and the scientific committee for having put together such a rich and interesting programme. once again, i express my gratitude to the presenters, moderators and all the other participants in this event for their presence here today. i wish you all two days of very fruitful interactions and discussions. 2 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches

zeti akhtar aziz : statistical science for a better tomorrow keynote address by dr zeti akhtar aziz, governor of the central bank of malaysia ( bank negara malaysia ), at the international statistical institute regional statistics conference 2014 “ statistical science for a better tomorrow ”, kuala lumpur, 18 november 2014. * * * introduction it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to this inaugural international statistical institute regional statistics conference. this conference takes place at a time of major transformative change in our region and in the world. the contribution of statistics in this new and rapidly changing environment has become of even greater importance. in this increasingly complex world, the availability of high quality statistics is vital in facilitating decision making for both the private and public sectors. the world is also seeing greater demands for higher levels of transparency. this has become key for building trust and confidence regardless of the line and nature of business. the statistics community has responded to these changes. immense progress has been achieved in developing the methodology for generating consistent economic and financial statistical systems. in a world that has also become more globalised, such progress has brought great benefits to businesses and policymakers in terms of the availability, comparability, and broad consistency of economic data across countries. for any economic and financial community, detailed and comprehensive data are highly important to understand the implications of the developments taking place. this has prompted greater international collaboration across the world to contribute towards a greater understanding of the implications of this trend. underpinning this is also the high level of professionalism and integrity of statisticians at national and international agencies. it is in this recent two decades, that the global economic and financial environment has become more interconnected, more complex and more competitive. it has resulted in greater economic and financial integration and more intricate interconnectivities. at the same time, the world has also become more unstable and less predictable with frequent shocks and crises. this new and more challenging environment has significant implications for business and for public policy. economic agents need to have an appreciation of the multi - faceted shifts in their environment in order to form the appropriate assessments and make informed decisions. for policy makers, it highlights the importance of having reliable, relevant and high - quality statistics to support and pave the way for sound policy decision making. for statisticians, the challenge is to continuously improve the statistical science towards facilitating the foundation to build a better future. my remarks today will be from the perspective of a central banker. timely and