The President at the Leader's Forum on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the OECD

Paris, 24.5.2011  |  press release

On the second day of his working visit in Paris, the President of the Republic of Slovenia Dr. Danilo Türk participated at the opening of the Leader's Forum on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Organisation for the Economical Co-Operation and Development (OECD).

Afterwards the President attended the plenary session of the Leader's Forum on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the OECD entitled "Measuring Progress of Societies", where he delivered the Key-note Speech. In his speech, the President spoke about the significance of the new "Better Life Index", through which the OECD will compare quality of life in specific states, based on 11 different criteria.

In his Key-note Speech, the President pointed out that international organisations have been dedicating their efforts to the innovative and detailed measuring of social progress. He recalled that over the last two decades, since the introduction of the Human Development Index by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), there has been a gradual improvement in the understanding of its development and progress.

The President emphasised that striving for better and more comprehensive methods of measuring progress is a task of vital importance in our age. According to his explanation, this is indispensable in order to find new and suitable answers to problems, such as persistent unemployment, and to implement normative tasks in the field of human rights. Therefore, according to his words, the new Better Life Index, presented today by the OECD, is a promising contribution to the realisation of these goals.

Afterwards, President Dr. Danilo Türk met the Secretary General of the Organisation for the Economical Co-Operation and Development Mr. Angel Gurría and congratulated him on the Organisation's grand jubilee.

President Türk emphasised that over the years, the OECD has developed into a very important international organisation whose work has contributed to forming policies in various areas, and is an important source of information and analyses enabling better understanding of economic and social processes. The President added that the OECD has been progressively developing towards greater social sensibility and fair and just social development, as proven by high quality studies in the areas of unemployment, youth employment, green technologies and similar.

The Secretary General of the OECD Mr. Gurría thanked the President Türk for fruitful co-operation and pointed out his role in putting into effect the Better Life Index as publicly presented by the OECD today. He thanked the Republic of Slovenia for its role in the OECD.