Statistics Korea Chief Shares Pandemic Census Experience with Uzbekistan: "Will Actively Cooperate"

On the 14th, Ryu Geun-gwan, the Commissioner of the Korea National Statistical Office, delivered a greeting during the Korea-Uzbekistan Statistical Office Heads Bilateral Cooperation Video Conference.

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] On the 14th, Ryu Geun-gwan, Commissioner of Statistics Korea, held a bilateral statistical cooperation meeting via video conference with the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Statistics and shared experiences related to the population census conducted last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to promote statistical cooperation between the two countries in 2011, the Korea-Uzbekistan statistical offices have held high-level meetings annually. This meeting was held at the request of Uzbekistan, which is conducting its first population census since independence in 2023, seeking to transfer experience and knowledge about the census to Statistics Korea. While most countries canceled or postponed their census schedules due to the COVID-19 situation, Korea conducted the 2020 round population census.

The Uzbek side was represented by 16 participants including the Chairman of the State Committee on Statistics and the Director of the Census Department. According to Statistics Korea, Korea shared experiences regarding the planning, field survey, and publicity strategies of last year's population census and provided an opportunity for benchmarking.

Commissioner Ryu emphasized, "Although the situation is difficult due to COVID-19, the population census is the most fundamental and important statistic for establishing national and regional policies," and promised active cooperation for the successful implementation of Uzbekistan's population census. He also suggested that in preparation for situations like COVID-19 in the future, mutual information exchange could be possible in the fields of statistical production using registration censuses and statistical registers.

Bahodir Begalov, Chairman of the State Committee of Uzbekistan on Statistics, expressed gratitude for Korea's sharing of experiences and expressed expectations that this meeting would provide vivid information and many implications.

Meanwhile, through this meeting, Korea and Uzbekistan agreed to strengthen collaboration by promoting joint projects through various channels such as bilateral statistical cooperation meetings and official development assistance (ODA) in the future.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.