57th Session of the International Statistical Institute Report in English, German, and Russian language

At first time in the 124 years old history of the International Statistical Institute (ISI) a session was hold in southern of the Sahara region in Africa, from 16 to 22 August in Durban/South Africa. Hence Denise Lievesley, first female president of ISI said in the Opening Ceremony: „I hope that African statisticians from all sectors – academia, government, business and education – will get involved with the ISI and its sections, thereby strengthening our disciplinary connections across continents” and “Our aim must be to ensure that every statistician sees themselves as part of a community; an international family which shares a common language and aims to make a different in the world”. President of Republic of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, in his opening speech in front of over 2000 delegates very soon mentioned the financial crisis: “In our view, the capacity of the multilateral financial institutions to respond to the crisis has been inadequate”, he said and: „The world economic meltdown, which began in developed economies, also dictates that statisticians search for solutions which will benefit all nations“.