.

It is a great honor and pleasure to welcome you to Iceland for this family reunion and celebration. Hopefully we will be able to share a lot of ideas and experiences which we can then all take with us back home to make our great cooperation even stronger and closer.

Ólafur Hjálmarsson

Statistics Iceland Director General