| I have the pleasure to welcome you to the 91st DGINS Conference that will be held at Eigtveds Pakhus in Copenhagen on 26-27 May 2005. The conference is jointly organized by Eurostat and Statistics Denmark. The theme of the conference will be "The Challenge of Communicating Statistics". The conference is held back to back to the SPC meeting on 25 May 2005. In the "knowledge-based economy" official statistics are a central source of information and knowledge. Resulting from the steadily increasing requests for transparency in the economic and social processes in society and the requirements to quantify the political goals, further demands are constantly requested. Official statistics thus play a crucial part in a modern society's "food chain of information". In order to undertake this challenge the European Statistical System must be able to systematically identify the user's needs in order to plan the necessary work in the medium and long term, as well as to be in a position to balance priorities of the many different demands for statistics. The user's attitude to the statistics depends on their knowledge of the subject. In this context, it is necessary to make a distinction between different user groups. The four sessions at the conference cover the communication with four different categories of users: 1) "Professional user requirements of statistical dissemination" 2) "Researcher requirements of statistical dissemination" 3) "Non-professional user requirements of statistical dissemination" 4) "News media requirements of statistical dissemination". A round table discussion will conclude the conference, addressing the question on "To which extent are the NSI's ready to meet the future challenges of dissemination?" I hope that the conference will disclose new perspectives ensuring that our expertise in the field of communication is always at the cutting edge. I look forward to welcoming you to Copenhagen in May. Jan Plovsing National Statistician |